Yankee Brooke
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2018
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Newly Unearthed Civil War Bones Speak Silently to the Grim Aftermath of Battle
What the amputated limbs and full skeletons of a Manassas burial pit tell us about wartime surgical practices
The bones were discovered at a very shallow depth, indicating that they had been disposed of in a hurry, and with little ceremony. (Kate D. Sherwood)
Not sure if this is the right place, so feel free to move if it's not.
This is interesting, for many reasons. I wouldn't have thought they'd have simply thrown triaged soldiers into a pit with the amputated limbs, but it appears they did. Also that hip/glut wound sounds particularly nasty, poor guy. For some reason I pictured them just taking the bone saw and cutting straight through flesh and bone, but as described here, it appears amputations were performed with little difference to how they are today... minus the power saw and anesthesia.
What the amputated limbs and full skeletons of a Manassas burial pit tell us about wartime surgical practices
By Ryan P. Smith
SMITHSONIAN.COM
JUNE 20, 2018
2.7K350133.3K
Perhaps no feeling was more horrifying to a soldier in the Civil War than the realization deep into a charge against the enemy that the assault was doomed. Such was the case for the scores of Union men who surged toward Stonewall Jackson’s forces at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August of 1862. With Jackson’s men dug in along a railroad grade, the Union foot soldiers were literally fighting an uphill battle. The distance they had to traverse proved too great, and the enemy’s rifle muskets too accurate, for success to be feasible. Chaotically and desperately, they turned tail as unrelenting gunfire continued to cut them down.
When the shooting was over, dead and wounded Yankee troops littered the approach. Confederate losses were heavy as well, but Jackson’s men had held their ground.
The next day, Union Maj. Gen. John Pope followed up with another ill-fated assault on Jackson’s position, and his misreading of a tactical retreat of several Rebel units at Groveton caused troops under the command of Union Gen. Fitz John Porter to fall prey to an artillery trap. As Confederates under James Longstreet launched a massive 25,000-man counterattack, Union forces had no choice but to evacuate as quickly as possible.
This result was in many ways a replay of the First Battle of Bull Run, another high-casualty Confederate victory that had forced a hasty Union retreat from the same location just 13 months earlier. Second Bull Run was a far bloodier loss for the Union, though, notwithstanding some astute rearguard tactics during the bluecoats’ escape.
Today, the battlefield near Manassas, Virginia is a protected site under the purview of the National Park Service. Site policy is to let lie the countless bones swallowed by the land—the goal of park personnel is to preserve the region, not disrupt it. But in late 2015, in the process of clearing a narrow trench for a utility project, personnel inadvertently unearthed what would prove to be an archaeological treasure trove.
Edited.SMITHSONIAN.COM
JUNE 20, 2018
2.7K350133.3K
Perhaps no feeling was more horrifying to a soldier in the Civil War than the realization deep into a charge against the enemy that the assault was doomed. Such was the case for the scores of Union men who surged toward Stonewall Jackson’s forces at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August of 1862. With Jackson’s men dug in along a railroad grade, the Union foot soldiers were literally fighting an uphill battle. The distance they had to traverse proved too great, and the enemy’s rifle muskets too accurate, for success to be feasible. Chaotically and desperately, they turned tail as unrelenting gunfire continued to cut them down.
When the shooting was over, dead and wounded Yankee troops littered the approach. Confederate losses were heavy as well, but Jackson’s men had held their ground.
The next day, Union Maj. Gen. John Pope followed up with another ill-fated assault on Jackson’s position, and his misreading of a tactical retreat of several Rebel units at Groveton caused troops under the command of Union Gen. Fitz John Porter to fall prey to an artillery trap. As Confederates under James Longstreet launched a massive 25,000-man counterattack, Union forces had no choice but to evacuate as quickly as possible.
This result was in many ways a replay of the First Battle of Bull Run, another high-casualty Confederate victory that had forced a hasty Union retreat from the same location just 13 months earlier. Second Bull Run was a far bloodier loss for the Union, though, notwithstanding some astute rearguard tactics during the bluecoats’ escape.
Today, the battlefield near Manassas, Virginia is a protected site under the purview of the National Park Service. Site policy is to let lie the countless bones swallowed by the land—the goal of park personnel is to preserve the region, not disrupt it. But in late 2015, in the process of clearing a narrow trench for a utility project, personnel inadvertently unearthed what would prove to be an archaeological treasure trove.
Not sure if this is the right place, so feel free to move if it's not.
This is interesting, for many reasons. I wouldn't have thought they'd have simply thrown triaged soldiers into a pit with the amputated limbs, but it appears they did. Also that hip/glut wound sounds particularly nasty, poor guy. For some reason I pictured them just taking the bone saw and cutting straight through flesh and bone, but as described here, it appears amputations were performed with little difference to how they are today... minus the power saw and anesthesia.