Title: Lee, Luke

Source text: The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. (1861-65.), Part 2, Volume 1 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1879), 195.

Keywords:diarrhœa and dysenteryfatal cases of diarrhœa and dysentery, with accounts of the morbid appearances observedfrom the Third Division of the Alexandria Hospital, Virginiachronic diarrhœa, over two monthsmiddle and lower lobes of lung congestedthickened coats of large intestine near sigmoid flexurelumen of bowel diminished to one-fourth natural diameterautopsy performed

Civil War Washington ID: med.d1e41512

TEI/XML: med.d1e41512.xml


Case from the case-book of the THIRD DIVISION of the ALEXANDRIA HOSPITAL, Surgeon Edwin Bentley, U. S. V., in charge:⃰


CASE 483.—Private Luke Lee, company E, 2d Maryland Cavalry; admitted February 12, 1863. Chronic diarrhœa of over two months standing. The patient was much emaciated; had no appetite; great thirst; eight or ten painful passages daily. In the treatment astringents were chiefly relied upon, with Dover's powder or sulphate of morphia at night to induce sleep. Strict attention was paid to the diet, only farinaceous food being allowed. The patient improved gradually, and during the second week in March was allowed to have his clothes. He took cold March 16th. The diarrhœa recurred more severely than ever; he became very much prostrated, and died April 14th. Autopsy ten hours after death: The middle and lower lobes of the right lung were congested. There was great constriction and thickening of the coats of the large intestine in the vicinity of the sigmoid flexure, the lumen of the bowel being diminished to about one-fourth its natural diameter.


⃰ It is to be regretted that, in most instances, the records of this hospital do not show by whom the autopsies were made. It is known that many of them were made by Surgeon Bentley himself, or under his immediate supervision, but it is only possible to distinguish these from the others in a few cases.