Civil War Washington

CASE 1189.—Private J. Sesler, Co. H, 148th New York, aged 28 years, was wounded in the left thigh, at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864. From the field he passed to Mount Pleasant Hospital, at Washington, and thence, on June 15th, to Mower, Philadelphia. Surgeon J. Hopkinson, U. S. V., in charge of the latter, made the following report: "The injury was caused by a musket ball passing through the inner aspect of the lower third of the limb. There was profuse discharge and extensive sloughing, extending down to and ulcerating through the femoral artery, and causing hæmorrhage to the amount of from four to six ounces on July 24th, when the vessel was ligated in its continuity, at the middle third of the thigh, one inch above the wound. Bleeding recurred to the extent of from six to eight ounces from the lower end of the artery on July 28th, when the distal end of the vessel was ligated in the wound. The operations were performed by Acting Assistant Surgeon W. P. Moon, chloroform being used in the first and ether in the last, and both being followed by prompt reaction. The patient did well afterwards. The subsequent treatment consisted of simple dressings, tonics, and stimulants." The patient was discharged from service on January 11, 1865, and pensioned. Examiner R. C. Dunham, of Seneca Falls, New York, certified, August 7, 1877, to the injury, and added that the muscular structures and integuments on the inner side of the limb have sloughed out, and that the remaining structures have healed to the bone; also that "the leg is swelled below the knee and is sore and tender to the touch; knee partially anchylosed. Some important nerves must have been wounded and are healed in the structure with the cicatrix, as the leg below the wound is very numb and weak. He cannot walk but a very little distance at a time," etc. The pensioner was paid March 4, 1882.