Sansom Family Cemetery - Gadsden, AL
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 34° 01.455 W 086° 02.117
16S E 589065 N 3765264
"Find A Grave" shows a bunch of marked graves, but in reality only 4 are buried here with markers; surveys say 4 or 5 Negros unmarked are interred here.
Waymark Code: WMPTAW
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 10/17/2015
Views: 1
County of marker: Etowah County
Location of marker: US 278 center median, @ cemetery, Gadsden
Number of graves: 4 marked, up to 5 more unmarked
Marker erected: September 13, 1987
Marker erected by: The Forney District, United Daughters of the Confederacy
Marker text:
In this cemetery are buried members of the family of Emma Sansom heroine of the War Between the States, whose home was nearby.
Buried Here Are:
Micajah Sansom, father of Emma Sansom
Mattie Forrest Johnson, Infant daughter of Emma Sansom
Robert Turner, a Confederate soldier killed in the skirmish at Black Creek
Aunt Fanny, a beloved Negro Mammy
It was May 2, 1863 that Colonel A. B. Streight, U.S.A., raced through Gadsden after having burned the bridge across Back Creek with General Nathan B. Forrest, C.S.A., close behind. Emma Sansom was standing on a rail fence watching the bridge burn when General Forrest rode up and inquired if there were other crossings over the creek which was flooded at the time.
Forrest carried a large amount of artillery and frequently dismounted his troops and fought them as an infantry unit, necessicating heavy wagon equipment. Miss Emma Sansom recalled that she had seen cows fording the creek nearby. She mounted behind General Forrest and piloted him and his anxious army down a ravine and across the creek, enabling them to save Gasden and Rome, Georgia from destruction and to capture Streight's 2,000 men with only 800 Confederates.
Emma Sansom married Christopher Johnson and moved to Little Mound, Texas where she is buried.