Civil War Washington

CASE 215.—Private John W——, Co. H, 4th Virginia Cavalry, Colonel Mosby's command, was wounded, at Warrenton Junction, May 2, 1863, by a carbine ball, which entered the left side of the abdomen just above the iliac crest, and passed out of the opposite side. He was admitted to the 1st division hospital, at Alexandria, on the same day. He suffered intense pain, which was but slightly relieved by anodynes, and died, in great agony, on the 5th. At the autopsy, it was observed that considerable inflammatory action had taken place; the bowels were agglutinated together, and there was a thick deposit of yellowish lymph. The small intestine was perforated in two places (FIG. 4546), and from the openings, which were large and ragged, a number of lumbricoid worms had crawled into the cavity of the abdomen. Fæcal matter, also, had been extravasated. The preparation and the notes of the case were contributed by Surgeon Charles Page, U. S. A.