Civil War Washington

CASE 1069.—Private J. Scanton, Co. A, 3d Maryland, was wounded at Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862, by a musket ball, which entered above the external condyle of the left femur and passed directly through from front to rear, badly comminuting the shaft to the extent of four inches. He was admitted into the Mansion House Hospital at Alexandria several days afterwards. Infiltration of the soft parts from the anterior superior spinous process of the ilium to the spine of the tibia followed the injury. Amputation of the thigh at the middle third by the circular method was performed by Assistant Surgeon P. Adolphus, U. S. A., on August 15th. and the case resulted fatally on August 20, 1862. The history of the case, with the amputated portion of the femur, was contributed by Surgeon J. E. Summers, U. S. A. The bone is numbered specimen 42 of the Surgical Section of the Museum, and exhibits an extensive longitudinal fracture implicating the joint, and being complicated with an oblique fracture in the lowest third (FIG. 411).