Civil War Washington

CASE.—Private Albert Bryant, Co. H, 19th Indiana Volunteers, was wounded at Antietam, Maryland, September 17th, 1862, by a conoidal musket ball, which entered at the right angle of the mouth, cut its way through the upper surface of the tongue, and fractured the lower jaw at its angle. He was treated in field hospital until September 29th, when he was admitted to the 1st division hospital, Alexandria, Virginia. There was persistent swelling and inflammation, with incessant suppuration inside the mouth and at the angle of the jaw. The jaws became fixed, three-fifths of an inch apart. On October 30th, a large piece of loose bone, triangular in shape and an inch in altitude, consisting of the angle of the jaw, was extracted by Surgeon John E. Summers, U. S. A., and the presence of the ball detected. On November 4th, the patient was chloroformed, and search being made for the ball, it was at length discovered firmly imbedded outside and beyond the angle of the jaw, whence it was extracted with very great difficulty. The patient recovered, and was returned to duty on November 18th, 1862. The missile, a conoidal ball, with a longitudinal half, obliquely and roughly torn off, and the opposite side of the cup rolled up outwardly upon itself, was contributed to the Army Medical Museum by Acting Assistant Surgeon George F. French, and is numbered 2976 of the Surgical Section. Bryant is not a pensioner.