The Antietam Arm

[NH Civil War Gal]

From the National Museum of Civil War Medicine

#ICYMI Thanks to Hillebrand Rifles for highlighting this important story at our Museum! The Antietam arm is on display in our Field Hospital gallery. The Museum is open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday 11a.m. - 5 p.m.

Plan your visit: https://www.civilwarmed.org/visit/

The Antietam Arm — a naturally mummified human forearm found on the Antietam Battlefield shortly after the battle. Based on forensic analysis, it likely belonging to a 16-18-year-old male from the Ohio River Valley. It was not surgically removed, but torn off by battle trauma, possibly by a bullet or artillery shell. The arm was displayed for years at a museum in the town of Sharpsburg; today it resides at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Maryland. The exact details of the arm's history are lost to time; it serves as a grim testament to that terrible day in 1862.

Hillebrand Rifles
For more detail, see link to article in comments.

 

[lelliott19]

Here are some past CWT threads on this amazing artifact

Mummified arm lost at Sharpsburg | Antietam / Sharpsburg

Freaky beyond words.

civilwartalk.com

Artifact - the Antietam Arm | Medical Care

Published on Feb 26, 2015 National Museum of Civil War Medicine Executive Director George Wunderlich talks about an unusual artifact. This video sponsored in part by the Ausherman Family Trust.

civilwartalk.com

GRAPHIC - A Visit to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine | Medical Care

Last month I revisited the National Museum of Civil War Medicine , located in downtown Frederick, Maryland, along with my friend medical reenactor Doug Garnett (@1863surgeon) who took these photos. For those who have never visited here, the museum is located in a period building that served for...

civilwartalk.com

 

[Oceanweather]

I hope the owner survived the wound!

 

[R. Porter]

Ick!

 

[CowCavalry]

How could they pinpoint the arm as belonging to someone from the Ohio River Valley?

 

[huskerblitz]

I hope the owner survived the wound!

I doubt he would have, if they are correct, and a shell tore the arm off.

 

[Gary Morgan]

The compassionate thing to do would be to see if they could DNA test it to find the likely owner and give it a proper burial, preferably in a family plot.

Sheesh!

 

[Don Dixon]

How could they pinpoint the arm as belonging to someone from the Ohio River Valley?

Stable isotope analysis. Scientists analyze the ratio of stable isotopes (non-radioactive versions of elements) in bones, teeth, and hair (bones in this case). Since isotopic ratios in water and food vary geographically, as humans eat and drink their tissues incorporate the local isotopic signature. The signatures in bone over time, give a picture of an individual's diet and movement over the last several years of their life. Scientists then compare the results from human remains to "isoscapes"—geographic maps of isotope variation—which can help trace an individual's movements.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

The compassionate thing to do would be to see if they could DNA test it to find the likely owner and give it a proper burial, preferably in a family plot.

Sheesh!

I get that but when reading the reports following the immediate years after the war, I think one of the reasons the arm is preserved like it is, is to show how grim war really is.

Reading reports around Sharpsburg after the war makes for some grim reading. Farmers trying to sink postholes would often find bodies or bits of bodies. They just tossed them aside for the most part. They were disgusted by finding them but they were beyond tired of finding them. Some farmers just kept plowing over and over to break up skeletons and bits of bodies. People were still angry that the war had come to their town whether it they were North or South leaning.