Civil War Washington

CASE 296.—Lieutenant J. S. Harrold, Co. H, 14th Indiana, aged 22 years, was wounded at Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, by a conical ball, which entered an inch and a quarter below the umbilicus and a quarter of an inch to the left of the median line. The patient was sent by rail to Aquia Creek, and thence, on the transport steamer Mary Washington, to Georgetown, and was admitted to Seminary Hospital on May 6th, where Acting Assistant Surgeon Woodbury reported that "the appearance of the wounded man was good; there was slight pain in the abdomen, and nausea; the bowels moved very frequently; the wound looked well. The appearances indicated that the ball, entering the abdomen midway between the pubes and umbilicus, in the median line, had passed on, channeling the bowel in its course. The patient's statement is, that he has been troubled with giddiness and nausea—had also pain and difficult micturition—and no appetite; took medicine from several surgeons on the boat, but does not know its nature. On the morning of May 8th, he had slight pain in the abdomen, and at four in the afternoon there was a yellow, scanty, alvine dejection, that contained a minié ball. After this the patient was comparatively comfortable, but there was nausea and some diarrhœa, and he was directed to take one-eighth of a grain of sulphate of morphia in mint water. There was vomiting in the morning, and diarrhœa recurred, but not in a severe form, and he was ordered an injection of starch and laudanum, which was repeated on the 14th, when the patient looked much better, and the wound was in excellent condition. On the 18th, vomiting and epigastric pain recurred, and required the use of fomentations and neutral mixture. The nausea and irritability of the bowels returned, at intervals, until the 10th of June, but there was a gradual improvement in the general condition notwithstanding these drawbacks. On the 13th, the officer went home on leave of absence. On September 19th, he was mustered out, and afterward pensioned. Though recorded as discharged at this date, this officer would appear to have seen much active service subsequently, since the report of Pension Examiner J. T. Belles, March 4, 1867, states that he was "wounded at six different times, and in different parts of the body, of which I will only mention two, as either of them alone is sufficient to entitle him to a full pension. First, he was shot in the left forearm, destroying the shaft of the ulna and causing its removal, and injuring the muscles of the part, thereby causing complete anchylosis of elbow joint, rendering the forearm useless; second, wounded in the abdomen, the ball entering at a point above it, midway of the umbilical region, and passing into the intestine, and subsequently discharged at stool. This caused considerable derangement of the muscles of the abdomen and bowels. There is sufficient irritation to cause the lower part of the bowels to discharge considerable pus. Exercise is very painful." He was still a pensioner in September, 1872.