In 1863 Thomas was an enrolling officer for the Confederate Army. At that time eastern Tennesse was deeply divided. Enrolling officers reported men that were qualified to serve in the war. On September 4, 1863, Thomas was home on furlough. The situation was so precarious that he would not ride alone, however, the little boy who was usually with him could not ride that day. Upon leaving that evening to return to his post, he was slain by bushwhackers who had laid in wait one mile north of the Glendale Methodist Church at the cemetery, a short distance from his farm. Almira heard the shots. Surmising what had happened, she took her little girls and two slaves down the road and brought the body of Thomas home where he was buried in the farm yard. At 31 years old Almira, like her mother, was widowed and left with 4 little girls, the oldest being ten years and the youngest but a small baby. Almira stayed on the farm until 1870 when she became ill. Her Brother-in-Law, Louis Calvin Christian traveled from Missouri and stayed with her until her death on April 28, 1870. She was buried next to her slain husband in the front yard of the farm. Lewis made the funeral arrangements, settled the businees affairs, then brought his four young nieces by boat back to Atchison County Missouri to be raised by their grandparents Thomas Ewing and Mary Ann (Doughty) Christian, and loving aunts and uncles.

In 1916, Thomas and Almira's grandaughter, Alpha (Christian) Dutton took it into her head to move the bodies from the farm to the Union Cemetery in Newport, Tennessee. Contrary to her aunt's wishes she traveled to Cocke County, Tennessee and had the bodies dug up and placed the relics (a Cravat, cravat pin, and bits of fabric) in a small box covered inside and out with with white satin. The group then traveled on to the cemetery where an appropriate memorial service was held and a grave stone erected. The caskets were buried as they were found with their feet to the sunrise and their heads to the sunset in the west. In 1983 John and Andrea (Beck) Cook traveled to Cocke County Tennesse and met an elderly woman who had lived on the old Christian farm since she was a young girl. (Her mother was a half sister to Robert Christian's wife--he was Thomas's brother.) When she was six years old, her father called the farm hands in from the fields and they stood with hats in hand as the bodies were unearthed. Because Thomas was a Civil War Vetran, local historians were present to document any articacts. The bullet that killed Thomas was searched for but not found. Part of Almira's casket remained. A breast pin with woven and braided blond hair was discovered. In the 1800's this type of jewlry was fashionable and often made with hair of a deceased family member. Alpha took the pin. Almira's hair was braided in rubber bands known as "gully-perchers". This kind, old lady has never forgotten this incident and had always wondered at her father allowing a small girl to observe such a sight.

So, now in 1870 the four daughters of Thomas and Almira Christian were in Atchison County Missouri. Both Grandparents were gone by 1877 and in 1876 their youngest sister, Eliza, died. The three surviving sisters, Sarah "Sally", Mary Anna "Annie", and Margaret Angeline "Maggie" all remained in Atchison County, married, raised families and lived out their lives.