Title: Whitney, Francis L.
Source text: Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes, United States Army, The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. (1861–65.), Part 1, Volume 2 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1870), 315.
Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e17298
TEI/XML: med.d1e17298.xml
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.
