Civil War Washington

CASE 304.—Sergeant A. Garron, Co. K, 8th New Jersey, aged 22 years, received a gunshot wound of the abdomen at Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863. He was admitted to the regimental hospital on the same day, and transferred to Washington on May 5th, where he was admitted to Mount Pleasant Hospital on the 9th. Acting Assistant Surgeon Ira Perry gives the following information in the case: "May 9th, ball entered three inches above the pubes and one inch to the left of the median line, and still remains in; slight tympanitis​ and tenderness; pulse 108; the functions of the bladder normal. Treatment: anodynes to relieve pain and keep the bowels quiet; spirit lotion to the wound; mucilage and essence of beef. May 11th, seven o'clock A. M., for the last hour has been distressed with a hippocratic expression; pale; skin moist and cool; slight hiccough; has had a stool, and passed some fæces and offensive decomposed blood. Hoffman's anodyne and tincture of opium were given to relieve the pain. May 12th, has slept well, and, at six o'clock A. M., had a muco-purulent, sanious, and offensive alvine evacuation, with pain, which was relieved by injections of mucilage and opium. May 13th, slept well; no movement of bowels; was comfortable until five o'clock P. M., and then became restless and languid. Hoffman's anodyne, opium, and calomel were administered, with an injection of opium. May 14th, slept well; pulse 108; tongue coated, and appetite poor; abdomen full; wound one and a half inches in diameter and gangrenous; toward evening, became uneasy and vomited up everything; turpentine was applied to the abdomen, and wine or whiskey administered. On the 15th he was much the same, vomiting everything; pulse 100, and tongue coated yellowish; toward evening, he became restless, and the pulse rose to 132; he vomited everything he swallowed. May 16th, at two o'clock A. M., he was apparently dying, but perfectly sensible; was relieved by anodynes. He died at five o'clock A. M., May 16th. Autopsy, five hours after death: Some fulness​, centering at the wound; slight tympanitis​. Section showed extensive peritoneal inflammation; abdominal walls and contents agglutinated, except where there was decomposition. One large sinus was filled with pus and decomposed blood; another with gas, mostly in the bowels; and another with a pale gruel-like mixture, as though made from coarse meal. The ball passed in horizontally, perforating the sigmoid flexure of the colon, but was not found; careful search was not made, as there was great stench and decomposition and the friends were waiting for the body."