Civil War Washington

CASE.—Private Gilbert McMurtree, Co. F, 25th New York Volunteers, was wounded at Fredericksburg, December 13th, 1862, by a conoidal ball, which entered just above the interclavicular notch of the sternum and lodged near the superior angle of the scapula. He was treated in the field until the 19th, when he was transferred to the 3d division hospital, Alexandria, where, on the next day, Assistant Surgeon W. A. Conover, U. S. V., removed the missile. Simple dressings were applied to the wound. On January 9th, he was transferred to Lovell Hospital, Portsmouth Grove, Rhode Island, whence he was returned to duty on February 5th, 1863, and probably had no further inconvenience from the wound as his name does not appear on the Pension List. The missile, represented in the adjacent cut (FIG. 207), was contributed to the Museum by the operator. The longitudinal groove may have been caused by contact with bone; but there was no symptom of injury of the osseous tissue.