GRAPHIC 10 Civil War Soldiers Who Were Shot Through the Head and Survived

Do we know if he was related to Lt. Colonel Charles R. Mudge who was killed leading the 2nd Massachusetts at Gettysburg?
They were cousins of some kind, I believe. Charles Redington Mudge was the son of Enoch Redington Mudge; William Ropes Mudge was the son of Ezra Warren Mudge. I don't think they were first cousins, so it would have had to have been somewhere further back.
 
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All head shots. What of the ineffectiveness of rifled guns in the CW that's been bandied about by new-age historians of late?
 
Found another man who was shot through the head and survived.

Lieut. James Marshall Hair (23 Oct 1839 - 18 Jan 1911) enlisted 18 Sept 1861 at Fort Johnson, Cole's Island, SC as a 21 year old Private into Capt. W. H. Duncan's company, 1st South Carolina (Hagood's) Infantry which became company G, later E, of the 1st SC.

At the Battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, Hair received a gunshot wound to the head which passed from his right temple and exited his left cheek. He was admitted to CSA General Hospital, Charlottesville, VA June 8, 1864 and was transferred to Augusta GA June 9, 1864. He was retired to the Invalid Corps on January 3, 1865.

In Feb. 1867, James M. Hair married Harriet Sarah Matthews. Between 1870-1885, the couple had seven children - three boys and four girls. He died in 1911 at the age of 71 and was buried at Williston Cemetery, Barnwell County, SC.

Describing Lt. Hair's wounding at the Wilderness, the regimental historian, Sgt. Frank M. Mixson wrote:
Lieut. Hair, being on my right, turned his head to the left to talk to me. We were all lying flat on our bellies. As he turned to speak to me a minnie ball hit him in the right temple, passing directly through his face and head, coming out in the left cheek. His head fell flat to the ground. I put my hand under his head, holding it up. The blood gushed from his temple, his eyes, his nose, his mouth. I held him thus until the blood in a manner stopped, then taking his handkerchief I wiped his eyes and asked him if he could get back. He thought he could and, on standing up, a minnie ball cut his tobacco pouch from his coat. However, he started back, and after running perhaps a hundred yards, I saw him almost turn a somersault. I thought he was a "goner," but he is yet alive, living at Williston, and making a good, upright, intelligent citizen.​
[Source: Mixson, Frank M., Reminiscences of a Private, The State Company, Columbia, SC., 1910. pp 69-70.]
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Do we have any forum members who have expertise on head wounds? It is my understanding that it is the speed of the bullet passing through the brain that causes the most damage. A slow moving bullet does cause damage but is survivable. I was told the real damage is the shock waves the bullet causes as it passes through the brain and the vacuum created behind the moving bullet.
 
Sgt Walter Rotherham Co D 7th NJ
On July 2 Sgt Rotherham was struck in the head just above his ear. He was left on the field as the Regiment retreated from the Peach Orchard area. On July 4 members of the 7th returned to look for survivors. Rotherham was found seated on the ground confused but alert. He was taken to a field hospital where his wound was probed. The surgeon stuck his middle finger in round hole. His finger could feel the man's brain above and his bony brain pan below. He could not locate the bullet. Rotherham was sent to a hospital in Baltimore where he developed a severe fever. The fever broke when he passed fragments of bone and his cap from the open wound. He was discharged and sent home. In 1880 on his pension request he said the wound was still open and discharging. He suffered from vertigo, could not lift his head or he became violently ill. Finally he could not sleep on his back as he would have violent and disturbing nightmares. He was given half a pension.
 
Some more NJ boys who suffered head wounds and survived
Priv John Gallager 5th NJ-Struck in forehead June 1 1862 severe bleeding, returned to regiment July 25,1862, still suffering from vertigo
Corp David Patterson Co E 8th NJ- Wounded in head May 3, 1863, bullet removed, brain exposed, in VRC Aug 20, 1864, discharged Sept 1864
Priv Brazilla Grant Co A 6th NJ-Wounded across forehead May 5,1862, exposed brain, discharged Aug 8, 1862 due to partial paralysis to right side
Corp John Taylor Co D 5th NJ-Gunshot wound to scalp June 1, 1862 ,severe bleeding, returned to duty Aug 19,1862
 
Miraculously Jacob Miller of the 9th Indiana survived being shot in the center of the forehead during the Battle of Chickamauga on September 19, 1863, 158 years ago today. According to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, he reported as follows:

"I stopped [a] full charge of lead, consisting of one round ball and three buckshot, between the eyes, passing to the left under the frontal bone crushing my left eye out of the cavity well. I thought I was done for."

Evidently, Miller had a good sense of humor concerning the incident. Years later, he wrote, "if it [were] possible for me to meet the deluded enemy that shot me I should congratulate him on being a center shot, for that gives me the name of 'Center Shot.'"
 
John F. Davis (D/2nd OH)
John F. Davis was born in 1837 at Key West Florida. He enlisted in the 2nd Ohio and was wounded through the head at Perryville. According to the report below, which was published in The National Tribune, the ball entered his left temple and passed through his head, exiting on the right side. Miraculously, he was not blinded by the track of the ball, which passed entirely through his head. He recovered and rejoined his regiment less than five months later, on March 1, 1863. < @gunny possible clue as to the position of the 2nd Ohio at Perryville?>
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The National Tribune., January 06, 1898, page 5.

In 1880, he was enumerated on the US Census at Newport, Campbell County, Kentucky as a "Government Store Keeper" living on Berry Avenue with his wife Amanda and four children.
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He died December 22, 1897 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Campbell County KY.
 
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Did the family succeed with the reprinting of the book? Hmm, Looking for it now.
 
This thread adds a few more:
 
Do we have any forum members who have expertise on head wounds? It is my understanding that it is the speed of the bullet passing through the brain that causes the most damage. A slow moving bullet does cause damage but is survivable. I was told the real damage is the shock waves the bullet causes as it passes through the brain and the vacuum created behind the moving bullet.
Well I know of a case where the copper jacket separated from the lead round. The lead round did not over penetrate but rested against the far side of the skull opposite the entry point. The serrated copper jacket spun around inside the skull slicing up the brain.
 
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