Civil War Washington

CASE 385.—Sergeant A. Ryder, Co. B, 121st New York, aged 22 years, was wounded before Petersburg, April 2, 1865, and admitted to the field hospital of the 1st division, Sixth Corps, where Surgeon R. Sharpe, 15th New Jersey, noted: "Shot fracture of left thigh; splints applied." On the day following the injury the wounded man was sent to the Depot Hospital at City Point, and, on April 12th, he was transferred to Armory Square Hospital, Washington, whence Acting Assistant Surgeon G. K. Smith reported the following history: "The wound was caused by a conoidal ball, which struck the femur about six inches above the patella, fracturing the shaft of the bone and lodging. But slight constitutional disturbance took place, and the quantity of discharge from the wound sac very moderate. The position of the ball could not be ascertained. The patient was treated on Dr. Gurdon Buck's plan. Two weeks after his admission, the injured limb was found to be shortened one and one-quarter inches. By June 9th the wound had healed, but bony union was still incomplete and extension by weights was continued. On July 8th the femur was found to be firmly consolidated, and the patient was allowed to go about on crutches. He was mustered out of service August 2, 1865, his general health being good and his injured leg shortened less than an inch." Examiner J. C. Tibbets, of Warsaw, New York, certified, October 14, 1872: "The ball passed through the rectus muscle, fractured the bone, and lodged in the posterior pan of the thigh among the muscles, where it still remains. The muscles in the back of the leg and thigh are contracted, so that walking or even much resting on the limb causes spasms (cramps), etc." The pensioner was paid March 4, 1879. His photograph, taken at the Army Medical Museum on July 25, 1865 (Surg. Phot. Series, No. 72), is represented in FIG. 1 of PLATE LXI.