Alexander's Distillery

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Alexander's Distillery. Out here in Bell County, on this very site, William R. Alexander ran a distillery from 1861 to 1865, right through the whole hard stretch of the Civil War.

Now, running a distillery in wartime Texas sounds like a fine arrangement, until Governor Francis R. Lubbock stepped in. On May 28, 1862, the Governor closed all Texas distilleries.

Every last one. The reason was grain. The army needed it, the people needed it, and whiskey, however beloved, was not winning the argument.

So the stills went cold. But here is where the story turns, because the army had a different kind of need that nobody had fully reckoned with. Medicinal liquor.

For opiate and stimulant purposes, the military needed it, and they needed it badly enough that Governor Lubbock turned right around and ordered a select few distilleries back open. Alexander's was one of them. That is worth sitting with for a moment.

The same hand that shut it down reached back and said, no, this one we need. And so the William R. Alexander Distillery kept working while Texas and the Confederacy bled through the war.

The distillery was not the only thing Texans pressed into service, either. All across the state, people were scraping together whatever they could. Bandages.

Sewing silk. Lint. Polk weed.

Peach bark. Barilla. Home remedies and humble materials shipped off to military units wherever they were needed.

In drastic medical shortages, Texans throughout the Civil War gave such help as they could. That line from the marker is quiet, but it carries a weight. Such help as they could.

Sometimes that meant whiskey from a reopened still. Sometimes it meant lint and peach bark from a farmhouse. The war took what it required, and the people gave what they had.

What the marker says

On this site in 1861-65, the William R. Alexander Distillery met a wartime need in Texas. May 28, 1862, Governor Francis R. Lubbock closed all Texas distilleries, to save grain. Army calls for medicinal liquor (for opiate and stimulant purposes) soon caused him to order a few, including Alexander's, re-opened. In drastic medical shortages, Texans throughout the Civil War gave such help as they could. Bandages, sewing silk, lint, polk weed, peach bark, barilla and other home medical aids went to various military units. (1964)