Forrest Golden Thread East Texas Grave of Confederate Heroine Emma Sansom

I happen to be familiar with one family in Cherokee County of Alabama, up in a rocky, piney area where there was no good acreage for the whole planter thing.

That's sort of the point, notwithstanding this one family. NE Alabama is and was joined at the hip with Tennessee, not to sure about the whole mess....
 
Lol! Think it was him with the racy remark! He pulled her around behind him and said he wasn't going to make breastworks of her. :tongue: But that wasn't near as racy as when he asked her for a lock of her hair. She didn't know what to say to that, being a kid, and walked into the house. Forrest being Forrest, followed her and asked again! Oh, and by the way, I left a dead guy in your living room... :confused:
I wanna say her comeback was something like, "Well, had I been a man, I'd have been badly wounded." Anyway, I can't find it.
 
I wanna say her comeback was something like, "Well, had I been a man, I'd have been badly wounded." Anyway, I can't find it.

:laugh: That's kind of like the soldier who was wounded in a...bad place, and his fiancee was demanding to know what happened. The surgeon tried a few delicate comments but she insisted on knowing exactly where he was shot. "Ma'am," said the doctor finally, "the shot that hit him would have missed you!" Oh... Emma ended up with no less than 3 holes in her skirt, by the way, which happened more or less all at once, and was the reason Forrest quite unceremoniously yanked her behind him! The man standing beside him, one of his escort, was badly wounded. Emma had grit!
 
I wanna say her comeback was something like, "Well, had I been a man, I'd have been badly wounded." Anyway, I can't find it.

That's because you're looking in the WRONG war! That quote's usually attributed to one of the several "Molly Pitcher" ladies of the Revolution. ( Another of my FAVORITE periods! )
 
That's because you're looking in the WRONG war! That quote's usually attributed to one of the several "Molly Pitcher" ladies of the Revolution. ( Another of my FAVORITE periods! )
I remember that quote, too. But I really do think I read a similar one from Emma.
 
Texas must have used pink granite for a lot of monuments--for example, the one you posted reminds me of the Texas monument at Gettysburg. Is pink granite found commonly in Texas, maybe?
"Enchanted Rock" near Fredricksburg is the largest of the pink granite domes in the Hill Country of Texas. Lots of legends associated with it.

Enchanted_Rock_Panorama_2012.jpg
 
I remember that quote, too. But I really do think I read a similar one from Emma.

She didn't have a lot of love for Streight's men - they'd come through ahead of Forrest and trashed the place, stole all the food and wanted to know where her brothers were. They might have done more but their officer rode by yelled at them to get out of the house and stay out. At the ford, she hopped off the horse before Forrest got stopped and was standing there in plain view of the Union soldiers on the other side, who stopped shooting for a few minutes. Obviously a female type out there! But they started up again - pretty sure they weren't aiming at her but at the Confederate cavalrymen behind her. She got her dress shot up a little and one of Forrest's men was shot, and then everybody hit the dirt including Emma and Forrest. They crawled around under the bushes on hands and knees, and that's how she showed him the ford - peeking under the brambles! Not exactly like the famous John Paul Strain painting but it got the job done!

http://www.johnpaulstrain.com/images/art/large/To-The-Lost-Ford500.jpg
 
We do. And our famous "Spam" civil war monuments. :smile: The first example I posted is obviously the state capitol. The second is from Karen Lips neck of the woods. :smile:
I know you know better than I but for those who are interested in the legends and stories associated with Enchanted Rock, here it is. Being an old geologist, I love this stuff.

