Civil War Washington

CASE 617.—Private O. Derocher, Co. I, 1st Maine Heavy Artillery, aged 31 years, was wounded in the right knee, at Spottsylvania​, May 19, 1864, by a conoidal musket ball, which fractured and comminuted the patella. Three days after the reception of the injury he was admitted to Emory Hospital, Washington, the soft parts about the knee being badly swollen. On May 23d, the inner half of the patella was excised by Surgeon N. R. Moseley, U. S. V. The operation was followed by cold-water dressings. By May 30th erysipelas had invaded the limb, for which carron oil and copper wash was applied, and tincture of iron was administered. Stimulants and generous diet were allowed liberally. The patient died from the effects of constitutional irritation and exhaustion, June 10, 1864. The history and the excised bone (FIG. 241), consisting of two fragments (Cat. Surg. Sect., 1866, p. 363, Spec. 1065), were contributed by the operator.¹

¹ See also CULBERTSON (H.), Excision of the Larger Joints of the Extremities, in Trans. Am. Med. Assoc., Philadelphia, 1876. Supplement to Vol. XXVII, p. 188, Case 11.