DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's what stood at this very spot — and what went on inside these walls from 1861 to 1865. This is Duane, and this one's worth slowing down for. San Antonio, during the Civil War, was a hub — a genuine crossroads of troops and supply.
And wherever troops gather, trouble follows close behind. So right here, on this site, they operated a military hospital. Four years of it, start to finish, 1861 to 1865.
Now picture the reach of this place. It drew casualties and the sick from frontier commands stretching all the way from the Red River down to the Rio Grande. That is a long stretch of suffering making its way to one address.
Here's the part that doesn't get told enough. A lot of the boys who showed up weren't just wounded in battle — they were done in by diseases they had never once encountered before in their lives. Farm boys, most of them.
First time away from home, first time crowded into a camp with strangers from every corner of the state. And in those camps, whooping cough and measles moved through them like wildfire through dry grass — because for many of these young men, it was their very first exposure. Ever.
Inside the hospital, the nursing fell to convalescents — men still recovering themselves — and to volunteer ladies from right here in San Antonio who stepped up and did what needed doing. The city didn't stop there either. Local homes sent in delicate foods, and apparently the patients ate well.
In a military hospital, in wartime, that detail is no small thing. Now here's where the story gets genuinely interesting. Medical supplies were short — short enough that doctors turned to the land itself.
They sent local people out to gather wild herbs: foxglove, mullein, jimson, poke. Whatever the Texas countryside could offer, they put it to use. And then — and I want you to really hear this one — they encouraged patriots to supply narcotics.
How? By growing and milking garden poppies. Right here.
In San Antonio. Doctors asking good citizens to tend their poppy gardens for the war effort. Desperate times call for measures that, a century and a half later, raise an eyebrow or two.
Four years. Red River to Rio Grande. Farm boys, fever, foxglove, and garden poppies.
That's what this site held. And now you've driven right past it knowing the whole story.
What the marker says
Operated at this site 1861-1865, as San Antonio was a hub of Civil War troops and supply. Drew casualties and the sick of frontier commands from the Red River to Rio Grande. In camps, farm boys took whooping cough, measles--from first exposure in their lives. Convalescents and volunteer local ladies were nurses. City homes sent in delicate foods; patients ate well. To cope with medical shortage, doctors had local people gather wild herbs: foxglove, mullein, jimson, poke. Encouraged patriots to supply narcotics by growing and milking garden poppies. (1965)