DUANE
Duane's take
The marker's got the story, and here's how I tell it. Comanche County, Texas — and we're talkin' about Mollie E. Moore, born 1844, died 1909, and somewhere between those two years she packed in enough living for about four ordinary people.
Now settle in, because this one's worth the telling. During the Civil War, Mollie was writing poems — and not the kind that just sat politely on a shelf somewhere. Texans were memorizing these things, cutting them out of newspapers, folding them up, and sending them off to their boys on the battlefront.
Poems about the deaths of heroes. About Texans' units. About Confederate victories.
The kind of words that soldiers carried in their pockets and mothers kept pressed in their Bibles. That's the reach she had before she was even grown into her full reputation. And while her words were traveling the mail routes to the front, Mollie herself wasn't exactly sitting still back home.
She was doing social work and nursing at Camp Ford, out in Tyler. And here's the detail I love most about her — she was described as a lively, spirited girl who went horseback riding with a pistol strapped to her side. Just let that image settle for a moment.
Poems for the grieving, nursing for the suffering, and a pistol on her hip for the ride home. That is a particular kind of Texas woman. After the war, her reputation didn't fade — it grew.
Mollie became a nationally known poet, novelist, and columnist. She married a newspaper editor. She led New Orleans society for twenty years.
Twenty years. The kind of presence that doesn't just attend a room, it defines one. And yet, for all that national fame, she kept coming back to this corner of Texas — near this very marker site, at Old Mooresville, the place now known as Proctor, where she often visited her brother's family.
The girl who rode out with a pistol, who put words in soldiers' pockets, who conquered New Orleans — she still came home to Comanche County. Some stories end with a flourish. This one ends on a porch.
What the marker says
(1844-1909) During the Civil War, wrote poems Texans memorized, cut out of newspapers, sent their boys on the battlefront: about the deaths of heroes, Texans' units, Confederate victories and such topics. She also did social work and nursing at Camp Ford, Tyler. She was a lively, spirited girl who went horseback riding with a pistol strapped to her side. After war, became nationally known poet, novelist, columnist. Married a newspaper editor. Led New Orleans society 20 years. Near this marker site, at Old Mooresville (now Proctor) often visited her brother's family. (1965)