Newly Unearthed Civil War Bones Speak Silently to the Grim Aftermath of Battle.

Yankee Brooke

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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


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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)

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.
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. :eek:
 
Gosh it is amazing what can be discovered of the past by just the bones. It is fascinating to read such accounts. I was happy to see they have a clue to who the surgeon was. It would be profound if the identity of those poor soldiers can be discovered. Harrowing indeed--a longitudinal fracture; the thought of it just makes you cringe to put it mildly.
 
What a tough read. I'm glad I did but it's just tough kind of witnessing someone's last moments, you know?

Wonder if they'll ever have the resources to track down who these men were. DNA plus the kind of abilities we see here on CWT daily, names, regiments, rosters, reports- bet it's doable.

Considering they could identify where they were from using forensics... I'd imagine it would be more than doable. Not suggesting going back and excavating all the mass battlefield graves, but perhaps exhuming the unidentified soldiers from military cemeteries and making an attempt would be something worthwhile..
 
Considering they could identify where they were from using forensics... I'd imagine it would be more than doable. Not suggesting going back and excavating all the mass battlefield graves, but perhaps exhuming the unidentified soldiers from military cemeteries and making an attempt would be something worthwhile..

It'd be a massive undertaking and of course require an awful lot of $$$ but IMO we owe our fallen the dignity of remembering who it was who literally gave everything. Naming the Unknown. That would be an amazing place to start.
 
The story of the skilled surgeon is intriguing. The younger brother of my gggrandfather died two weeks after being wounded at the Weldon Railroad, due to a botched amputation. It was said that the doctor didn’t leave enough skin to sufficiently close the wound, and this subsequently became infected.

From the article: ‘“Some of these amputations were probably done in less than ten minutes,” Owsley says.”’ I remember reading long ago (1960s) that a good surgeon could perform an amputation in about 90 seconds. Yes, that’s one and one-half minutes! As a kid I thought that was horrible for doctors to be in such a hurry, until I realized that in many cases there may not have been any kind of anesthesia, and given that there might have been dozens more wounded waiting in line, the skilled surgeon was mercifully quick.

I’d like to know if anyone can corroborate the 90-second amputation story?
 
What a tough read. I'm glad I did but it's just tough kind of witnessing someone's last moments, you know?

Wonder if they'll ever have the resources to track down who these men were. DNA plus the kind of abilities we see here on CWT daily, names, regiments, rosters, reports- bet it's doable.
There are DNA identifications lifted from minnie balls. Of course, you need a modern descendant to confirm the ID.
 
… 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. :eek:
One possibility is that in this case the "they" may well have been Confederates who would scarcely have been very concerned! It's been determined from buttons, etc. that these were Federal soldiers, and since Pope's army was defeated and largely fled the field, it was left in the hands of the Confederates. If these fellows were already dead, as seems likely, and a convenient pit was already available, I can easily imagine them simply adding another two bodies to it, even if it had so far only contained amputated limbs.
 
One possibility is that in this case the "they" may well have been Confederates who would scarcely have been very concerned! It's been determined from buttons, etc. that these were Federal soldiers, and since Pope's army was defeated and largely fled the field, it was left in the hands of the Confederates. If these fellows were already dead, as seems likely, and a convenient pit was already available, I can easily imagine them simply adding another two bodies to it, even if it had so far only contained amputated limbs.

That did cross my mind... if you're left in control of the field, the wounded who are left don't just disappear. SOMETHING has to be done with them, whether it's treating them, or not. This one sounded like a lost cause from the start, the type that everyone at the hospital is surprised he even made it TO the hospital. Being a Yankee, yeah I could see them just throwing him in the nearest hole after he finally passed...
 
That did cross my mind... if you're left in control of the field, the wounded who are left don't just disappear. SOMETHING has to be done with them, whether it's treating them, or not. This one sounded like a lost cause from the start, the type that everyone at the hospital is surprised he even made it TO the hospital. Being a Yankee, yeah I could see them just throwing him in the nearest hole after he finally passed...
I think looking at the bones is quite fascinating. Just feel sorry for the poor dude being left to die.
 
