Civil War Washington

CASE 964.—Fracture of ribs by a fall from a horse.—Lieutenant E. Whitfield, Co. I, 22d New York Cavalry, aged 29 years, was injured in the right side by falling from his horse near Leesburg, July 12, 1864. Acting Assistant Surgeon A. Edelin, who attended him at Washington, reported that the injury involved a "fracture of ribs, which had not yet united on October 19." Several weeks later the patient obtained a leave of absence, and on December 19, 1864, he was discharged from service and pensioned. Examiner J. D. Button, of Auburn, N. Y., certified, February 9, 1870: "The sixth and seventh ribs on the right side were fractured and dislocated from the sternum, and not being properly adjusted an imperfect cure was the result. There is a projection of two inches outward from the chest at the ends of those two fractured ribs, which are not joined to the sternum. The muscles which move the arm are weakened and exercise causes pain." Subsequent examiners report the existence of an ulcer on the left thigh, alleged to be the result of a wound of the knee by a spent ball, which was also corroborated by the Auburn Examining Board. The latter, on December 5, 1877, described the projection caused by the fractured ribs, and added that the pensioner "has an anxious expression of countenance; distended nasal alas​; respiration easily disturbed; loud resonance and weak respiration in right lung, indicating emphysematous condition of the lung." The pensioner was paid September 4, 1881.