Help deciphering Fold3 hospital record

[Georgian183]

Hey yall. I recently found several service record documents for my ancestors who served in the 50th Georgia Infantry, one being Noah Pittman. The book I have on the unit history, "Wiregrass to Appomattox" by James Parrish, notates he was wounded at South Mountain on 09/14/1862, but I have been unable to find no actual record stating he was wounded in combat. I do however, have several records of him being sent to Gen. Hospital 21 in Richmond on 10/14/1862. One of these records has a disease listed, and that he was furloughed for 40 days on 10/23/1862. I was hoping yall might help me in determining what disease is written on the record (page 12), as I do not have the slightest clue. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Gary Morgan]

Hey yall. I recently found several service record documents for my ancestors who served in the 50th Georgia Infantry, one being Noah Pittman. The book I have on the unit history, "Wiregrass to Appomattox" by James Parrish, notates he was wounded at South Mountain on 09/14/1862, but I have been unable to find no actual record stating he was wounded in combat. I do however, have several records of him being sent to Gen. Hospital 21 in Richmond on 10/14/1862. One of these records has a disease listed, and that he was furloughed for 40 days on 10/23/1862. I was hoping yall might help me in determining what disease is written on the record (page 12), as I do not have the slightest clue. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Vol Sclops, which is Latin for a gunshot wound. He's not hospitalized due to disease, but because of an injury.

If he (not a family member) applied for a pension after the war, there may be a diagram that shows exactly where he was shot.

 

[Georgian183]

Wow.....I never would have figured that out! Many thanks! It is amazing it took a month for him to return from campaign to be admitted into the hospital. I have been unable to find any further information regarding him other than the muster rolls.

 

[bdtex]

The actual term is "Vulnus sclopetarium" and it is a gunshot wound. I saw it in records of a soldier I researched a couple of weeks ago.

 

[bdtex]

Wow.....I never would have figured that out! Many thanks! It is amazing it took a month for him to return from campaign to be admitted into the hospital. I have been unable to find any further information regarding him other than the muster rolls.

I had the same issue with the soldier I was researching. There were several pages of records from Richmond hospitals that just said "vulnus sclopet" but didn't say when or where he was wounded or the exact nature of his wound.

 

[Bruce Vail]

Wow.....I never would have figured that out! Many thanks! It is amazing it took a month for him to return from campaign to be admitted into the hospital. I have been unable to find any further information regarding him other than the muster rolls.

If wounded in battle the soldier would have been treated first at a field hospital, where no written records were typically kept. Depending on the severity of the wound, then transferred to a temporary hospital, or to a regular army hospital.

 

[lupaglupa]

I could not find a record that his widow filed for a pension either in Georgia or Florida. That might have had some information about the wound. Family letters or memoirs could mention it, but I'm guessing you've already gone through those.

 

[Georgian183]

Thank yall for your help! Unfortunately I have no letters or memoirs to draw upon. I only just learned of this part of my ancestry about 5 years ago, and at the time it was unknown to my family.

 

[TerryB]

I've never seen that term, but have seen GSW used a lot, meaning the same thing.

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

Hey yall. I recently found several service record documents for my ancestors who served in the 50th Georgia Infantry, one being Noah Pittman. The book I have on the unit history, "Wiregrass to Appomattox" by James Parrish, notates he was wounded at South Mountain on 09/14/1862, but I have been unable to find no actual record stating he was wounded in combat. I do however, have several records of him being sent to Gen. Hospital 21 in Richmond on 10/14/1862. One of these records has a disease listed, and that he was furloughed for 40 days on 10/23/1862. I was hoping yall might help me in determining what disease is written on the record (page 12), as I do not have the slightest clue. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I'm assuming this is the same man.

https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/TestApps/id/266183

 

[Georgian183]

I'm assuming this is the same man.

https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/TestApps/id/266183

Unfortunately no. Noah served in company B of the 50th Georgia and was from Ware County Georgia.....although my grandfather's family (maternal side) were all from Toombs County.

 

[Gary Morgan]

Unfortunately no. Noah served in company B of the 50th Georgia and was from Ware County Georgia.....although my grandfather's family (maternal side) were all from Toombs County.

Double check and make sure the dates of each guy's service overlap. What I'm finding with the Andersonville guards is that a lot of them served out one enlistment, and then Confederate conscription compelled them to serve a second time with a different regiment.

I have always wondered why there is a Latin word for gunshot when the ancient Romans didn't have guns...

 

[Bruce Vail]

Double check and make sure the dates of each guy's service overlap. What I'm finding with the Andersonville guards is that a lot of them served out one enlistment, and then Confederate conscription compelled them to serve a second time with a different regiment.

I have always wondered why there is a Latin word for gunshot when the ancient Romans didn't have guns...

FYI --

Vulnus sclopetarium (gunshot wound)

ABSTRACT

Fading from the vernacular, the Latin phrase vulnus sclopetarium is a quaint, mystifying, and fascinating term that is translated as gunshot wound. There is a fulminating paucity of published information regarding the meaning of this term and the etymology. Trauma surgeons, military surgeons, and scholars of the medical aspects of the civil war may be familiar with the term. Vulnus is easily deciphered from ancient Latin as wound, whereas the origin of sclopetarium proves more difficult to discern. No guns were present in ancient Rome because guns were not invented until around the 13th century; hence, no Latin word for them existed. Thus, sclopetarium is classified as neo-Latin, and deconstruction of the word reveals that sclopeta means gun, but that destination was arrived at via a convoluted path. The suffix -arium implies a place. Remarriage of the two parts suggests that the gun is an instrument of injury, which is typically incurred on a battlefield. An alternative explanation may be that -arium may also refer to the anatomical location of the wound.

Read the whole article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5914396/

 

[Gary Morgan]

FYI --

Vulnus sclopetarium (gunshot wound)

ABSTRACT

Fading from the vernacular, the Latin phrase vulnus sclopetarium is a quaint, mystifying, and fascinating term that is translated as gunshot wound. There is a fulminating paucity of published information regarding the meaning of this term and the etymology. Trauma surgeons, military surgeons, and scholars of the medical aspects of the civil war may be familiar with the term. Vulnus is easily deciphered from ancient Latin as wound, whereas the origin of sclopetarium proves more difficult to discern. No guns were present in ancient Rome because guns were not invented until around the 13th century; hence, no Latin word for them existed. Thus, sclopetarium is classified as neo-Latin, and deconstruction of the word reveals that sclopeta means gun, but that destination was arrived at via a convoluted path. The suffix -arium implies a place. Remarriage of the two parts suggests that the gun is an instrument of injury, which is typically incurred on a battlefield. An alternative explanation may be that -arium may also refer to the anatomical location of the wound.

Read the whole article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5914396/

Lol! I knew someone would come up with an explanation! Thank you, Bruce!

 

[lupaglupa]

Lol! I knew someone would come up with an explanation! Thank you, Bruce!

There's (almost) always someone on CWT who can answer our questions