The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1876-01-28
Wounds Received In Battle.

Those who have had much expeTienC
with the effects wrought by the missiles
modern warfare have been impressed b
two very curious facts-facts, that yer
! slight wound is often sufficient to pr
duce death; and, second, thata huma
may receive a most desperate and app:
rently fatal injury from these dreadfl
causes, and yet survive long time, pos
!, sibly Just as long as though no woun
had been received, and finally die froT
other cause.
| Spent balls have sometimes produce'
death. At the battle of Winchester, il
September, 1864, the present writer wa
knocked down by musket-ball, whicl
did not even indent the skin. In som,
cases of this kind the shock 10 the ner
vous system has been sufficient to kill
without drop of blood.
| At the assault of Port Hudson, JUNE
Ia, 1863, one of our soldiers in reserve
saw cannon-ball, apparently spent, roll
| ing over the ground near MIN. He care
lessly reached out his foot and tried Ia
| stop it. The result was a mangled foot
which had to be amputated.
In marked contrast with the above
were the following cases, all occurring
within my personal knowledge:
A Major of Connecticut volunteers,
before Port Royal, on the 9th of May,
| 1868, was struck in the breast by grape
shot, which traversed the body and was
taken out from the back. Contrary 10
expectation, he did not die Immediately,
and was laid aside without attention
until he should die. But a couple of
days passed, and he still survived. He
was sent down the river to New Orleans,
with some hundreds of others, and lay
there in hospital for months. Still he did
not die-wOuld not die, and becoming
well enough TO travel, was sent home.
AT that time it was not within the eK-
pectation of any person who knew any
thing about the case that he would ever
be able to perform the slightest military
duty again. And yet, on Oct. 10, 1864,
Just sixteen months after the wound was
received, the major was in command of
his regiment at the bloody battleof Cedar
Greek, Va. He escaped the perils of
that day unharmed, and for aught
know to. the contrary is alive and well
now.
Not to speak too much in the first per
son, at the assault of Port Hudson, June
IA, 1863, wasprostrated by buck-shOt
just above the hip. After being taken
TO the rear the wound was probed by a
surgeon and the shot could not be found.
" This is serious" he said and his face
expressed his sincerity. | was laid aside
to die, and others for whom something
fcould possibly be done were placed on
the table. Three days passed, and /
lived; ate vigorously, and felt well, ex-
cept for the condemnation of the sur
geOn, which seemed TO settle it that ]
ought to have died within twenty-four
hours. My persistency, not alone in
living, but in feeling well, excited re-
newed attention, and the case was re-
1t was then discovered that |
the buckshot had struck rib, followed |
its general course around 10 the front, |
and buried itself in the abdominal integ- |
so deeply that it could not be ex
tracted. And there it lies to-day. A
heavy feeling in that vicinity sometimes |
reminds me of it, and occasionally pain |
from the spot where the shot entered; |
but my life has probably not been short
ened day the wound.
Before Port Hudson, June 10, 1868, |
Corporal Medbury, of my company, on
duty with fatigue party constructing a !
road, was seriously wounded by |
a mimic bali striking him just back Of |
the right shoulder JOINT. I've wound |
was probed, the ball lay too deep 10 be |
the patient was considered as
fatally hurt. He was sent down to New
Orleans and taken To hospital. A week
ater found him there, with his arm in
sling, walking about, feeling cheerful
md expecting to recover entirely in Il
ew days. In five days after that Med
Jury was confined TO his bed; in two
lays more he was dead, 4 post mOrtem
showed that the bullet had
passed through one lung and half through
he opposite one. The death was caused
" gangrene modification - and was
necessarily fatal from the first. The
urious part Of the matter was that a
nan should carry a fatal bullet in his
,ody for two weeks before his death,
hould apparently recover from the
wound, and should shortly aiterward die
# it.
At the ST. James Hospital, New Or
cans, on the pallet next me, in June,
S63, lay a captain of the Fourth Wis
ODsin volunteers, helpless and suffering
With one of the strangest wounds that |
yer saw. He had received il on the
18th of Nav, in command of his company
f skirmisheEs, creeping over the ground
n advance of the line of assault, among
he tangled forests and ravines before the
nemy's works. While working forward
Ipon his hands and knees he was struck
" mimic ball just below the hip. The
all took circular course round the leg,
ever touching the bone, but running
Ound through the muscles at least twice
etween the hip and knee, there, skip
ing the kneepan, it circled around twice
n the same way between knee and ankle,
nd was finally extracted near the root.
he wound was one of the most debilita-
ing and confning, as well as painful, but
ot necessarily dangerous; but it's course
nd nature was most unusual.
A surgeon of the Second New York
nsunted rifles told me that while before
Petersburg, in 1864, q cavalryman came
n on his horse one day from a skirmish
nth one leg entirely torn off below the
nee by shell, and hanging from the
cared and ragged stump was the dang
ing end of the great artery, efectually
lOsed up by the heat of the she'll. II
vas impossible that the patient could
i've with such q wound the great wonder
var that he could have Travelled mile or
wo on horseback without bleeding to
eath and il was quite as strange that
Ie lived three days after being placed in
lospital.
4 Victorious South.
The truth is, the entire South is grow.
ng rapidly in population. There has
,een no great rush of immigration, but
i. -