Snake Bites

Here's an interesting account from the Weekly Wisconsin Patriot, June 15, 1861:

Snakebite.jpg
 
Looking for 'hartshorn', literally a compound of Harts Horn. found...
"The 1861 Prairie Traveler book features a handful of state of the art snakebite treatments that colonial people could use.
It was written by Capt Randolf Marcy of the US Army in 1859 as a handbook of instructions for colonists who were heading west in covered wagons."
http://www.pioneerhandbooks.com/how-settlers-cured-snakebite/
In 1852 Capt. Marcy was in charge of the expedition that first reached the headwaters of both forks of the Red River, which official parties had tried to find since 1806. He was assisted by Brevet Capt. George B. McClellan, later to achieve notability as a general in the American Civil War. Marcy’s 1859 book, The Prairie Traveler: A Handbook for Overland Expeditions, with Maps, Illustrations, and Itineraries of the Principal Routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific, written at the direction of the Department of State and published by the U.S. government, has been called one of the most important works in making possible the great Western overland migration of United States settlers in the last half of the 19th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randolph_B._Marcy
 
I seem to remember pouring a snakebite shooter when I tended bar many years ago but for the life of me I can't remember what went into it...........
 
The speaker at our annual Lee-Jackson Banquet, this past Thursday night, mentioned that the first fatality (from any cause) from the county was a soldier bitten by a rattlesnake in the Charleston area early in the war.

Snakebite treatment has come a long way since the war, but can be quite expensive. About two years ago a large Canebrake rattler bit a friend and the immediate past president of a neighbouring SCV camp on the leg He recovered OK, but his hospital bill was around $55,000 – it seems anti venom is extremely expensive. Fortunately he has good hospital insurance.

"First at Bethel, Farthest to the front at Gettysburg and Chickamauga, and Last at Appomattox"
Thats terrible but I guess if you get bitten you'll pay any amount of money to stay alive
 
The speaker at our annual Lee-Jackson Banquet, this past Thursday night, mentioned that the first fatality (from any cause) from the county was a soldier bitten by a rattlesnake in the Charleston area early in the war.

Snakebite treatment has come a long way since the war, but can be quite expensive. About two years ago a large Canebrake rattler bit a friend and the immediate past president of a neighbouring SCV camp on the leg He recovered OK, but his hospital bill was around $55,000 – it seems anti venom is extremely expensive. Fortunately he has good hospital insurance.

"First at Bethel, Farthest to the front at Gettysburg and Chickamauga, and Last at Appomattox"
Thats terrible but I guess if you get bitten you'll pay any amount of money to stay alive
 
I remember the story of the Horn Island light house keeper's 2 year old daughter. She was playing in the sand under the house when she was bitten by a large cane break rattler and died. This was reportedly during the war. Horn Island is one of the islands off the coast of Mississippi.
 
Great question. I have long been facinated with "mr. no shoulders" especially the venomous ones. Eastern diamondbacks are the largest of the ratlesnake species in the country and they pack the most venom which is more than capable of killing an adult human if untreated. Canebrakes have a nasty attitude and I haven't experienced it myself but people I know and trust have told me cottonmouth water moccasins "can be" downright territorial and borderline aggressive. There was a time when I considered milking snakes as I heard it was quite lucrative. Upon further investigation every one of the people I found who did this had been bitten at least once. That little fact kind of soured me on making venom harvesting a career.

I have encountered rattlesnakes and cottonmouth's but ironically very few copperheads. One must be very vigilant in gator country especially if one has cats and dogs. I remember putting in at a few well known resort/condo marinas for the night in the Carolinas and Georgia moving a boat up or down the ICW and seen photos of mostly small dogs and cats on bulletin boards announcing their "lost" status and offering rewards. I admit to experiencing an inner chuckling as we were in the middle of gator country and thinking most of those pet's owners were "not from around here" and likely lost their pets to gators.

When I was a young boy I would often kill animals if for no other reason than to get a good look at them. I was fortunate to have the benefit of responsible adults who educated me on critters and their value and place within the big picture and I quickly matured and since then I only took game that found its way to the table. Every thing (except maybe skeeters, fireants, and redbugs<g>) has a place and that should be valued and respected this includes critters that do NOT pass the "Disney test" of being cute and cuddly. Reading how American Indian tribes felt about, viewed, and treated animal life deeply impressed me as a young person. Those Americans tracking abilities absolutely amaze me. Finding and reading animal sign facinates me to this day.

All to often people today will kill every snake they come upon and that bothers me. I have captured and relocated many non venomous snakes and even a few venomous ones. I will sometimes destroy a venomous snake depending upon circumstances and the difficulty and danger involved of relocating it. Surely a few ACW soldiers fell victim to venomous snakes but I have no memory of reading about any.
This is going to be out of place as two pages of posts have intervened.

Here goes opinion. Rattlesnakes strike when they are surprised. Cottonmouths might just go after you because they feel like it. Copperheads are of a minor concern.

And this doesn't begin to address the difference between rattlesnakes. Canebreak. Diamond back. Missasaugua, Sidewinder, or whatever.

