A Curious Mortal Wound

[Old Bay]

Taken from Robert K. Krick's Stonewall at Cedar Mountain, p. 129:

One of the casualties in the 37th Virginia was a sadly peculiar one. Samuel Combs of Company G was a "vigorous and strong" young fellow "of fine physical appearance." He was a newcomer to the regiment and had never been under fire. A ball passed just under the skin of his calf for no more than two inches and came out the back of his leg. Little blood flowed; no artery had been touched; and " no reason could be assigned for serious results." Nevertheless, Combs "was greatly excited and died in a few minutes."
​

I know very little about the medical field and how the body deals with trauma so I wonder. What coud've been the reasoning behind this?

 

[Drew]

Shock; heart attack? That this man "was greatly excited and died in a few minutes" suggests something was going on that may not have been understood at the time.

 

[chellers]

Could have had a blood clot that reached his heart...

 

[rpkennedy]

My guess is that he may have had a congenital heart defect of some kind.

R

 

[Drew]

Could have had a blood clot that reached his heart...

Spoken by a a health care professional I will note.....

 

[huskerblitz]

I would also go with a heart ailment. Would there be enough elapsed time for a blood clot to form and travel to the heart?

 

[Allie]

I would also go with a heart ailment. Would there be enough elapsed time for a blood clot to form and travel to the heart?

Not a medical professional, but I would think so... Would go through the lungs first, wouldn't it? Also possible a fragment of ball traveled to his heart or something. Chellers is right, the "greatly excited" thing suggests a blood clot, being really upset and anxious is on the list of symptoms of pulmonary embolism, which doesn't always present with as much chest pain as you might think. A modern example of a pulmonary embolism mistaken for a panic attack:
http://www.jems.com/articles/print/...mmon-panic-attack-symptoms-could-be-so-0.html

Of course it could just be shock.

 

[M.Warren]

Shock is 20% or 1/5 loss of your bodies total blood volume isn't it? I also thought fragment, clot, or panic induced blood pressure to the point of causing the onset of a preexisting heart condition. Interesting to say the least.

 

[huskerblitz]

I asked my wife who was a trauma nurse. She said it didn't sound like a clot...not enough time but admits 'a few minutes' makes a lot of difference. She said it is possible to scare ones self to death but other than that she thinks probably a heart condition he didn't know he had.

 

[FarawayFriend]

I have heard of severely wounded people who felt no or or only little pain due to the adrenaline and amazingly just continued as if nothing bad had happened. This here, interestingly, seems to be the exact opposite. Sad and tragic, IMHO.

 

[huskerblitz]

I have heard of severely wounded people who felt no or or only little pain due to the adrenaline and amazingly just continued as if nothing bad had happened. This here, interestingly, seems to be the exact opposite. Sad and tragic, IMHO.

Not sure this is the opposite. Could have been the same, but just the realization that he had been hit caused his 'excitement.'

 

[FarawayFriend]

Not sure this is the opposite. Could have been the same, but just the realization that he had been hit caused his 'excitement.'

Right, maybe it was the same, adrenaline working, but with opposite effects.

 

[DR_Hanna]

When I was growing up I had a friend whose sister died on the operating table from a blood clot originating from her leg during surgery I am told, so it seems possible that it could happen pretty quick.

 

[diane]

This is really interesting. I've been wondering for some time about anecdotes of people who died from a shot that missed them. Mr Combs there wasn't missed, but wasn't hurt much either - it almost missed, sounds like. Adrenalin is something - my uncle, who was at Normandy, said he watched a soldier shake his arm out of his sleeve and continue fighting as if nothing had happened. A P Hill and Forrest both had a cannon ball breeze past their calves and paralyze them, lots of blood, but nothing more. These balls didn't hit them, you see. Just seemed to pull off some hide. The old wooden navy of Britain was full of stories of whole gun crews dropping dead from a cannonball that never came anywhere near them - the concussion did it. Do you suppose something like that happened to Combs?

 

[yellowthornoftexas]

As a TacMedic, I'm betting on part shock and the opposite effect of adrenaline, causing a heart attack.
Many cases documented of soldiers in other wars dying of "simple" wounds, they just gave up.

 

[M.Warren]

As a TacMedic, I'm betting on part shock and the opposite effect of adrenaline, causing a heart attack.
Many cases documented of soldiers in other wars dying of "simple" wounds, they just gave up.

Yes, The mental shock and adrenaline makes since. When shock was mentioned earlier I though people were referring to Hypovolemic shock which would not be the case with little or no blood loss.

 

[M.Warren]

This is really interesting. I've been wondering for some time about anecdotes of people who died from a shot that missed them. Mr Combs there wasn't missed, but wasn't hurt much either - it almost missed, sounds like. Adrenalin is something - my uncle, who was at Normandy, said he watched a soldier shake his arm out of his sleeve and continue fighting as if nothing had happened. A P Hill and Forrest both had a cannon ball breeze past their calves and paralyze them, lots of blood, but nothing more. These balls didn't hit them, you see. Just seemed to pull off some hide. The old wooden navy of Britain was full of stories of whole gun crews dropping dead from a cannonball that never came anywhere near them - the concussion did it. Do you suppose something like that happened to Combs?

Indeed. Overpressure is a real thing for sure. Even the overpressure from small arms fire closely missing you will give you one heck of a headache! I first noticed it in the target pits on the rifle range in basic. After about 10 rounds snapping over my head felt like it was going to pop.

 

[FarawayFriend]

I'm always impressed how the brain can influence physical reactions. I have heard of a case in which someone was told under hypnosis that he will be touched with hot metal. He was then indeed touched with metal, but of course the metal was cold. He developed a blister, though. Therefore I can very well imagine that the mere thought that a bullet might have caused a fatal wound could have led to the death of that young soldier.
I have found an article in "The American Journal of Psychatry" describing this effect and many more. Here is the abstract;

"A 27-year-old combat soldier was admitted to a general hospital overseas because of hysterical blindness. He proved to be a good hypnotic subject and vision was restored after one session. In a subsequent hypnotic session a second degree burn with blister formation was induced on the dorsum of one hand. The blister was noted at the end of one hour and was fully developed approximately four hours later. A herpetiform lesion, clinically similar in all respects to a true herpes simplex, was made to appear in a specified area about the mouth twenty-four hours after the suggestion was given under deep hypnosis. In both instances there was an attempt made to induce affective changes in addition to the direct suggestions given. Under hypnosis it is possible to demonstrate an inter-relationship between the psychic processes and localized peripheral effects which far transcends the ability of the individual in the conscious state."

For a full text version, look here:
http://siivola.org/monte/papers_gro...Second_Degree_Burn_Induced_Under_Hypnosis.htm