The Coker House is the only remaining structure on the grounds where the pivotal Battle of Champion Hill was fought on May 16, 1863. On the southern edge of the battlefield, it came under fire from both Union and Confederate artillery as the lines shifted through the day, and like other nearby houses it served as a field hospital afterward. Much of the day, artillery stood in front of the house. In the morning, Confederate guns along Cotton Ridge held off Union soldiers advancing from the east. Late in the afternoon, the Confederate battery withdrew and a Union battery took its place, firing toward a new Confederate position on the next ridge to the west. Although the artillery fight around the house was secondary to the main battle centered two miles north, by the end of the battle the fighting there became critical because it covered the Confederate army's withdrawal.