Civil War Washington

CASE 587.—Private W. M. Constable, Co. H, 1st U. S. Cavalry, aged 26 years, was wounded in the right knee, at Dinwiddie Court House, March 31, 1865. He was admitted to a Cavalry Corps field hospital, whence Assistant Surgeon E. J. Marsh, U. S. A., reported: "Severe fracture of external condyle of femur and of head of tibia by a bullet; treated by excision; missile removed; chloroform used." Five days after the date of the wound the limb was amputated by the circular method at the junction of the middle and lower thirds of the thigh. This operation was done at Judiciary Square Hospital, Washington, by Acting Assistant Surgeon F. H. Colton, who also, three months later, at Douglas Hospital, performed a second operation, removing a sequestrum, two inches long and one-fourth inch wide, from the stump. By August 29th the stump had entirely healed, and one week afterwards an artificial limb was fitted by the Jewett Patent Leg Co. The patient was subsequently discharged from Harewood Hospital, November 18, 1865, and pensioned. Several years afterwards he served for a period in the 44th Regiment (Invalid) of Infantry. The pensioner was paid March 4, 1880.