Civil War Washington

One of eight cases observed at the FREEDMAN'S HOSPITAL, Washington, D. C., during 1865, 1866, and 1867.⃰ In none of them were the patients soldiers. Five are of interest as examples of tubercular ulceration of the intestines. Besides the specimens from these cases, several other examples of tubercular ulceration of the intestines are preserved at the Museum, which were obtained from autopsies of colored women who died at the same hospital during the period mentioned. . . . In all of them extensive tubercular deposits were found in the lungs and other organs. Most of the specimens are portions of the ileum with tubercular ulcers of the mucous membrane and miliary tubercles on the peritoneal surface opposite:

CASE 869.—Richard Tibbs; negro; age 20; admitted November 7, 1866. Died, July 27, 1867. Autopsy: Height five feet eight inches; weight 90 pounds. The right lung weighed fifteen ounces; its middle lobe contained a number of miliary tubercles; the left lung weighed seventeen ounces and presented several tubercular cavities. The aorta was atheromatous. The follicles of the duodenum were prominent. The mucous membrane of the ileum was congested; its solitary follicles enlarged; Peyer's patches ulcerated. The mucous membrane of the large intestine was congested and presented minute follicular ulcers and patches of pseudomembrane.—Hospital Steward D. S. Lamb. [No. 969, Medical Section, Army Medical Museum, is from this case. The specimen is a portion of the colon with pin-head ulcers of the solitary follicles and pseudomembranous frosting.]

⃰ During this period two of the hospital stewards on duty in the Museum, D. S. Lamb and S. S. Bond, were frequently sent to the Freedman's Hospital for the purpose of making autopsies. A considerable number of specimens illustrative of the diseases of the freedmen were thus obtained.