Trivia 4-11-16 The Blue, The Gray, & The Silverscreen

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What common link did actresses Greer Garson and Jane Fonda have - both to each other, and the American Civil War?

credit: @7th Texas Mounted Rifles

Union and Confederate forces met at Glorieta Pass, some 20 miles to the southeast of Santa Fe, on March 26, 1862. Union troops came into contact with a Confederate force of 200-300 Texans under the command of Major Charles L. Pyron, who were encamped at Johnson’s Ranch, at one end of the pass.Union Major John M. Chivington led more than 400 soldiers on the morning of the 26th in an attack, capturing some Confederate advance troops before finding the main force behind them. Chivington advanced on them, but their artillery fire threw him back. He regrouped, split his force to the two sides of the pass, caught the Rebels in a crossfire, and soon forced them to retire.

Pyron and his men retreated about a mile and a half to a narrow section of the pass and formed a defensive line before Chivington's men appeared. The Union troops then flanked Pyron’s men again, firing heavily into their ranks. When the Confederates fled again, the Union cavalry charged, capturing the Confederate rearguard. Chivington then retired and went into camp at Kozlowski’s Ranch. No fighting occurred the next day as reinforcements arrived for both sides. Lieutenant Colonel William R. Scurry’s troops swelled the Rebel ranks to about 1,100 while Union Colonel John P. Slough arrived with about 900 men.

Both Slough and Scurry decided to attack early on March 28th. As Scurry advanced down the canyon, he saw theUnionforces approaching, so he established a battle line, including his dismounted cavalry. Slough hit them before 11:00 am. The Confederates held their ground and then attacked and counterattacked throughout the afternoon. The fighting then ended as Slough retired first to Pigeon’s Ranch and then to Kozlowski’s Ranch.

Scurry soon left the field also, thinking he had won the battle. Chivington's men; in the meantime, had destroyed all Scurry’s supplies and animals at Johnson’s Ranch, which forced him to retreat toSanta Fe, the first step on the long road back to San Antonio,Texas. The Battle of Glorieta Pass was the turning point of the war in New Mexico Territory.

In 1925, Tex Austin bought up parcels of land on the old Pecos Pueblo Grant and called his 5,500 acre holdings The Forked Lightning Ranch. The remains of Kozlowski's Stage Stop and Tavern on the Santa Fe Trail (1858-1880) became part of his new holdings, which Tex converted into ranch headquarters and a trading post.
In the early 1960s the ranch was owned by Texas oil tycoon Buddy Fogelson and his wife, film actress Greer Garson, who used it as a summer home. Jane Fonda's recently owned (and sold) the 2,300 acre Forked Lightning Ranch.

So, long answer short, they both owned a Confederate camp site used during the Battle of Glorieta Pass in March 1862.
 
Greer Garson and her husband owned the 13,000 acre Forked Lightning Ranch which encompassed the Civil War's last battle at Glorieta Pass and Jane Fonda purchased a 2.300 estate within the Forked Lightning Ranch that borders the south side of the battle site.
Source: Pueblo, Civil War, Hollywood
 
Well, they were both film actresses. Jane married Ted Turner who was responsible for colorizing a lot of Greer Garson's movies.

But the connection desired here is probably the Forked Lightning Ranch which was built about 1925/1926 on land that saw some of the action known as the Battle of Glorieta Pass.

Greer Garson married E E Fogelson who owned the entire ranch. When Fogelson died, he left the original ranch portion to his wife but the southern portion was inherited by his nephew (and adopted son), G D Fogelson. Greer Garson sold her portion in 1991 to the Conservation Society which donated the property to the Pecos National Historic Park. The original ranch is now a feature of Pecos National Historic Park and an integral part of the Glorieta Pass battlefield tour.

The southern portion belonging to G D Fogelson was divided into two parcels and sold by him to Val Kilmer (who sold most of it in 2011) and to Jane Fonda (who sold hers in 2015). So Jane didn't purchase anything from Greer Garson and it's doubtful that Ms. Garson-Fogelson had much to do with the southern portion that Fogelson added to the original 5,500 acres on which they lived.

https://www.nps.gov/peco/learn/historyculture/forked-lightning-ranch.htm
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_9ea2bbd6-d574-5ee6-acca-49181f435e57.html
 
Greer Garson and her husband owned Forked Lightening Ranch. The battle of Glorieta Pass was fought on the Pecos National park.

