Civil War Washington

CASE 1204.—Private Alexander Fletcher, Co. F, 31st Maine, aged 21 years, was wounded at the Wilderness, May 6, 1864. He was removed to the field hospital of the 2d division, Ninth Army Corps, and was transferred on May 12th to Douglas Hospital, Washington. Assistant Surgeon W. Thomson, U. S. A., reported: "Gunshot flesh wounds of left arm, and side over lower ribs. On May 20th tetanus in the form both of trismus and opisthotonos appeared. Equal quantities of laudanum and tincture of valerian were given in teaspoonful doses every two hours, which alleviated the symptoms somewhat. Death resulted on May 31, 1864, from tetanus. At the autopsy it was found that the ball had entered over the lower ribs and passed down between the muscles of the abdomen over Poupart's ligament and under the femoral vessels, wounded the crural nerve, and lodged near the middle third of the femur." The specimen of the lacerated crural nerve was contributed to the Army Medical Museum by Dr. Thomson, and is numbered 3538 of the Surgical Section.