Civil War Washington

CASE.—Second Lieutenant Isaac Branson, Co. E, 19th Indiana Volunteers, aged 28 years, was wounded at the battle of South Mountain, September 14th, 1862, by a round musket ball, which entered the mastoid portion of the left temporal bone about one and a half inches above and behind the meatus auditorius externus, and lodged. After remaining insensible for a few minutes, he attempted to rise, but being unable to control his limbs, he would constantly stumble and fall. He states that he introduced his little finger into the wound for more than an inch, and could feel the brain substance. Spiculæ of bone were removed. On September 15th, he was sent to the hospital at Frederick, and thence was transferred, on September 19th, to the Patent Office Hospital at Washington. The wound being very painful, he did not wish to have it probed, and therefore did not tell the attending surgeon that the ball remained in the wound. Simple dressings were applied. For several weeks he staggered and had fever, but never was delirious. Spiculæ of bone continued to come away for some weeks, but the wound healed gradually, and on October 3d the patient was sent to New York. He was afterward returned to his regiment, and mustered out on October 26th, 1864. He was examined on March 29th, 1866, by Dr. G. W. H. Kemper. A prominent scar marks the entrance of the ball, which, according to the patient's belief, remains in the cranium. He is subject to headache in the back part of the head. His intellect does not seem to be impaired. On October 7th, 1867, Pension Examiner J. C. Helm reports the patient as nearly unfit for any business, owing to vertigo, headache, and dizziness. He rates his disability as total and permanent.