Forked Lightning is where she comes to escape. Adjacent to Pecos National Historical Park, the property is the middle section of what was once a 13,000-acre cattle ranch owned by movie star Greer Garson and her husband Buddy Fogelson. When Fonda first purchased the estate, the only accommodation was a two-bedroom log cabin, which became her base for three years while she constructed River House, an expansive residence with space for her children and their families.

m-images-celebrity-homes-2014-jane-fonda-jane-fonda-new-mexico-ranch-01-jane-fonda-horse-stables.jpg

Jane Fonda with her Arabian mare Gitane at Forked Lightning Ranch in New Mexico.
 
Jane Fonda as well as Greer Garson for a while owned the Forked Lightning Ranch, situated close to the site of the Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass. On the grounds of the ranch lay Kozlowski's Stage Stop and Tavern, the site of a Union encampment and field hospital.

"Heading south from Las Vegas on I-25 about forty miles, the exit for Pecos National Historical Park of the National Park Service (NPS) will take you to Kozlowski's. Just over three miles north on State Road 63 are the remains of the stage stop. At one time it served as the headquarters of the Forked Lightning Ranch, once owned by the actress Greer Garson.
[...]
Major John M. Chivington was sent ahead with about one third the advancing column to Kozlowski's Ranch around midnight. It was here that Union forces encamped, making use of the plentiful spring water, through the remainder of the engagement. A few days after the Battle of Glorieta Pass most of the Union soldiers left Kozlowski's Ranch for Fort Union. However, the wounded men remained for two months in a temporary field hospital set up in Kozlowski's tavern, until they could be safely moved to Fort Union. Kozlowski seemed well pleased with his guests as he later said: "When they camped on my place, and while they made my tavern their hospital for over two months after their battles in the canyon, they never robbed me of anything, not even a chicken."

http://dev.newmexicohistory.org/filedetails.php?fileID=21319
 
Greer Garson's Forked Lightning Ranch is part of the Glorieta Pass Civil War site park near Pecos NM; and Jane Fonda's Forked Lightning Ranch (private) borders the park on the south.


The Forked (pronounced fork-ed with two syllables) Lightning Ranch was originally formed in 1925 by Tex Austin, who bought 5,500 acres of land on the old Pecos Pueblo Grant. Austin claimed he was born and raised on a cattle ranch in Texas but, in reality, his name was Clarence Van Nostrand and he was born into a strict St. Louis household. He left home at the age of 20 looking for adventure. He found it by working on Texas and New Mexico cattle ranches and by briefly joining the Mexican Revolution.


For his new ranch, Austin hired young Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem, then in his 20s, to design and build a ranch house on a bluff above the confluence of the Pecos River and the Glorieta Creek. Meem built the house with the "Pueblo Revival" style elements that later became predominant in Santa Fe. Built around a large square courtyard, every room in the house has a door exiting to the central space. Probably at Austin's request, a huge sculpted steer head is mounted on the outside of the chimney.

The Forked Lightning Ranch was a working cattle ranch, too. Austin tried operating the ranch as a dude ranch, letting guests help with his cattle drives, thereby reducing his costs for cattle hands. But it wasn't enough. Austin couldn't pay the mortgage and lost the ranch. He later opened a restaurant in Santa Fe. In 1938, he committed suicide.

A second owner bought the 5,500-acre ranch and shortly after sold it to Buddy Fogelson, a Dallas oil man and rancher. Fogelson bought adjacent land, bringing the total acreage to 13,000 acres. Fogelson was introduced to Academy Award-winning actress Greer Garson by actor Peter Lawford on a visit to Hollywood. Instantly taken with her, and she with him, they were married a year later in 1949 on Canyon Road in Santa Fe at the Catron family residence.

