Civil War Washington

CASE 182.—Private W. J. Little, Co. I, 57th Pennsylvania, aged 22 years, was wounded at the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, and admitted to the field hospital of the 3d division, Second Corps. Surgeon O. Evarts, 20th Indiana, noted: "Gunshot wound of left hip." Surgeon D. W. Bliss, U. S. V., forwarded the specimen (Cat. Surg. Sect., 1866, p. 241, Spec. 2398) and reported: "The patient entered Armory Square Hospital, Washington, May 28th. He was wounded by a conoidal ball, which entered the right gluteal region on a line with the coccyx, two inches above the anus, passing under the fascia in a direct line and through the ramus of the ischium, comminuting the left femur at its neck, and making its exit over the great trochanter. Powerful stimulants were given but with no effect. The patient died from the effects of the injury, May 30, 1864." The specimen shown in the wood-cut (FIG. 41) consists of the bones of the left hip joint, and shows the head of the femur, with the exception of a slight fissure on its articular surface, to be uninjured.