Civil War Washington

CASE 875.—Captain J. F. Denniston, Commissary of Subsistence, U. S. V., aged 24 years, was wounded in the right foot, during the engagement at the Weldon Railroad, August 25, 1864. Surgeon N. Hayward, 20th Massachusetts, reported his admission to the field hospital of the 2d division, Second Corps, with "fracture of ankle," followed by "Pirogoff's operation, performed by Surgeon G. Chaddock, 7th Michigan." Surgeon D. W. Bliss, U. S. V., who subsequently re-amputated the limb, reported that "the patient entered Armory Square Hospital, Washington, August 28th. On September 6th hæmorrhage ensued, which was controlled by styptics and a compress, but commenced again two days afterwards, when the femoral was held by the attendants for several hours. On September 10th a fresh and copious hæmorrhage set in, when, after a thorough examination of the parts, it was deemed proper to amputate at a point about three inches above the ankle, the patient being in good condition at the time. The entire loss of blood probably amounted to a pint, its source being first the anterior tibial and afterwards the femoral artery. The amputation was performed by the circular method and without much shock to the patient's system. The treatment included tonics, stimulants, and nourishing diet. Simple dressings were used. Three weeks after the operation the patient was doing well." The re-amputated stump, showing the soft tissues and the cut surfaces of the tibia and os calcis softened by suppuration, was forwarded to the Museum by the operator and constitutes specimen 3211 of the Surgical Section. In 1881 the soft tissues were removed from the specimen, when it was found that the tibia was fissured to the extent of four inches (FIG. 348). The patient was subsequently transferred to the Seminary Hospital, Georgetown, where he obtained leave of absence November 25thl, when he started for his home. He was ultimately mustered out of service January 1, 1867, and pensioned. While serving as an officer of the 70th New York, at the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862, Captain Denniston had also been wounded in the right forearm, for which injury he underwent the operation of resection of the continuity of the bones.² After leaving the service he obtained an artificial leg from the Pittsburgh Artificial Limb Manufacturing Co., and since then he has continued to report the stump of his amputated leg as being in a "healthy condition." The pensioner was paid September 4, 1881.

² See Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, Part II, Volume II, TABLE CXXVIII, p. 957, No. 23.

FIG. 348.—Bones of the right ankle joint after PIROGOFF'S amputation. Spec. 3211.

FIG. 355.—PIROGOFF'S amputation at the ankle. [After ESMARCH.]