Civil War Washington

Case from the case-book and medical descriptive lists of the HAREWOOD HOSPITAL, Washington, D. C., Surgeon Reed B. Bontecou, U. S. V., in charge:

CASE 300.—Private William Armstead, company C, 2d United States colored troops; admitted January 17, 1866. Chronic dysentery, contracted while on duty with his regiment in Florida. At the time of admission the patient was in a dying condition, and had profuse hæmorrhage from the bowels; this was controlled by astringent injections, and supporting measures were employed, together with opiates and astringents. He rapidly sank, however, and died January 23d. Autopsy: The solitary follicles of the ileum were enlarged, and there was a deposit of black pigment in the patches of Peyer and in the summits of the villi. The colon was thickened, ulcerated, and coated with pseudomembrane between the ulcers.—Surgeon Reed B. Bontecou. [Nos. 704 to 706, Medical Section, Army Medical Museum, are from this case. No. 704 is a portion of the ileum, taken near its middle, in which the solitary follicles are enlarged and the villi hypertrophied. When fresh, the extremity of each villus presented a black pigment deposit. No. 705 is the lower extremity of the ileum, with the ileo-cæcal valve and a small portion of the cæcum. The last Peyer's patch is somewhat thickened; the surrounding mucous membrane presents the same lesions as No. 704. No. 708 is a portion of the descending colon, which is considerably thickened and ulcerated. The ulcers are fringed with pseudomembrane, which hangs in shreds from their edges.]