Civil War Washington

CASE 713.—Private G. Fuller, Co. H, 19th Maine, age 18 years, was wounded in the left leg, at Ream's Station, August 25, 1864, and entered Emory Hospital, Washington, three days afterwards. Acting Assistant Surgeon J. M. Downs forwarded the specimen (FIG. 275), with the following description of the injury: "The wound was produced by a musket ball, which passed through the leg near the ankle, shattering the lower third of the fibula in its course. Upon examination the operation of excision was thought advisable, and was performed, on August 29th, by Surgeon N. R. Moseley, U. S. V., who removed two and a half inches of the fibula near the ankle joint through an incision three and a half inches long. Ether and chloroform constituted the anæsthetic." The patient was subsequently transferred to Webster Hospital, Manchester, and on May 27, 1865, he was mustered out of service and pensioned. Various examining surgeons certified to the injury and operation, and Dr. C. B. Pearson, of Spring Green, Wisconsin, February 5, 1873, added: "The wound is healed, but the muscle has grown fast to the tibia so as to destroy action of the tendons," etc. Subsequent examiners corroborate the previous reports. The pensioner was paid December 4, 1879.