Emma Sansom

Emma Sansom (June 2, 1847 – August 9, 1900) was an Alabama teenager and farm worker noted for her actions during the American Civil War (1861-1865), during which she assisted the defensive campaign of the mounted cavalry in the Confederate Army's then Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877), during the Streight's Raid by Union Army cavalry under command of Col. Abel Streight in April-May 1863.

Activists 157 years later in the 2020 racial protests, including descendants of Sansom herself, called for the removal of a statue previously erected commemorating her in Gadsden, Alabama.

Early life Sansom was born on June 2, 1847, further east near Social Circle, Georgia, to Micajah and Levina Vann Sansom, a niece of Cherokee tribe native leader James Vann. Around 1852, she and her family moved west to a farm just outside Gadsden, Alabama. Her father died in 1858, by which time there were twelve children in her family.

Sansom's actions are noteworthy in that openly aiding Confederate forces could have subjected her and her family to prosecution (or even death) from the Union Army if they continued to be victorious and occupy the area as the war continued.

Later life Sansom married Christopher B. Johnson on October 29, 1864, 17 months after the incident with General Forrest, and moved further west to Texas in late 1876 or early 1877. She died August 9, 1900 at the age of 53 in Upshur County, Texas, and is buried in Little Mound Cemetery there.