Civil War Washington

CASE.—Private Samuel McCalecher, Co. D, 3d Pennsylvania Reserves, was wounded at Bull Run, Virginia, August 28th, 1862, by a round ball, which entered two inches above the right nipple and lodged beneath the skin three inches below the inferior angle of the right scapula, comminuting the tenth rib in its exit from the chest cavity. He was treated in the field till September 3d, and then transferred to the Baptist Church Hospital, Alexandria. Bloody sputa occurred occasionally for two days after admission, and the patient suffered from pain in the right lower lobe on drawing a full breath. These symptoms soon ceased. On September 12th, slight crepitation was heard over the lower part of the right lung. On September 15th, Acting Assistant Surgeon George F. French extracted the ball from beneath the skin. The patient continued to improve, and by November 11th, was apparently well, with diminished respiratory murmur in the lower right lobe. He was discharged from service on December 1st 1862. The missile, which is irregularly and roughly battered, was forwarded to the Museum. It is represented in the wood-cut (FIG. 230). Pension Examiner H. M. Nagle reports, April 11th, 1867, that "the right lung is affected; has great pain, with weakness in chest, considerable cough and dyspnœa, which is on the increase, so that he is unable to perform any but light manual labor. General health very good. Disability three-fourths and permanent."