enchanted rock2.jpg


Legends and Mysticism

Folklore of local Tonkawa, Apache and Comanche tribes ascribes magical and spiritual powers to the rock (hence the name 'Enchanted Rock'). While attempting to hide from Anglo settlers in the area, the natives would hide on the top two tiers of the rock, where they were invisible from the ground below. The first European to visit the area was probably Álvar Nine mess this is we are in the muñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1536. The Tonkawa, who inhabited the area in the 16th century, believed that ghost fires flickered at the top of the dome. In particular they heard unexplained creaking and groaning, which geologists attribute to the rock's night-time contraction after being heated by the sun during the day. The name "Enchanted Rock" derives from Spanish and Anglo-Texan interpretations of such legends and related folklore; the name "Crying Rock" has also been given to the formation.
The following is on a plaque on Enchanted Rock[13]
From its summit in 1841, Captain John C. Hays, while surrounded by Comanche Indians who cut him off from his ranging company repulsed the whole band and inflicted upon them such heavy losses that they fled. Marked by the State of Texas 1936​
Other legends [14] [15] associated with Enchanted Rock are
  • Named “Spirit Song Rock” for native legends
  • Revered by native tribes as a holy portal to other worlds
  • Anyone spending the night on the rock becomes invisible
  • Spanish priest fled to the rock pursued by native tribes, disappeared, and returned to tell a mystic tale of falling into a cavern and being swallowed by the rock, encountering many spirits in the tunnels, eventually to be spit out two days later
  • Haunted by spirits of warriors of a now-extinct native American tribe who were slaughtered at Enchanted Rock by a rival tribe
  • Haunted by a native American princess who threw herself off the rock after witnessing the slaughter of her people
  • Alleged sacrifices at the rock by both Comanche and Tonkawa tribes
  • Believed to be a lost silver mine, or the lost El Dorado gold
  • Bad fortune and death will befall anyone who climbs the rock with bad intent
  • Footprint indentations on the rock of native American chief who sacrificed his daughter, condemned to walk Enchanted Rock forever
  • Woman’s screams at night are of a white woman who took refuge on Enchanted Rock after escaping a kidnapping by native Americans
  • Spanish soldier Don Jesine mess this is we are in the mus Navarro’s Enchanted Rock rescue of native maiden Rosa, daughter of Chief Tehuan, after her kidnap by Comanches intent on sacrificing her on the rock
 
It is an unutterably cool place. :smile: Thanks for posting that. Most of the Hill Country in Texas is covered with pink granite. Herman Lehmann noticed a big rock like "a big fat man" as the Comanches carried him north from Mason County in 1868. :smile:
 
This is really interesting stuff! I love it!

Okay, "old geologist" Robert P, what makes it pink rather than . . . the non-pink granite?
I'm not a "hard rock" geologist but I know the answer to this one. Lots of potassium feldspar, i.e. orthoclase, in the mix gives it the distinctive pink color. Enchanted Rock is an exhumed batholith, like Half Dome in Yosemite and Stone Mountain GA. All were formed by large bodies of magma which cooled deep within the crust. Eventual tectonic uplift and erosion exposed them at the surface.
 
I'm not a "hard rock" geologist but I know the answer to this one. Lots of potassium feldspar, i.e. orthoclase, in the mix gives it the distinctive pink color. Enchanted Rock is an exhumed batholith, like Half Dome in Yosemite and Stone Mountain GA. All were formed by large bodies of magma which cooled deep within the crust. Eventual tectonic uplift and erosion exposed them at the surface.

Thanks!

I used to go to Gettyburg several times a year with a group of teachers from my school, and one of them, a science teacher, was into rocks and such. I actually learned probably more about the geology of the battlefield there than most people do--such as Gttysburg Sill and the diabase rocks at Devil's Den and the Slaughter Pen. And, of course, all the quarries around the battlefield, as well.
 
In South Dakota, on tarred roads, there is red crushed rock. And in SW Minnesota, where the layers of jasper sometimes includes pipe stone.

Pipe stone is about as hard as a fingernail. It can be worked into a pipe, which made the fields at Pipestone, Minnesota a sacred place for Native Ameicans from both coasts .

The "park" is run now by the Santee Sioux. They still pry away the jasper to find pipestone which they fashion into pipes for the tourists. Meanwhile, the jasper goes into buildings. All the buildings in that area are red.

Pink is kinda effete.
 
In South Dakota, on tarred roads, there is red crushed rock. And in SW Minnesota, where the layers of jasper sometimes includes pipe stone.

