When A Wound Never Heals

[NH Civil War Gal]

From the FB page, "Civil War Medicine and Surgery"

WHEN A WOUND NEVER HEALS

On July 1, 1862, at Malvern Hill, Major Henry A. Barnum of the 12th New York was struck by a Confederate Minie ball that tore through his pelvis.

The bullet passed through the ilium and out the flank. It was thought likely to have injured the viscera and, thus, prove fatal. Barnum was left behind when Confederate troops overran the field, and taken to Richmond a prisoner, where he shocked the physicians by rallying. He was exchanged and, in a few months, returned to duty. He was wounded three more times in the course of the war, was awarded the Medal of Honor, and rose to the rank of Brevet Major General.

The pelvic wound, however, never healed. Pieces of dead bone and bullet led to a chronic, smoldering infection, which sometimes created abscesses and always drained. To prevent the wound from closing and trapping infection inside, surgeons inserted a seton, a cord threaded through the wound tract to keep it open and draining. This principle remains familiar to surgeons today. In certain conditions, maintaining drainage can be safer than allowing an infected tract to close prematurely. He wore it the rest of his life.

In 1892, 30 years after his gunshot wound, Barnum died at the age of 58, of pneumonia. His damaged pelvic bone was preserved by the Army Medical Museum.

Sometimes survival was not a return to health, but rather a lifetime spent negotiating a truce with injury.

 

[7thWisconsin]

One of my wife's ancestors was wounded in a similar fashion at Fredericksburg and his wound was treated the same way. He lived to a ripe old age though.

 

[rpkennedy]

Barnum returned to service on the march to Gettysburg and saw action on the evening of July 2nd on Culp's Hill. But during the night, he turned over command of the 149th New York to Lt. Colonel Charles Randall due to exhaustion. While he held his field command until the end of the war, on several occasions, he had to return to Washington for further treatments.

Ryan

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

His story reminds me of Chamberlain's - a wound that never heals and eventually just wears the body down.

 

[WinterLeia]

General Hancock's wound at Gettysburg also never fully healed. In fact, they couldn't at first get the bullet out, and his quality of life degenerated so badly that he resigned himself to death. Fortunately, a doctor finally managed to get the bullet to pop out. But Hancock realized it had permanently damaged his health. He lived a full life. But the wound continued to cause him problems up until his death. They didn't have antibiotics in those days. So, it was really hard for them to heal internal injuries. Amputations were performed because it was a way to turn inside wounds into outside wounds. But, depending on where the wound was on the body, that wasn't always an option. And even then, sometimes infections set in.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

From the FB page, "Civil War Medicine and Surgery"

WHEN A WOUND NEVER HEALS

On July 1, 1862, at Malvern Hill, Major Henry A. Barnum of the 12th New York was struck by a Confederate Minie ball that tore through his pelvis.

The bullet passed through the ilium and out the flank. It was thought likely to have injured the viscera and, thus, prove fatal. Barnum was left behind when Confederate troops overran the field, and taken to Richmond a prisoner, where he shocked the physicians by rallying. He was exchanged and, in a few months, returned to duty. He was wounded three more times in the course of the war, was awarded the Medal of Honor, and rose to the rank of Brevet Major General.

The pelvic wound, however, never healed. Pieces of dead bone and bullet led to a chronic, smoldering infection, which sometimes created abscesses and always drained. To prevent the wound from closing and trapping infection inside, surgeons inserted a seton, a cord threaded through the wound tract to keep it open and draining. This principle remains familiar to surgeons today. In certain conditions, maintaining drainage can be safer than allowing an infected tract to close prematurely. He wore it the rest of his life.

In 1892, 30 years after his gunshot wound, Barnum died at the age of 58, of pneumonia. His damaged pelvic bone was preserved by the Army Medical Museum.

Sometimes survival was not a return to health, but rather a lifetime spent negotiating a truce with injury.

View attachment 582354

View attachment 582355

View attachment 582358

View attachment 582359

View attachment 582357

Quite a story. Quite a man! The truth of real life is even more entertaining than the Barnum and Bailey Circus.

 

[Jim in Wisconsin]

Things like that makes me realize my little aches and pains of old age are completely trivial.

 

[Library Lady]

General Hancock's wound at Gettysburg also never fully healed. In fact, they couldn't at first get the bullet out, and his quality of life degenerated so badly that he resigned himself to death. Fortunately, a doctor finally managed to get the bullet to pop out. But Hancock realized it had permanently damaged his health. He lived a full life. But the wound continued to cause him problems up until his death. They didn't have antibiotics in those days. So, it was really hard for them to heal internal injuries. Amputations were performed because it was a way to turn inside wounds into outside wounds. But, depending on where the wound was on the body, that wasn't always an option. And even then, sometimes infections set in.

As I understand it, most of the doctors probed for the bullet while Hancock was lying flat. The doctor who was successful in finding and removing the bullet thought he would have better luck if he could put Hancock in the same position he was in when he was hit. Since Hancock was astride his horse at the time, one theory is that the doctor put a saddle on a stationary support and had Hancock sit in the saddle. The doctor then probed the wound and found and removed the bullet. Hancock continued to have problems with the wound, though.

Unraveling a Mystery – Historical Society of Montgomery County, PA

hsmcpa.org

An additional reason for Hancock having difficulty with wound healing is that he developed diabetes which was listed as a secondary cause of death on his death certificate.