St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-04-27
General Chamberlain.

On Wednesday, says the Traveller,
Gen. Joshua l.. Chamberlain success
fully passed through very delicate
surgical operation in Boston, which
was the result of a wound received in
the war of the Rebellion. This wound
was received on the 18th of June, 1864,
exactly forty nine years
after the great day of Waterloo, during
the attack on Petersburg. A rebel ball
passed directly through the body from
hip to hip, but it did not, as a cOntem-
pOrary said it did few days since,
fracture any bones. General Chamber
lain was at that time in command of
the third brigade of the first di-
vision of the Fifth corps. Col. Pres
colt, of the Thirty Massachu-
setts regiment, was shot through the
breast in the same action. Both of
these gallant officers were taken from
the field, and conveyed to the hospital
which had been established at City
Point, some seven miles in the rear.
They were placed on adjoining cots,
and the hospital surgeons on making a
cursory examination of their wounds,
gave it as their opinion that PrescOtt's
recovery was certainty, whereas
Chamberlain was beyond hope of re-
lief. Both of the officers interchanged
greetings, and, within a half hour,
Prescott was dead man. Meantime,
DR.. Morris w. Townsend, of New
York, who was the surgeon of the 44th
New York volunteers (the Ellsworth
avengers), then acting as the surgeon
in-chief of the first division of the Fifth
l,.,.+.,I 4
ter the wounded of the division. His
attention was called to General Cham
berlain. He examined the wounds,
probed them, and with promptitude
characteristic of the man, exclaimed,
''You sha'n't die ~ The bladder had
been shot directly through. Townsend
inserted a cathetar, emptied the blad-
der, and took steps to allay the in
flammation. The general rallied, and
his recovery though slow was certain.
He has declared many times that under
God he owed his life to DR.. Townsend.
For his gallantry on this occasion he
was made by General Grant a general
on the field of battle, the only instance
of such promotion known in the whole
history of the army. 1t was five months
from the time he received his wound,
before General Chamberlain was able
to mount Il horse, or indeed walk more
than hundred yards; but at the end
of that time he resumed the command
of his brigade, the Fifth corps being
then in position on the Weldon road,
on the extreme left of the Army of the
Potomac. From this time till the close
of the war, General Chamberlain was
on active duty. In the final action at
AppomattOX Court House he assisted in
driving the enemy to the town, when
the flag of truce came in and hostilities
ceased. and almost at the same moment
the last cannon shot from the enemy
killed one of his officers, who was the
last man who fell in Virginia. Cham
berlain, on the promotion of General
Griffin to the command of the Fifth
corps, consequent upon the deposition
of the late Gen. g. X. Warren) took
command of the first division, and fe
ceived the formal surrender of the arms
and colors of Lees army on the 12tho1
April, 1865. Gen. Observation-Disclosures
mustered out of service on the 9th al
August, 1865, and during his term oi
service he had but four days leave OF
absence. Ever since receiving his
wound he has experienced more or less
trouble, and for a long time has been
assured that an operation of some sort
was a necessity. This operation has
been skiltully performed by DR.. Joseph
II. Warren, with the assistance of two
other eminent surgeons. AnRsthetics
were administered, and at eight o'clock
that evening the general had rallied
from the effect of the operation and the
ether, and DR.. Warren reported that
all indications point to the speedy re-
covery of his patient.
The operation was by rhinoplastiC
means to restore the parts to normal
condition, which they had lost by the
| great waste of tissue. While the gen
eral lay in a passive condition the
necessary incisiOns and openings were
made, and portions of flesh were taken
in minute subdivisions from places
near the opening where they could be
spared, and were delicately applied tC
reconstruction of the portions of the
natural canal which had been takeI
away. A great number of stitches wai
rendered necessary, but it was encOur
aging to observe the indications tina
what was at first mechanical unioI
would promptly become vital one
the living tissue being affiliated will
the transplanted portion. The opera
ton bids fair to be decided success
1t was necessarily Il prolonged ant
delicate task, the patient being on TIN
operating table something like tw,
hours. The anesthetic employed wa
sulphuric ether.