Civil War Washington

Case from the case-book of the SATTERLEE HOSPITAL, West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Surgeon Isaac I. Hayes, U. S. V., in charge. . . . [Many] patients were sent to Satterlee hospital from the Army of the Potomac . . . and had contracted their disease . . . during the ill-fated Peninsular campaign.

CASE 177.—Private Robert Bedell, company H, 74th New York volunteers; age 45; admitted June 25, 1863, from Harewood hospital, Washington, D. C. Chronic diarrhœa. [The records of the regimental hospital of the 74th New York show that this man was admitted to that hospital, then at Camp Kearney, near Alexandria, Virginia, October 29, 1862, for diarrhœa, and returned to duty October 30th. He was again admitted to regimental hospital, then at Camp Sickles, near Manassas, Virginia, November 4th, with the same disease, and returned to duty November 5th. He was admitted a third time to regimental hospital, then near Warrenton Junction, Virginia, November 12th; the diagnosis recorded is dysentery. He was returned to duty November 18th. He was admitted a fourth time to regimental hospital, then near Fredericksburg, Virginia, February 8, 1863—dysentery—and returned to duty February 9th; the regimental hospital still remaining near Fredericksburg, he was treated for the fifth time, from February 12th to February 14th, and a sixth time, from March 5th to April 19th, the diagnosis now being diarrhœa. April 19th he was transferred to general hospital. He next appears on the register of the Harewood hospital, Washington, D. C., where he was admitted June 14th, for chronic diarrhœa, and transferred to Philadelphia June 24th.] Died, September 22d. Autopsy: Body well nourished; suggillation posteriorly. There were a few old adhesions of the right lung to the pleura and diaphragm; the left fifth rib was bifurcated. Large clots were found in both sides of the heart, especially in the right; the pericardium contained half an ounce of fluid. The liver and gall-bladder were healthy. The spleen was small. The stomach inflamed throughout, especially near its cardiac orifice. The ileum was congested on the peritoneal surface, internally inflamed throughout; Peyer's patches were not thickened. The colon was inflamed and thickened.—Acting Assistant Surgeon E. A. Smith.