The mini ball or the bacteria it's coated in? :eek:
The heat of the powder charge would have sterilized the bullet. The relatively low velocity & large caliber of the minnie ball meant that clothing & other objects from through & through wounds of other men would be drug into the wound. Surgeons noted that the fire from rifles was much more destructive than from a smoothbore, which traveled at a very low velocity. It is useful to note that the most common objects removed from wounds during the age of blackpowder warfare was other people's teeth & bone.
 
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Considering they could identify where they were from using forensics... I'd imagine it would be more than doable. Not suggesting going back and excavating all the mass battlefield graves, but perhaps exhuming the unidentified soldiers from military cemeteries and making an attempt would be something worthwhile..
The way it is done is to compare the DNA found with that of a descendant. The exhumation of soldier's remains is both legally & logistically difficult.
 
I'm always flattened by the number of graves that must dot our landscape, are walked over daily or must lay beneath concrete in a strip mall. Can't imagine. Came across quite a few accounts where say, the Sanitary Commission was notified of wounded men left to die, Union and Confederate. Sometimes by their own side, too, it doesn't seem to have always been possible to do a thing. The ones they didn't know of could still be there.

I'm not sure it's possible to convey to us 150 years later how brutal this war could be. It's awesome we're able to examine battles, toss around which general deserves kudos, honor various people- sometimes it does seem to me still miss a LOT. Front line nurses are awfully good at conveying a sense of what it was like. Sophronia does well as does Julia Wheelock.
 
I'm always flattened by the number of graves that must dot our landscape, are walked over daily or must lay beneath concrete in a strip mall. Can't imagine. Came across quite a few accounts where say, the Sanitary Commission was notified of wounded men left to die, Union and Confederate. Sometimes by their own side, too, it doesn't seem to have always been possible to do a thing. The ones they didn't know of could still be there.

I'm not sure it's possible to convey to us 150 years later how brutal this war could be. It's awesome we're able to examine battles, toss around which general deserves kudos, honor various people- sometimes it does seem to me still miss a LOT. Front line nurses are awfully good at conveying a sense of what it was like. Sophronia does well as does Julia Wheelock.
During the last months of the war, General Thomas ordered the creation of the first National Cemeteries. At Stones River, a chaplain coordinated an effort by the 111th USCTI to collect all known Union dead from a radius of fifty miles. Their efforts resulted in the prototype of a National Cemetery. Along with Orchard Knob in Chattanooga & Nashville, thousands of soldier's remains were given proper burials. About half of them are unknowns. This effort is documented in This Republic of Suffering. In both Murfreesboro, Nashville & Franklin there are mass graves where the remains of Confederate fallen were gathered after the war. There are are almost all unknowns.
 
That did cross my mind... if you're left in control of the field, the wounded who are left don't just disappear. SOMETHING has to be done with them, whether it's treating them, or not. This one sounded like a lost cause from the start, the type that everyone at the hospital is surprised he even made it TO the hospital. Being a Yankee, yeah I could see them just throwing him in the nearest hole after he finally passed...
Of course, the Federals did the same thing, as recounted in my thread on Shiloh's confederate burial trenches:
 
The heat of the powder charge would have sterilized the bullet. The relatively low velocity & large caliber of the minnie ball meant that clothing & other objects from through & through wounds of other men would be drug into the wound. Surgeons noted that the fire from rifles was much more destructive than from a smoothbore, which traveled at a very low velocity. It is useful to note that the most common objects removed from wounds during the age of blackpowder warfare was other people's teeth & bone.

That makes sense, though I didn't think about the heat sterilizing. I suppose it's similar to something that happened to a friend of mine. He stepped on a nail. The ER pulled little pieces of shoe and sock out along with the nail. Those Pumas he wore were riddled with bacteria from all the nasty foot sweat and never being washed(like most people's shoes). He was put on antibiotics immediately.

Teeth and bone...ouch.
 
I apologize for not replying sooner @Yankee Brooke There was another thread on this same subject a while back and I thought this one was the same. There's a great youtube video about this from the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Superintendent Brandon Bies of the Manassas National Battlefield Park presented a talk entitled “Broken Lives and Shattered Bones: Discovering a Field Hospital at Manassas Battlefield.” Brandon Bies discussed the 2015 excavation of a Civil War “Limb Pit” discovered on the grounds of the Second Battle of Bull Run. The archaeological find sheds new light on how battlefield surgery took place during the American Civil War.
 
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