Garson, a native of England, wrote that when she first visited the Forked Lightning Ranch, she wore a blue-organdy dress with matching blue high heels, expecting a farm with white picket fences, a pond and perhaps a pony. She was immediately struck by the beauty of the land and the strength of its people and developed a fierce loyalty to New Mexico. The Forked Lightning Ranch became the summer home of Fogelson and Garson.

The Fogelsons transformed the interior of the ranch house from Austin's rustic abode to one of casual elegance including a grand piano and linen-covered sofas. Garson continued to collect native pots, wood santos and art of New Mexico.

Garson and Fogelson were pivotal in the construction of the Visitor Center at the Pecos National Monument. Dissatisfied with the design for a modern building, they advocated for a traditional Spanish-Puebloan design and in 1983, the National Park Service began construction on the center with 2-foot thick adobe walls. The Fogelsons contributed half the cost. They later contributed most of the cost of a museum wing and contributed or paid for many of the artifacts in the museum.

When Fogelson died in 1987, the original 5,500-acre ranch was willed to Garson and the remaining acreage to his son. His son later divided his property, selling one parcel to Val Kilmer and the other to Jane Fonda. In 1991, in failing health, Garson sold her part of the ranch to The Conservation Fund, which then donated it to the National Park Service. Garson died in 1996.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_9ea2bbd6-d574-5ee6-acca-49181f435e57.html
 
The link between the two is the Forked Lightning Ranch in New Mexico which they both at one time owned and where they both lived for some time. The ranch is situated on the Pecos River near to the Glorieta Pass Battlefield
I'm probably way off line here but the rather tenuous link between Jane Fonda and the Civil War is that she was married for a while to Ted Turner the man behind the films Gettysburg and Gods and Generals.
The only link I can find between Greer Garson and the Civil War is her role as Aunt March in the 1978 version of Little Women, set during the Civil War.
 
What common link did actresses Greer Garson and Jane Fonda have - both to each other, and the American Civil War?

credit: @7th Texas Mounted Rifles
Fort Lightening Ranch
Both homes at and owned (at different times) by Greer Garson and Buddy Fogelson as well as Jane Fonda.

The Ranch is for sale or has been sold by Jane Fonda, see ranch at Swan Land Company
http://swanlandco.com/properties/forked-lightning-ranch

When Mr. Fogelson died in 1987, the Forked Lightning was divided along the old southern boundary line of Tex's original Forked Lightning. Greer Garson Fogelson received the "old" Forked Lightning Ranch and Mr. Fogelson's son inherited the southern portion. In January 1991, Mrs. Fogelson sold the Forked Lightning to The Conservation Fund which donated it to the National Park Service to become part of Pecos National Historical Park.

Battle of Glorieta Pass, "The Gettysburg of the West" March 28, 1862
was fought on this land

http://www.ohranger.com/pecos/history . . . . battle history at end of article, also see links below
http://www.pecosnewmexico.com/attractions/the-battle-of-glorieta-pass
http://www.pecosnewmexico.com/image...f_Glorieta_Pass/NEWGlorieta-battlefield-2.pdf


further investigation found interesting trivia
Ten Eyck Hilton Fonda, United States Military Telegraph Service, Telegraph Corp ACW
Delivered message from Sec of War Stanton to Gen Meade re Lee's position Gettysburg

Several telegraph keys are on display, ( Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, inserted for clarity) including the personal key used by Ten Eyck Hilton Fonda, grandfather of actor Henry Fonda. (Great Grand Father of Jane Fonda)
On June 30, 1863, Fonda received a message from Harrisburg addressed to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton warning him that the Confederate Army was closing on Gettysburg.
Leaving from Washington, D.C., Fonda rode his horse all night long in order to hand-deliver the message to Union Gen. George Meade, who was 16 miles to the south near Taneytown, Md., at the time.
http://thisweekinthecivilwar.com/?p=1204
 
What common link did actresses Greer Garson and Jane Fonda have - both to each other, and the American Civil War?

credit: @7th Texas Mounted Rifles
Fonda and Garson both, at different times, owned the "Forked Lightening" Ranch (formerly the Kozlowski Ranch), close to the site of the Battle of Glorieta Pass. The tavern at the Kozlowski ranch was used as a temporary Union field hospital.
 
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