What Did he Mean

[WinterLeia]

As anybody who watched the film Gettysburg knows, General Hancock was famously wounded in the battle and refused to be taken from the field until the outcome was decided. The bullet evidently hit the pommel of his saddle and carried some of the debris into the wound with it, including a large nail. Although it would be several months of pain and a near death experience before a doctor finally figured out how to remove the bullet, Hancock fished the nail out himself while laying on the field wounded. One account I recently read said that he misidentified where the nail had come from, saying something to the effect that: "They must be desperate if they're shooting stuff like that at us." So, maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it sounds like he thought the Confederates were shooting nails at him instead of bullets. And I don't really understand why he would think that.

 

[wuzreb]

The impression I got years ago when I read that story and quote was that Hancock may actually have believed that the Confederates were using nails.

I suppose if surgeons really did find some sort of tack in his wound, it would be easy to imagine that! Or maybe the bullet or fragment hit something else that did involve a nail.

There are various stories of cannons being loaded at various times with random chunks of metal, which could include nails.

But again, that sort of projectile is not going to carry super far. It would be the difference between throwing a fastball and throwing a handful of gravel. He could have been hit by a projectile that clipped some other object or structure.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I did some digging around trying to find what the original sources said. I still don't have consensus on it and would really need to actually look at some primary sources which I don't have access to just on the computer.

One source says, "the pommel of his saddle was struck and a splinter of wood, a brad or tack and a bullet went into his groin." Another source says basically the same thing and then is specifically says, "a large, bent nail."

I think the only thing that was kept, because it was taken out at a later date, was the bullet. If the nail was originally kept, I don't know where it is now. Does anyone? One source calls it "a brad" another "a large, bent nail" along with the splinter(s) of wood which I can well believe.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

One account I recently read said that he misidentified where the nail had come from, saying something to the effect that: "They must be desperate if they're shooting stuff like that at us." So, maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it sounds like he thought the Confederates were shooting nails at him instead of bullets. And I don't really understand why he would think that.

Hancock must've watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" at a DC theatre. I hear John Wilkes Booth as Capt. Jack was a killer performance.

 

[A. Roy]

Did some research on this incident and Hancock's glib comment about the presence of a nail in his wound. I couldn't find any primary source, but the anecdote does appear in Shelby Foote's narrative, volume 2. The perpetual problem with Shelby's work is that he didn't offer footnotes, so who knows for sure where this came from:

"Hancock too was delighted, but while he was congratulating Stannard on the success with which his green troops had executed the difficult maneuver, a bullet passed through the pommel of his saddle and buried itself in the tender flesh of his inner thigh, along with several jagged bits of wood and a bent nail. Two officers caught him as he slumped, and when they had lowered him to the ground Stannard improvised a tourniquet—a knotted handkerchief wound tight with a pistol barrel—to stanch the flow of blood from the ugly wound. Hancock himself extracted the saddle nail unaided, though he mistook its source. 'They must be hard up for ammunition when they throw such shot as that,' he said wryly. Stretcherbearers came on the run, but he refused to be carried off the field just yet. He insisted on staying to watch the action, which now was mounting swiftly toward a climax."

(Shelby Foote, The Civil War, a Narrative: Fredericksburg to Meridian, 1963. Page 561.)

AR

 

[rpkennedy]

I just want to add that there was a great deal of detritus in Hancock's leg when he was brought to the hospital. There was a plug of fabric (likely from his clothing) in the bullet wound as well as various splinters and small pieces, probably from his saddle. By most accounts, his inner thigh was pretty ripped up.

Ryan

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I just want to add that there was a great deal of detritus in Hancock's leg when he was brought to the hospital. There was a plug of fabric (likely from his clothing) in the bullet wound as well as various splinters and small pieces, probably from his saddle. By most accounts, his inner thigh was pretty ripped up.

Ryan

That makes a lot of sense and I'm really surprised he didn't develop sepsis from this whole affair. He had A LOT of organic matter in there but somehow the bacteria didn't get a foothold in his system.

 

[rpkennedy]

That makes a lot of sense and I'm really surprised he didn't develop sepsis from this whole affair. He had A LOT of organic matter in there but somehow the bacteria didn't get a foothold in his system.

I agree. Hancock was extremely lucky that he didn't develop a serious infection.

Ryan

 

[Saint Jude]

I think the nail came from the shattered pommel of Hancock's saddle.

I also read that that was where it came from.

 

[OpnCoronet]

That could happen too! Any of the munitions used could knock a chunk out of the wooden tree of a saddle. Along with any tacks or brads used.

I guess it would depend if surgeons actually recovered the object and conclusively identified it.

I agree, it seems the wound never really healed and that suggests a recurring infections due to not all of the debris was removed from the wound.

 

[OpnCoronet]

I also read that that was where it came from.

I am slowly beginning to change my mind and accept perhaps the idea of it being a large splinter of wood, that best explains the trouble of the wound not healing properly.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

I am slowly beginning to change my mind and accept perhaps the idea of it being a large splinter of wood, that best explains the trouble of the wound not healing properly.

Having a lab degree it wouldn't need to be a big splinter of anything left behind. A thread of cloth, a hair left in, anything left in would feed infections for years. The body *typically* but not always will try to build a wall around it-an abscess which becomes it's own problem.

I just finished reading about a long surgery in a wounded soldier from WWII. The surgery shouldn't have taken so long but he had his shaving brush in his pocket when he got hit. Every hair had to be extracted. Very time consuming. Otherwise each hair would be an infection point.

 

[wuzreb]

Having a lab degree it wouldn't need to be a big splinter of anything left behind. A thread of cloth, a hair left in, anything left in would feed infections for years. The body *typically* but not always will try to build a wall around it-an abscess which becomes it's own problem.

I just finished reading about a long surgery in a wounded soldier from WWII. The surgery shouldn't have taken so long but he had his shaving brush in his pocket when he got hit. Every hair had to be extracted. Very time consuming. Otherwise each hair would be an infection point.

I've had minor infections just from getting the tiniest sliver of grass jammed in a knuckle. I mean, so small I could hardly find it. But it was enough to become oozy and painful.

Shove something like that into a wound and Lord knows what it would develop into.

 

[WinterLeia]

In Hancock's biography, it said that even after the bullet was removed, the wound still pained him a great deal, although the pain was manageable. But after several years, a bunch of bone fragments were ejected from the wound, and Hancock found it lessened the pain considerably for the rest of his life. There also weren't any negative side effects from bone loss, even though something must have shattered in there.

 

[CowCavalry]

I suppose if surgeons really did find some sort of tack in his wound, it would be easy to imagine that! Or maybe the bullet or fragment hit something else that did involve a nail.

There are various stories of cannons being loaded at various times with random chunks of metal, which could include nails.

But again, that sort of projectile is not going to carry super far. It would be the difference between throwing a fastball and throwing a handful of gravel. He could have been hit by a projectile that clipped some other object or structure.

The ANV was not using nails or random metals at Gettysburg, IMO, Hancock was using gallows humor to inspire his men in the face of the largest artillery bombardment of the war. He had admonished his own artillery to respond as they were withholding fire to conserve ammunition for the anticipated assault as he feared his men were becoming demoralized and cursed his artillery when they refused, per orders.