Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama just signed into law a bill that would protect all monuments and markers which have been in place for forty or more years. The law also prohibits the changing of school names, etc. that have carried a persons name for 40 or more years. Monuments in question between twenty and forty years will be approved/disapproved by special commission.
Statue of Emma Sansom teenage Confederate heroine in Gadsden, Alabama
Under heavy gunfire teenage heroine, Emma Sansom, guided Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops across Black Creek near Gadsden on May 2, 1863. This was after Union Col. Abel Streight had burned every bridge he crossed as he was retreating east from a three day running battle that began in what is present day Cullman County. Forrest's men captured Streight and his entire command near Cedar Bluff (AL) just west of Rome, Georgia. Forrest had his cavalry ride in a wide circle that passed near the crest of hill above the valley where Streight's forces had bivouacked creating the illusion of a greatly superior force while in fact Streight's troops outnumbered those of Forrest by 3 to 1. I have seen the dress that Emma wore that day in the state archives building in Montgomery. Union troops were firing from the opposite bank of Black Water Creek. No less than three bullets based through her dress. According to accounts, Emma raised her fist and shook it at the Union soldiers. They stopped firing and cheered the sixteen year old before retreating. After she had showed Gen. Forrest a place to ford the creek, he took her home and in token of his gratitude, he gave her his pair of deerkskin gauntlets (they are in the archives with the dress) Thank goodness monuments like this one and the school that bears Emma's name will be preserved along with her selfless act of heroism. Jeffery in Alabama
