Civil War Washington

CASE 13.—Private Seth Cooper, Co. M, 2d Massachusetts Cavalry, aged 23 years, was wounded at Vienna, Virginia, December 21st, 1863, by a conoidal ball, which entered at a point one-half inch in front of and above the left ear. He was taken to the field hospital, where the wound was examined and search made for the ball. A probe could he passed through the point of entrance to the condyle of the occipital bone, which obstructed and changed the course of the ball, it being impossible to trace it further. Perfect quiet and rest were enjoined, with the expectation that the ball would become encysted. Three weeks later inflammation set in and rigors commenced, and the patient's life demanded that the ball should be found and removed. A probe was again introduced to the condyle of the occipital bone, a free incision made down to the end of the probe, the finger passed downward to and under the clavicle, when the ball was found resting upon the apex of the lung and was removed. The wound healed by granulations, and recovery ensued, with paralysis of the facial muscles of the injured side. On June 11th, 1864, he was transferred to Campbell Hospital, Washington; on July 2d, to Cony Hospital, Augusta, Maine, and, on July 14th, to the hospital at Readville, Massachusetts, whence he was returned to duty November 9th, 1864. He was discharged from service April 4th, 1865. Pension Examiner George W. Farrar, under date of July 26th, 1867, says, that the right side of the face is paralysed and that the pensioner suffers from severe attacks of neuralgia. His health is seriously impaired. Disability one-half and permanent. His name was still borne on the Pension List on June 4th, 1872.