Graphic Warning: A Legacy of Pain

Cumpston1862

First Sergeant
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The men who lost their lives in the war were a tragedy but their suffering was over; other than the loved ones who were left behind. The men who were injured in the war sometimes by even minor wounds were left with a legacy of pain and suffering that they would endure until they were "called home".

One of those men who was horribly injured was General Henry Barnum. Wounded severely at the Battle of Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862 his men left him for dead. Despite his capture and eventual release his condition improved enough for him to return to service and receive two additional wounds during the war.

The pictures seen here are from his wound received at Malvern's Hill.

Taken from the website of the NMHM.


THE CASE OF MAJOR GENERAL HENRY BARNUM
Major General Henry A. Barnum of the 12th New York was injured at Malvern Hill, Va. on July 1, 1862, by a musket ball that passed through his left lower abdomen. The ball penetrated his intestines and hip bone. The wound was considered fatal and he was left in a field hospital. A few days later he was captured and taken 18 miles to Libby Prison. Fifteen days later he was transported 17 miles and exchanged. In October, the wound was opened and several bone fragments were removed. He was promoted to Colonel in January of 1863 and sent back to the field. A year later, Barnum visited a private physician who pushed a probe through the wound causing a large abscess to drain. In order to keep the wound draining, the physician threaded a probe with a strip of oakum and passed it through the wound. Barnum wore a thread through the wound his entire life. He was promoted to Brigadier General and was also injured in battles at Kenesaw Mountain and Peachtree Creek, Ga.. Barnum died of pneumonia at the age of 65 still wearing a thread through the wound.


civil-war-barnum-110412.jpg
 
What a remarkable man! You definitely read a lot about soldiers coming back home and having to live with the incredible pain and agony of their wounds- without always having the doctor care or knowledge to help.

When reading about the war, that's always what's struck me as scariest- and has always filled me with the most awe. If you die, then you're dead and your suffering is over (which is not to say that your family didn't suffer or to make light of these men's sacrifice!) but so many didn't die or didn't die right away but rather received debilitating wounds that were then cut off or not treated with the expertise we have today in the hospitals- and then sometimes you were just left to die out on the battlefield, just lying there in the cold or sun-screaming. It's so amazing that these men could continue to charge, to fight, and to throw themselves in the bullets despite knowing it was possible that they could endure horrible, horrible pain and probably having seen many of their friends endure it. I most definitely could not do it. Dead is one terrible thing but pain... I can't imagine the pain. And many of these men were my age or only a bit older.

Sorry. Got a bit heavy there and a bit off-topic. Thanks for sharing.
 
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Hundreds of graphic stories involving pain can be found in the case histories reported in the multi-volume, The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. One example: Private George W. Smith, Company K, 8th Alabama, aged 18 years, wounded in abdomen by a minie ball entering the median line one inch below the ensiform cartilage and passing obliquely downward and outward, emerged from the right hip, after passing through the pelvis. The patient passed feces through the opening made by the exit of the ball for three weeks, [then] the wound suppurating and discharging healthy pus; several bone fragments have been removed from the wound. Smith was actually one of the lucky ones. Four months later the surgeon reported the patient was improving and probably would recover.
 
What a remarkable man! You definitely read a lot about soldiers coming back home and having to live with the incredible pain and agony of their wounds- without always having the doctor care or knowledge to help.

When reading about the war, that's always what's struck me as scariest- and has always filled me with the most awe. If you die, then you're dead and your suffering is over (which is not to say that your family didn't suffer or to make light of these men's sacrifice!) but so many didn't die or didn't die right away but rather received debilitating wounds that were then cut off or not treated with the expertise we have today in the hospitals- and then sometimes you were just left to die out on the battlefield, just lying there in the cold or sun-screaming. It's so amazing that these men could continue to charge, to fight, and to throw themselves in the bullets despite knowing it was possible that they could endure horrible, horrible pain and probably having seen many of their friends endure it. I most definitely could not do it. Dead is one terrible thing but pain... I can't imagine the pain. And many of these men were my age or only a bit older.

Sorry. Got a bit heavy there and a bit off-topic. Thanks for sharing.

Hanna260-

Well said. These men and the women/families they returned to endured a lot during this war. It is this legacy that we need to remember and appreciate. Very much a part of the "American Experience".

Welcome to the forum madam.
 
Here's another photo of Maj. Gen. Barnum showing his wound, ca. 1865. Posted it in this thread a while back:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/maj-gen-henry-a-barnums-wound-at-malvern-hill.94065/#post-784528

tumblr_lv138gUoGX1qa51rdo1_500.jpg

http://tuesday-johnson.tumblr.com/post/13134373870/ca-1865-major-h-a-barnum-recovery-after-a

A lot more on Barnum and his wound can be found here:
http://www.barnum.org/nti02474.htm

Aug351-

Thank-you for the addition to the thread. I often times will do a search to make sure the same topic has not been done or done in the same way so it is not redundant or already covered in such detail. I did not do that on this one however. I like the photograph you used for General Barnum. If I am not mistaken he seems to be wearing a "mourning ribbon" on his arm...most likely for Abraham Lincoln.
 
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When I read about these things I always marvel at the fact how much suffering can be endured. I can't go to the dentist without trembling for fear, although nowadays everything is nearly painless. What have these men been through! And the mental consequences of such a ghastly wound are not even mentioned!
Hundreds of graphic stories involving pain can be found in the case histories reported in the multi-volume, The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. One example: Private George W. Smith, Company K, 8th Alabama, aged 18 years, wounded in abdomen by a minie ball entering the median line one inch below the ensiform cartilage and passing obliquely downward and outward, emerged from the right hip, after passing through the pelvis. The patient passed feces through the opening made by the exit of the ball for three weeks, [then] the wound suppurating and discharging healthy pus; several bone fragments have been removed from the wound. Smith was actually one of the lucky ones. Four months later the surgeon reported the patient was improving and probably would recover.
It's strange that in these days pus was regarded "healthy". There is no such thing as healthy pus, however but probably that was not known then.
 
In the 19th century there was a whole formality to the giving and receiving of CDVs that often included the giver's signature. It was much like a calling card.

http://www.photographymuseum.com/histsw.htm
I do know about collecting cdvs (sometimes for people you didn't even necessarily know) but it seems bizarre for a man of the Victorian era to autograph a photo of himself pulling his pants down to show a wound... not exactly one to put on the mantelpiece!
 
I do know about collecting cdvs (sometimes for people you didn't even necessarily know) but it seems bizarre for a man of the Victorian era to autograph a photo of himself pulling his pants down to show a wound... not exactly one to put on the mantelpiece!
Badge of Honour, perhaps? Victorians took some strange pictures, that is for sure!
 
When I read about these things I always marvel at the fact how much suffering can be endured. I can't go to the dentist without trembling for fear, although nowadays everything is nearly painless. What have these men been through! And the mental consequences of such a ghastly wound are not even mentioned!

It's strange that in these days pus was regarded "healthy". There is no such thing as healthy pus, however but probably that was not known then.
There's a thread on "laudable pus" here:

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/laudable-pus.82008/

I was reading about this recently, and although pus itself is never healthy, in an era when basically 100% of wounds were infected, doctors were correct that it was a sign that the body was fighting an infection locally instead of the infection becoming systemic. Pus is made mostly of dead white cells, and white cells fight infection. The doctors were just mistaken in thinking that the pus was the cause of the body fighting infection, instead of the result of it.
 
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