"An incident connected with the recent Yankee raid is worthy of record. When Gen. [Nathan B.] Forrest arrived at Black Creek, 3 miles from Gadsden [AL], in hot pursuit of the Vandals [Col. Abel D. Streight's Raid, 11 April-3 May 1863, through northern AL], he found his progress checked by a swollen stream and a demolished bridge, while a detachment of the enemy lingered behind to dispute his passage to the opposite side. Ignorant of the ford, if indeed there were any, Gen. Forrest himself rode back in quest of the necessary information. At the first house he made the inquiry whether there was any person who could pilot his command across the stream, to which a young lady made reply -- no male person being present -- that she knew the ford, and that if she had a horse she would accompany and direct him. There being no time for ceremony, Gen. Forrest proposed that she should get up behind him to which, with no maiden coyness, but actuated only by the herioic impulse to serve her country, she at once consented. Her mother, however, overhearing the suggestion, and sensitively alive to her daughter's safety and honor, interposed the objection. "Sir, my child cannot thus accompany a stranger." "Madam," respectfully urged the far-famed chieftain, "my name is Forrest, and I will be responsible for this young lady's safety." "Oh," rejoined the good woman, "if you are Gen. Forrest she can go with you!"

As she rode behind the General, she piloted him across the stream, hearing the whistling bullets of the enemy; but she did not quit her dangerous mission until the last man had safely crossed.

The name of this heroine is Miss Emma Sansom, who should be long and gratefully remembered, not only by the General Forrest and his gallant men but by every lover of the cause to which she gave such daring duty. The General wrote her a note of thanks, and sent it back to the heroic girl.

There are no biographies of Emma Sansom, except for a juvenile book called Emma Sansom : Ride to Glory by Richard Cooper (Raleigh, NC : Creative Productions, 1987). There are a few articles about her in the Confederate Veteran.

Emma married a man named Christopher B. Johnson in Alabama in October of 1864 and lived in Gadsden, Alabama for several years. Finally the family moved to Texas and settled near Gilmer, Upshur County, where they raised five sons and two daughters. Christopher B. Johnson died in 1887, and Emma never remarried. She died 8-9-1900 and is buried in Little Mound Cemetery, about 12 miles west of Gilmer, Upshur County, Texas. She was honored with a poem by John Trotwood Moore, and with a monument in Gadsden, Alabama. Their family included:

1. Mattie Forrest Johnson b. 8-15-1866, Gadsden, AL   d. 10-9-1871, Gadsden, AL

2. Joseph Bivins Johnson b. 5-4-1868, Gadsden, AL  d. 8-5-1948, Upshur Co., TX

3. Thomas Cooper Johnson b. 12-11-1869, Gadsden, AL   d. 5-26-1936, Upshur Co., TX

4. Edward Van Smith Johnson b. 12-30-1872, Gadsden, AL   d. 11-17-1953, Houston, TX

5. Chester Lucy Johnson (Burgin) b. 10-26-1874, Gadsden, AL    d. 4-9-1958, TX

6. Benjamin Cain Johnson b. 12-18-1877, Upshur Co., TX    d. 4-8-1967, Upshur Co., TX

7. Mercer Meeks Johnson b. 3-17-1881, Upshur Co., TX     d. 3-19-1961, Dallas, TX

8. Jennie Maud Johnson (Pond) b. 10-3-1884, Upshur Co., TX   d.  3-11-1951, Weatherford, TX

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