Civil War Washington

CASE.—Lieutenant Percival Knowles, Co. K, 6th Maine Volunteers, aged 23 years, was wounded at Rappahannock Station, Virginia, November 7th, 1863, by a conoidal ball, which entered three inches above the right nipple, passed backward and downward through the right lung, and lodged in the muscles of the back, at the lower border of the scapula. On the 9th, he was admitted to Stanton Hospital, Washington. There was slight dyspnœa, with a full and irregular pulse; an absence of the respiratory murmur below the lower end of the scapula, and complete dulness​ on percussion; he suffered no pain, and but slight constitutional disturbance. The track of the wound was excised down to the ribs; the edges united by sutures deeply inserted, and the whole covered by isinglass plaster and collodion. On the 12th, there was some pain. The dyspnœa and effusion had increased, and a slight friction sound was heard at the upper and lateral part of the chest. The dressings were removed on the 14th; there was no evidence of union by first intention; the wound was suppurating. The bowels being confined, a light cathartic was given. On December 4th, the ball was extracted, and water dressings were applied. By December 22d, both wounds had healed, and effusion in the chest was nearly all absorbed. The patient was discharged from service on August 15th, 1864. Pension Examiner W. L. Nicholson reports, April 20th, 1870, that "solidification of the lung has taken place. Hæmorrhage, which was not present at the date of his discharge to any marked extent, now occurs on an average every two or three weeks, and, in my opinion, tubercles have formed. His strength has so diminished as to render labor impossible. Habits regular and moral. The case is reported by Assistant Surgeon G. A. Mursick, U. S. V.