Civil War Washington

CASE 463.—Brigadier-General​ E. Kirby, U. S. V., First Lieutenant, U. S. Artillery, was wounded at Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863. He was admitted to the Artillery Brigade Hospital, Second Corps, whence Surgeon J. H. Merrill, 1st Rhode Island Artillery, reported: "Wound in lower third of left thigh by two bullets from a spherical case shot. Patient sent immediately to Washington." Surgeon B. Norris, U. S. A., under whose care the patient came to Washington, reported the following description and result of the injury: "Two round balls entered the thigh about two inches above the condyles, producing a comminuted fracture of the lower third of the femur. The case came under my treatment on May 5th, and amputation at the middle third by the circular method was performed on May 10th. The tourniquet was used, and chloroform employed as the anæsthetic. One ball was found embedded in the medullary canal of the femur, and the other in the vastus externus muscle. The operation was followed by increase of fever, which rapidly assumed the typhoid type. This brave young officer survived the operation eighteen days, and died of pyæmia May 28, 1863." The amputated portion of the femur was contributed to the Museum by the operator (Cat. Surg. Sect., 1866, p. 290, Spec. 1076), and is represented in PLATE XLII, opposite.