Civil War Washington

CASE.—Private William A. J——, Co. E, 7th West Virginia Volunteers, aged 26 years, was wounded in the engagement on the Weldon Railroad, October 27th, 1864, by a conoidal musket ball, which entered at the right upper angle of the sternum, passed under the clavicle, and lodged in the thorax. The wound was plugged with lint, and the wounded man was conveyed to City Point, and thence, on an hospital steamer, to Washington, where he was received at Emory Hospital. On October 30th, he was kept quiet, with a simple dressing to the wound. On the 31st, he was placed under the influence of chloroform, and an exploration was made for the ball, which led to a profuse hæmorrhage. Plugging the wound was the only alternative. Afterwards a compress and bandages were applied. On November 1st, the patient suffered greatly from dyspnœa caused by hæmothorax. The blood effused in the mediastinum appeared to compress the trachea. He died on November 2d, 1864, five days after the reception of the wound. The autopsy was made by Surgeon N. R. Moseley, U. S. V., in charge of the hospital. The ball was found resting against the innominata, having ruptured its coats and produced a diffused aneurism. The opening in the innominata is oval, nearly half an inch long, and is situated on the front part of the vessel, a little way below the bifurcation into carotid and subclavian. The specimen was contributed to the Army Medical Museum by Surgeon Moseley, and is No. 3410 of the Surgical series. The clinical notes were furnished by the ward Surgeon, Dr. C. B. McQuesten.