Civil War Washington

CASE.—Private John Lynn, Co. F, 37th Wisconsin Volunteers, aged 23 years, was wounded at the battle of South Side Railroad, April 2d, 1865, by a conoidal ball, which entered the body of the left malar bone, passed through the buccal cavity, and made its exit through the body of the inferior maxilla, near its right angle, comminuting both bones. He was conveyed by steamer to Washington, and admitted into Harewood Hospital April 5th. The treatment of the patient was rendered somewhat difficult from the fact that the passage of the ball through the buccal cavity had produced intense pharyngitis and œdema of the adjacent tissues, so that the food, though carefully selected, could only be with difficulty administered; while the particles of food and salivary secretions could only effectually be removed by syringing through both wounds of entrance and exit. Secondary hæmorrhage from the internal maxillary and facial arteries occurred April 9th, amounting to thirty ounces of blood. The sinking of the patient was so decided as to be beyond the control of any operative measures or medicinal treatment. The patient died April 9th, 1865. The post-mortem examination showed that the facial artery, at the point where it passes over the inferior maxilla, had been laid open. The case is reported by Surgeon R. B. Bontecou, U. S. V.