228 Cooper Street was the home of Sallie Ackley, a Civil War widow who carved out a life for herself after surviving repeated bouts of hardship.

Prior to her short-lived marriage, Sallie Ackley was originally Sallie Wilkins. The Wilkins family had been residents of Camden since the early 1810s, when her grandfather, Isaac Wilkins, moved to Camden and entered the lumber business. He was relatively successful and purchased land at Third and Cooper Street. By the time Sallie was born in the early 1840s, the Wilkinses had a residence directly to the left of what is now 228 Cooper Street.

Sallie Wilkins married local surgeon and Civil War veteran Henry Ackley in 1864, thereby becoming Sallie Ackley. Henry had served as a naval surgeon during the war aboard the USS San Jacinto. In 1863, the ship participated in a number of missions in the Gulf of Mexico for the Union's "Anaconda Plan," which sought to blockade and squeeze economic life out of the Confederacy. While serving in the Gulf, Ackley caught yellow fever, forcing him to return home. Unfortunately, he never fully recovered. Sallie and Henry were married for about a year when he suddenly died from tuberculosis near the end of 1865. His death came subsequent to that of Sallie’s parents, who also died during the war.

Henry's death did not only leave Sallie a widow but also pregnant. She gave birth to a boy six weeks after her husband's passing, but the child died just prior to its first birthday. Sallie’s hardship was similar to that experienced in millions of households across the nation. As community members went off to war, those left behind were oftentimes forced to fill the roles they served in their households and societies. For the families whose loved ones did not return home, or died early, the war ultimately left a permanent scar.

Fortunately, Sallie managed to push through these devastating circumstances and carve out a life for herself. Her husband's death transferred his wealth to her, and on her grandfather's land on Third and Cooper Street, Sallie contracted for construction of 228 Cooper Street for $7,500 in 1867. The property was initially willed to her younger brother, Richard Wilkins, but she subsequently purchased the plot from him in 1872 for an additional $1,000. During this time, Sallie also served on the Board of Managers for the Camden Home for Friendless Children, a charity organization that helped upwards of forty children who lost their fathers to the Civil War.

Sallie lived in the house for another nineteen years. She eventually remarried to a local bank teller, Nathan Cowan, in 1877, and together with their three sons, they moved to the suburbs in 1886. Her home survived into the twenty-first century as a testament to the resilience of women who lost loved ones during the Civil War.