Civil War Washington

CASE 1515.—Corporal R. McClain, Co. C, 1st U. S. Sharpshooters, aged 31 years, was wounded at Mine Run, November 27, 1863, and was admitted to Fairfax Seminary Hospital, from a Third Corps field hospital, on December 4th. Surgeon D. P. Smith, U. S. V., contributed the specimen (FIG. 415) with the following notes: "Gunshot fracture of the head of the humerus. The patient being able to use the arm in writing, the severity of the injury was not suspected until December 20th, when resection was performed by Surgeon D. P. Smith, U. S. V. No bad symptoms supervened." In the Catalogue of the Surgical Section, of 1866, the preparation is described: The specimen consists of "the head of the right humerus, excised through the surgical neck for a partial fracture at the posterior portion of the anatomical neck by a conoidal ball, which lodged." The patient was discharged February 22, 1864, and pensioned. Examiner G. R. Johnson, of Grand Rapids, reported, September 7, 1869: "A musket ball struck the right humerus about two inches below the shoulder joint, passed upward and buried itself in the head of the bone. In consequence of the injury to the bone, and of the resulting inflammation, the head of the bone and about one or one and a half inches of the shaft were excised. The result is that the movements and strength of the arm are greatly impaired." The pensioner was paid September 4, 1874.