Everything Photographic: J. T. Boysen and his ... - Yosemite Online

estored completely without the restoration of the worldthat he knew. But before the arrival of this gift, this portraitthat has bound us both in something living, therewas little to hold.One day soon, perhaps, I shall look up from my desk,and there before me will be Derrick Graham, a strangerwho is not a stranger, a man from Kentucky with a storyto tell . He may not use words, because not all storiesare put down on paper. There is a language in the wayhe stands on that day, in the manner of his speech . Thecontours of his face speak about a history he has neverlived . He will extend his hand, and I will take it, and then,finally, I will have come as close as I can in this world tofinding George.It won' t be the end, though, because history never hasan ending; it just goes on like a river. What nourishes youcan also sweep you away. A blessing can fall silently asprayer.Who now prays for George Metcalf, or the thousandswho left the Old South to find something, or run fromsomething that had no name? In what places today stilldwell those ambitious, yet fearful shadows that eventuallyfound refuge in the Old Army? One by one they driftedinto that system like leaves to a stormy sky and werereborn as privates, corporals and sergeants . They becamecavalrymen or infantrymen . They were given a new purpose. New goals and objectives were laid before them andtheir opinion was not asked . They rode, they marched,they drilled, they fought, they slept and they died.Each of those men has a story to tell . Some of thosestories weave together Yosemite, Sequoia and the Presidioof San Francisco into one narrative. The Buffalo Soldiersof the Sierra Nevada are just a few of those stories . Allthrough the South, countless other George Metcalfs waitto speak . All they need is someone willing to listen.When I peer into the muster rolls that house all thenames, all the lives in this story of wilderness protectorsand national parks, I glimpse in that black andwhite space at least 400 other shadows that once wereliving men . They still wait to be found . Most are likeGeorge Metcalf in that they were from the South, butsome hail from other places, northern cities like Boston,Philadelphia and Chicago ; or western cities like KansasCity, Denver and San Francisco . What are their stories?Who prayed for them? Who prays for them now? Areflowers still strewn over their graves, or do they lie forgottenin the shade of trees?Once upon a time the Ninth Cavalry rode in Yosemiteand Sequoia . These mountains heard their laughter, theircries . The shadows remember them . The shadows speak.This is the beginning.Shelton Johnson has worked as a ranger for theNational Park Service since 1987 and in Yosemitefor the last 15 years. During the summer months heperforms as Sgt. Elizy Boman of the Ninth Cavalryas part of Yosemite Theatre. He has written a novelabout a Yosemite buffalo soldier which will bepublished by Sierra Club Books in 2009.African-American cavalrymen, called "buffalo soldiers " by Native Americans for the texture of their hair, patrolled Yosemturn of the century.e during theYOSEMITE ASSOCIATION, FALL 2008 15