It has been said that “everything is connected.” This idea became popularized by the metaphysics of the New Age and in quantum physics in the late 20th Century. This turns out to be true about historical research. The more historical research one does on a subject, the more the threads of culture and back stories are seen to intertwine and connect together to other subjects. The ever-expanding Internet keeps bringing in more data that seems to confirm that theory. People, movements, and events can have logical, but sometimes strange connections.
One such story we came across in our research on Dr. Walter B. Guy was one of his patients, indeed, one of his neighbors while living in Roxbury, Massachusetts. This was the case of General Nathan Dudley, a resident of 206 Dudley St. in Roxbury. Dr. and Mrs. Guy lived at 216 Dudley St. Whatever their relationship as neighbors, they were aware of each other, and perhaps because of their shared social standing were connected to some of the same circles. In their world, this would likely been teas, church, and the Republican Party, since Dudley was a staunch Union man, and the Guys were progressives. At that time to be for reform, or liberal ideals meant one was aligned with the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, and Roosevelt.
General Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley (1825-1910) was an officer in the U. S. Army, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and later was an officer on the Western frontier in numerous locations. One of his roles was as Indian fighter. Another was as leader of a detachment of Buffalo Soldiers, one of the famous African-American regiments organized after the Civil War to serve out West.
Dudley was both famous and infamous, for having led the 30th Massachusetts Volunteers in the Civil War and his post-war service in New Mexico. While serving with distinction in the Civil War, Dudley was later condemned for taking sides in a range war in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory, later sensationalized in movies about Billy the Kid and cattle baron John Chisum, played by John Wayne. He also served in General Buell’s expedition to track down the Apaches and their leader Vitorio. The Apaches had fled into Mexico after fighting and successfully evading American forces in New Mexico and Texas. These events were the subject of a good half dozen Western movies. One of our favorites is Major Dundee, starring Charlton Heston and Richard Harris.
In 1910, as reported by the Boston newspapers, Doctor Guy attended the death of General Nathan Dudley at 206 Dudley St. in Roxbury. There wasn’t a lot the good doctor could do except “watch and wait.” At that time Dr. Guy would have used chemistry as medicine and homeopathic remedies. “Chemistry” in this type of practice did not necessarily mean pharmaceutical drugs, but chemicals used as therapeutic agents. One such chemical medicine, hydrochloric acid, would become Dr. Guys focus in research and practice in the late 1920s. In 1910 hydrochloric acid or HCL would have been known as a treatment for dyspepsia, but not as a cure for chronic and serious diseases.
The photo bove is the cover of a biography of General Dudley byt E. Donald Kaye.