Artifact - the Antietam Arm

[CivilWarTalk]

Published on Feb 26, 2015

National Museum of Civil War Medicine Executive Director George Wunderlich talks about an unusual artifact. This video sponsored in part by the Ausherman Family Trust.

 

[lelliott19]

Thanks for sharing this Mike. The National Museum of Civil War Medicine does a great job educating and interpreting the collection.

 

[Yankeedave]

Looks like alien autopsy.

 

[Jimklag]

Great video, Mike. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

Great video, that arm has always been number one in my list of creepy artifacts.

I hate to contemplate what the man who lost that arm went through.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I've seen the arm several times. It makes you pause and think when you realize it was ripped off, not amputated.

 

[Waterloo50]

Interesting, especially how the arm mummified naturally. I've seen quite a few Egyptian mummies and the remains looked exactly the same as that arm. Does anyone know what caused the arm to be mummified?

 

[Cavalry Charger]

Fascinating, and a part of me wishes the arm could be buried with it's owner who is obviously unknown.

Another part of me is glad the museum shows such great respect for the artifact and is using it to educate and inform.

It is very well preserved.

 

[major bill]

Interesting video.

 

[JOHN42768]

Thanks for posting video

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

To answer your question @Waterloo50, it mummified naturally by being in a very dry location with some sand around it to draw out moisture, which is fortunate for us to be able to study it. But yes, it certainly reminds us about the cost of war. I have often wondered, looking at it, if the young man survived the battle.

 

[byron ed]

on a less somber note, George is also an expert on Antebellum and CW banjos

 

[Waterloo50]

To answer your question @Waterloo50, it mummified naturally by being in a very dry location with some sand around it to draw out moisture, which is fortunate for us to be able to study it. But yes, it certainly reminds us about the cost of war. I have often wondered, looking at it, if the young man survived the battle.

Many thanks...
I can't see how anyone could survive such a trauma to their body, I know that many soldiers did survive after losing their limbs but a vast majority of those men were amputees that received a reasonable level of medical care. The thing is, this soldier not only had his arm shot/blown off but his hand was also wounded, I imagine that he must have been hit with something like canister shot or his arm was taken clean off by a very large fast moving projectile, he lost his arm just above the elbow, I'm no sword expert but I would have thought that had he been slashed at with a sharp blade it would have resulted in a clean cut. If he had been hit by canister shot then I'd think that he would have been killed outright. Obviously those are just my thoughts but I've based them on some of the descriptions of injuries that I've read about from the Napoleonic wars.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

Oh, I know you are probably right. It is my hopeful, romantic thinking that just maybe this poor creature somehow survived such an assault.

 

[Waterloo50]

Oh, I know you are probably right. It is my hopeful, romantic thinking that just maybe this poor creature somehow survived such an assault.

I'd also like to think he survived and lived to a ripe old age, maybe entertaining his grandchildren with fantastic stories about how he lost his arm.

 

[Lubliner]

You can be pretty certain this wound ended his time in the battle. It appears untrammeled upon, so maybe if he fell by the wayside, he found cover, and eventually help.
Lubliner.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I've seen it several times and I'm always fascinated by the fingernails. They are so delicate and undamaged looking. I hadn't realized the palm was wounded because they exhibit it palm downward. You can tell it is a young man's hand and arm and it certainly gives me a long pause when I look at it - not as a curiousity but in reverence for the sacrifice.

 

[ami]

I'm not much into history, but I sure can appreciate the horror of what happened, and to think this boy was only a few years older than my eldest son breaks my heart.

 

[Seduzal]

Thanks for sharing this interesting story.

 

[Belle Montgomery]

Published on Feb 26, 2015

National Museum of Civil War Medicine Executive Director George Wunderlich talks about an unusual artifact. This video sponsored in part by the Ausherman Family Trust.

This boy's arm reminds us of the humanity of it all! It's so important to remember every single one of those boys/men today. The loss of life, pain and suffering of Americans from the CW must never be forgotten. Reenactments are so ever important today considering I'll bet some middle school classes aren't thorough enough...this arm and video should be mandatory. IMHO Hollywood seems to forget how important it is to keep retelling this story of our nation's plight to get where we are today in favor of phony super hero movie profits and fear of offending with the stars and bars etc. They have the power and bucks to do it proper if they choose to but are MIA. Sigh