Pipe stone is about as hard as a fingernail. It can be worked into a pipe, which made the fields at Pipestone, Minnesota a sacred place for Native Ameicans from both coasts .

The "park" is run now by the Santee Sioux. They still pry away the jasper to find pipestone which they fashion into pipes for the tourists. Meanwhile, the jasper goes into buildings. All the buildings in that area are red.

Pink is kinda effete.
Very interesting, I learned something new about Pipe Stone. I looked up the hardness, 2.5 on the scale so right about like a fingernail, softer than calcite (primary mineral in limestone and sea shells) and harder than gypsum. A pipe from the stone has to be much more durable than a clay one.
 
Thanks!

I used to go to Gettyburg several times a year with a group of teachers from my school, and one of them, a science teacher, was into rocks and such. I actually learned probably more about the geology of the battlefield there than most people do--such as Gttysburg Sill and the diabase rocks at Devil's Den and the Slaughter Pen. And, of course, all the quarries around the battlefield, as well.
Very cool. I did a bit of research this morning and learned some more about the Gettysburg Sill and the Rossville Dike. The whole area is a Triassic basin filled with redbeds which formed during crustal extension prior to the opening of the Atlantic Ocean 200 million years ago. With the thinning and fracturing of the crust magma moved upward in the earliest Jurassic, forming the large sill which underlies the entire Union line, and shorty afterward the Rossville Dike which holds up Seminary Ridge and the Confederate line. The dike can be seen in the railroad cut where it slices through it. McPherson's Ridge is highstanding due to more resistant to erosion sedimentary rock. No doubt these geologic features determined the site and course of the battle. Great stuff for a rock hound.
 
All along the Salmon River country is marble - Marble Mountains. Lots of volcanic materials as well - andasite, pumice, etc. Obsidian was a major trade item. Granite and marble are still very plentiful here. There are four quarries around the town and one of them was started by a marble smith and stone cutter from Tennessee - he and his wife produced the very best tombstones in the State of Jefferson!

Is pipe stone like soap stone? We used to sometimes carve small pipes from soap stone.
 
All along the Salmon River country is marble - Marble Mountains. Lots of volcanic materials as well - andasite, pumice, etc. Obsidian was a major trade item. Granite and marble are still very plentiful here. There are four quarries around the town and one of them was started by a marble smith and stone cutter from Tennessee - he and his wife produced the very best tombstones in the State of Jefferson!

Is pipe stone like soap stone? We used to sometimes carve small pipes from soap stone.
Diane, I don't know exactly were you are in the Northwest but as you know large parts of Washington, Oregon and Idaho are covered with basalt. Before 15-17 million years ago the Cascade volcanoes were doing what they do now, exploding periodically and spewing out ash and lava. Suddenly they changed to shield volcanoes, like those in Hawaii, pouring out copious amounts of lava that in some places is greater than 6000 ft. thick, which cooled to become basalt.

Here's the neat part and it's called Hot Spot theory. Around the globe there are a number of these spots, mantle plumes which act like blowtorches punching holes in the overlying crust. Hawaii is over one. As the Pacific Plate moves northwest over the stationary plume new volcanoes form southeast of the older ones. The relative motion of the plate makes it seem that the plume southeast is moving but it's actually the crust moving above it. The Hawaiian chain can be traced to Midway Is. and beyond, eventually becoming old worn down sea mounts to the northwest. A new shield volcano is currently building below sea level southeast of the big island of Hawaii, which will extend the island chain in that direction.

Here's how that relates to your part of the world. As the North American Plate moved westward at a few centimeters a year over one of these hot spots the old strato-volcanoes of the Cascades were transformed into shield volcanoes and became gigantic lava flowing engines. When the hot spot moved (relatively speaking) eastward the Cascades reverted to their old, and present form, and the lava flows became increasingly younger in that direction. That Hot Spot is now located under Yellowstone National Park and that's why there is the potential for some really serious volcanic activity in the area.
HotspotsSRP.JPG


CRB-Yellowstone_mantle_plume_model.jpg
 
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