Private Francis L. Whitney, Co. B, 36th
Massachusetts Volunteers, aged 24 years, was
wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor, June 3d, 1864, by a conoidal ball, which fractured the
external angle of the right orbit and the
zygomatic arch, passed inward and downward, and
lodged behind the right masseter muscle. He was
admitted to the hospital of the 2d division, Ninth
Corps, and on June 9th was sent to the Emory Hospital at Washington. He had lost considerable blood, was anæmic, comatose, and suffered extreme
pain, moaning constantly. Hæmorrhage was arrested
by compress to the external carotid, but recurred
on the 14th. The patient was placed under the
influence of ether and chloroform, when
persulphate of iron was applied to the bleeding
vessels, and the orifice plugged up with a
styptic. The ball could not be found. Hæmorrhage
recurred on June 16th, 1864. The external carotid
artery was now tied a little above the omo-hyoid
muscle, and the ball was extracted from behind the
masseter. The man died on the table from nervous
exhaustion and anæmia. No anæsthetic had been
employed at the second operation. Acting Assistant
Surgeon W. A. Ensign, the operator, reported the
case.