Civil War Washington

CASE 352.—Private Robert Johnson, Co. B, 138th Pennsylvania, aged 20 years, was wounded at Mine Run, November 27, 1863. A conoidal ball entered one inch to the right of the xiphoid appendage, passed downward and forward and lodged at the anterior third of the ninth rib. The patient was treated on the field until December 5, and then transferred to the Third Division Hospital, at Alexandria. Stimulants and tonics were given, and cold-water dressings were applied to the wound. The ball was excised on December 14 by Surgeon Edwin Bentley, U. S. V. From the nature of the wound and discharge, it was evident that the ball had passed through the liver. The patient was very courageous, and, not knowing the nature of the wound, was sanguine of recovery. But rigors soon occurred and great constitutional disturbances followed, and the patient gradually sank, and died December 20, 1863. The necropsy revealed empyema of the left pleural cavity. The ball had passed through the left lobe of the liver, which, as well as the spleen, was much disorganized. The intestines were black and softened, as though the tissues were in a state of mortification. The case was reported by Acting Assistant Surgeon A. P. Crafts.