It remains that you don't want to scare a snake, but allow it to escape. Usually, that will work.
 
My hearing is selective. I cannot hear a rattle.

We were doing a walkabout in the outback (a tribute to our Digger friend) of Idaho and happened upon a small diamondback. Killed it and felt bad about it. Took the rattles and skinned it for a hatband. Think the missus threw it all out before we returned home. So my custom-made hats have horsehair hatbands made by Montana convicts. No snakeskins. Is okay. Didn't need the hatband anyway.
 
View attachment 10520Here in Tasmania the place is packed full of tiger snakes. About number 4 in the world in venom growing up to 7ft. Puts you off bushwalking and trout fishing during summer. Have to carry compression bandages and an emergency epirb when out and about.
Them are very scary things, David. I would have had something more scatological to say, but we do have rules here.

Grew up in an area where there were black racers and gartersnakes. Not at all threatening.

Am trying to imagine what The Dad would have had to say if we really had bad snakes.
 
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Though I always keep an eye out for snakes, I still nearly stepped on what I believe was a Copperhead last summer (didn't feel like getting closer to confirm it :smile:) . It was in the long grass by the path, and nearly impossible to see until i was almost right on top of it. I just backed away slowly, and it went merrily on it's way.

We do see a lot of black snakes around though. Occasionally we'll relocate one back into the barn by the feed barrels or hay, because they make great micers (They usually put the cats to shame in that department :D).
 
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Though I always keep an eye out for snakes, I still nearly stepped on what I believe was a Copperhead last summer (didn't feel like getting closer to confirm it :smile:) . It was in the long grass by the path, and nearly impossible to see until i was almost right on top of it. I just backed away slowly, and it went merrily on it's way.

We do see a lot of black snakes around though. Occasionally we'll relocate one back into the barn by the feed barrels or hay, because they make great micers (They usually put the cats to shame in that department :D).
The cats don't really have to catch mice to live; the snakes do.
 
Those things are creepy, and they do tend to crawl up on willow branches and hang over the water.

They also cluster together and create balls of intertwined snakes for mutual warmth. I was once walking through some brush (you know, Texas "woodlands") on a slope above a lake. I was watching the ground ahead, taking care to see where I was stepping. Suddenly, there was a crashing noise directly overhead. Yep. I had apparently disturbed a ball of water moccasins while trying to work my long legs over briars and such. Down from the post oak they came dangling, then dropping, those dark and thick bodies. In front of me. Behind me. Beside me. Thankfully, I did not panic, though my heart rate would suggest otherwise. I froze as rigid and motionless as possible. Not one of them touched me, not even a glancing brush. Each hit the ground and slithered away, down toward the lake. That my pants were dry was equally astonishing. Had one landed on me and I begun to brush it off, things could have been horrific. I have had an intense dread of those critters ever since and am extremely cautious around water.
 
They also cluster together and create balls of intertwined snakes for mutual warmth. I was once walking through some brush (you know, Texas "woodlands") on a slope above a lake. I was watching the ground ahead, taking care to see where I was stepping. Suddenly, there was a crashing noise directly overhead. Yep. I had apparently disturbed a ball of water moccasins while trying to work my long legs over briars and such. Down from the post oak they came dangling, then dropping, those dark and thick bodies. In front of me. Behind me. Beside me. Thankfully, I did not panic, though my heart rate would suggest otherwise. I froze as rigid and motionless as possible. Not one of them touched me, not even a glancing brush. Each hit the ground and slithered away, down toward the lake. That my pants were dry was equally astonishing. Had one landed on me and I begun to brush it off, things could have been horrific. I have had an intense dread of those critters ever since and am extremely cautious around water.



This is what nightmares are made of !!!
 
I cant make out most of this article

Southern Confederacy, Jun. 6, 1861 -- page 3

Snake Bite - We learn that the chief of the Clinch Rifles, of Augusta near Pensacola was bitten by a snake and died from the effects a few of the following manner: A snake of what is known as the "garter," the man who commenced playing holding the snake by the tail and around his arm when suddenly bit the man between the knucles of each hand. The man not seriously hurt, gave the who pl;aced it in his pocket and the man soon after retired. Several hours afterwards intelligible. heard a strange sound and found that his tonge has swollen that he could coucgh he had been trying to He died eight hours after
 
Eastern diamondbacks and canebrakes often let one know they are there via their rattles. A cottonmouth has no rattle although I have seen them fairly close in a coil and their tail is flicking about as if they actually had a rattle. I have been in small aluminum jon boats in fresh water and had cottonmouths swim right towards and in close proximity to the boat and I have heard others tell me they have had them swim down the side of the boat or near the stern. I don't know what these animals are displaying be it curiosity or aggression. I can't imagine a venomous snake attacking or wasting precious venom on something they can't eat because it just doesn't make critter sense. I can understand them striking a human in defense though.
 
My daddy got bit by a copperhead on the hand a few years ago.Being hardheaded he didn't go to the doctor; all it did was make him sick and busted the cappilliries (?) in his cheeks and eyes. Not great but betterin' wakin up dead!
 
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