The REAL PEOPLE  who may have been the inspiration for  the book                  “GONE WITH THE WIND”

 The book, Scarlett, tells the story of what the author thought might have happened after the novel “Gone With The Wind” ended.  Rummaging around in history this may be the truth.

  What is not commonly known was that the Civil War novel  may not have been just imagination set in a moment of history.  It was or might have been based on real people whose lives did go on after the late great dispute between the states.

   The real person given the name in the book, Rhett Butler, could have been named Rhett Turnipseed. Yes there is also the other half,  a Scarlett O’Hara, but her real name was Emelyn Louise Hannon.  Rhett did leave her after confessing his love for her to join the Confederate army.  He had been running  the blockade before that and amassed considerable wealth.

   The events of what happened to these two has been a somewhat secret of the Turnipseed family, but all of this was recently made known in a column by Wesley Pruden in the Washington Times. It seems that following the Civil War, Rhett became a drifter, a gambler, and an alcoholic. It happened that he was in Nashville on a Easter morning, 1871 and stumbled into a Methodist revival meeting. He was moved by what he heard, enough so it changed his life. As he put it later, he had been converted to the Christian faith.

   Rhett soon after felt called to the ministry, and attended divinity classes at Vanderbuilt University. He was ordained a pastor and was appointed to ride a circuit in rural Kentucky.

   Rhett and Scarlett’s memory paths crossed again at this time. As the family tells the story, Reverend Rhett was worried about a young woman he had only heard about from a member of her family.  She had run away, and gossip had it that she was working in a house of prostitution in St. Louis. The Circuit Rider preacher went looking for her.

   He found that the rumors were true when he located her in a house of ill repute. The problem that stopped him was the Madame of the house was not about to let her go. Rhett speaking with the young lady discovered that she was none other than his former love, Scarlett – or Emelyn Louise Hannon. 

   Rhett having been a gambler, challenged the madam to a game of cards. If he won, Emelyn would be free to leave, and win he did, which according the family records he did so with a royal straight flush, an ace, king, queen, jack and ten of spades which he dubbed: “God’s own hand”.

  Emelyn (Scarlett) now freed, left employment in the field of prostitution, and later married well. She was later converted and joined the Methodist Church. She in her later years opened an orphanage for Cherokee children, and died in 1903. Her mission is noted on her grave stone.

   As is often the case, truth is very much stranger than fiction. The truth here is that God moves in the lives and hearts of we who are His creation and this is our hope for ourselves and our world today because He still does change lives when we in our free well choose to follow God’s invitation to choose life.