Civil War Washington

CASE 390.—Captain R. T. Shillinglaw, Co. I, 79th New York, aged 32 years, was wounded in the left thigh, both upper extremities, and the right temple, at Bull Run, July 21, 1861. The injury of the thigh was caused by a conoidal ball, which fractured the femur obliquely at the middle third. He was made a prisoner and conveyed to Richmond, where the fracture was treated at the Alms House Hospital, by a Desault splint for one week, and by Smith s anterior splint for twelve weeks subsequently. Slight suppuration continued for nearly a year after the injury, with occasional elimination of bits of necrosed bone. Having been exchanged on December 31, 1861, he proceeded to his home in New York City, where he was treated, for a time, by his family physician. Some months afterwards he returned to the field, and served as Acting Aid-de-Camp to General Wilcox until January 20, 1863, when he resigned the service. In August following, Captain Shillinglaw was commissioned in the Veteran Reserve Corps, in which organization he remained until August 2, 1865, when he was finally mustered out and pensioned. After leaving the service he took up his residence in Washington City, and obtained employment in the U. S. Treasury Department. The photograph, represented in the annexed cut (FIG. 152), was obtained in June, 1866, when he visited the Army Medical Museum. At that time the injured limb was shortened nearly three inches, but he could walk briskly and without a limp. He used no cane and experienced little or no inconvenience from his wounds. Examiner J. Phillips certified, February 6, 1869: "Gunshot wound of left thigh, left arm, right hand and arm, and right temple. Compound comminuted fracture of thigh bone. The bone has united crookedly, and is about three inches shorter than its fellow; the muscles are attenuated, and the nerves of the limb so affected that he is constantly suffering. Gunshot wound of left elbow joint; ball lodged near the joint, which is now so weakened as to be unserviceable for labor. Flesh wound of right hand from piece of shell. The right arm was pierced by a piece of shell, scraping the bone. This wound impairs the usefulness of the limb. A ball struck the right parietal bone. He suffers but little from this wound." This pensioner died April 14, 1870, of consumption, superinduced by an attack of pleuro-pneumonia and gunshot wounds.