The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-14
SLAIN IN CURIOUS WAYS.
UNIQUE RELICS OF MANY BATTLE-
FIELDS OF THE WAR.
stories OF the Medical Museum I'm
WashinEton-Nen Who survived
Terrible wounds


many odd and striking occurrences during
The late civil war. II is said that there
were numerous instances where bullets
fired by union soldiers and confederates at
each other. met Ga milair and rendered
one another harmless. Two such rife
balls are now preserved I'm the Office Of the
chief Of ordnance OF the United States
army in the war department al Wash
ineton. They were picked up. fused to-
gether on the field OF the battle of Pc
tersburg.
In the thick of the fighting at Gettysburg
was a confederate officer who thought
himself protected from bullets hy a steel
plate which covered his chest. II was an
unfortunate mistake on his part. for two
balls struck and pierced the armor. one
OF them passing through his heart and
the other entering his abdomen. OF
course. he d.d not live long enough 70
know what hit him. The breastplate in
question is now in the army medical
museum. The two holes are clean-cut and
percepti5ly larger than the diameter of
rife bullet. Consequently. it would seem
likely that they We're made by balls which
were originally contained in a she'll
During the war a contractor made Sec
rotary cameron proposition TO supply
nul!et-proof breastplates for the union
soiliers az so much thousand. After he
had used up much valuable time in eX-
patiating on the merits of his protective
armor, the secretary said;
You VIII guarantee it buliet-prOOf2'
Absolutely so,' replied the applicant for
a contract
Very well then" said Mr. Cameron
Just put on the sample you have been
showing me. and stand on the other side
oi the room while ] try few shots a you
with thls pistol. II YOU remain unhurt
your Dreastpiate."
Strange TO say. the contractor refused TO
accede to the suggestion, and no armOr
was provided for the federal soldiers.
quite "a vivid notion of the unpleasant
ness OF warfare is afforded by the trunk
OF tree now in the national museum. 1t
was exposed 70 a particularly hot fire dur
ing hgnung i'm the Wilderness, and was
actually cut In two by flying rife bullets
The tree is nearly TWO feet thick.
Tn the same battle was engaged a sol
dier who wore the usual little round meta
plate. TWO and a half inches in diameter
10 fasten the band that passed over his
plate simultaneously, as If 10 had been
me bulI s-eye of marksmens target
The plate stopped them; but at the same
moment two or three more balls nOtched
the edge of the plate and entered the
mans body, killing him almost instantly
Inc plate, with the three bullets hatteued
upon it ana showing the notches made by
tne others, Us In the army medical mu-
scum.
A union soldier who fought at Antietam
was rendered hors du combat by round
shot that took off his forearm and hand,
severing the members about the elbow. Tt
IS wonder that he was not killed mas
much as in such cases death is apt to en-
sue immediately from shock. However
he recovered, and a few months later he
went back to the field of conflict and
found the missing member 1t had fallen
in a dry place whore, instead Of decayng
IT had become shriveled up ike the arm
OF a mummy
At Newton. Kan. lives Mr.. J. c. john
son. lie was is years old when he fought at
SpottsylVania, May II, 1864 fragment
Of shell struck him in the face and ex-
tended his mouth on the left side nearly
10 the ear. This accident retired the sol
der from active service from Company A.
Of the Sixty-f1rst Pennsylvania regiment
Surgery did much to repair his injury
thought ii could not restore its beauty
A model Of his head on wax showing it as
it appeared just after the wound was re-
eeived, IL preserved in the army medical
museum al Washington. and occasionally
Mr.. johnson comes to see it. He has even
taken photographs of it,
After the bloody battles of Gettysburg
Antietam and the Wilderness agents were
sent by the government to those fields for
the purpose of securing collections OF
skulls and other bones. The chief object
was TO establish exhibits Illustrating the
effect of gunshot wounds. Thousands of
such bones, and hundreds of skulls are
now shown in glass cases a the army med
zeal mueum. Many Of them. however. be-
lions in hospitals; not, of course. including
the skulls Not a few of these men are
alive to-day
one of them is Gen. D. e. sickIes Of New
York who lost a leg at Gettysburg The
right tibia and hbula were smashed to
pieces by shell. and the limb was am
putated on the field. The general contrl-
buted the specimen to the museum, and
az it,
It Is surprising what an interest sur
Viving veterans take in the bones form
ery owned by them and now included in
the government collection. Not long ago
an old soldier complained that the bones
of his shattered knees, mounted on n lii
tie stand and labeled No. 1865 were not
exhibited with sufficient prominence He
persuaded the curator in charge to give
them front place, in order that they
might be admired.
a private of Company c, Thirty-ffth
Wisconsin, was wounded at Tupelo Miss.
on July is, 1854 A bullet struck him I'M
the mead, plowing along the scalp He
died nine days later. The physicians were
somewhat puzzled, as to why he had sue
cumbed. inasmuch as the skull though
lald bare, did not seem to be injured a
all The fact, as proved by a post-mor-
tenn examination, was that the inside
layer of the bone, or lower table" as
9natomists call it, had been featured
Thus the brain suffered injury, while the
skull, to all appearance from the outside,
was left whole.
Many men who went through the civil
war survived injuries which might rea-
sonably have been expected to be fatal.
one of the most remarkable of such cases
was that of Gen. Barnum, who during re-
cent years was a member of the New York
legislature. He died in 1892 There was
no Drawer man engaged in the great con-
tlict. In 1862 he was struck by a bullet
which shattered the left hip bone An in
jury so bad as this one does not heal; ma
ture is not able to repair it. The wound
always remained open, and the general
wore at all times a drainage tube
Think of living thirty years under such
conditionsi The wound was received al
the battle of Malvern Hill, and Gen. Bar
mum was left for dead on the field Tween
ty-fours hours later his comrades found
him and carried him away His son. a
graduate of West Point is named Nal
vern Hill Barnum.
Another very remarkable survival was
that of John II. Simpson of Company Q
Thirty-ninth Massachusetts volunteers
At Petersburg he was hit by a rife bullet
which embedded itself in the lower part
of his backbone. In this condition he lived
for eighteen years and six months, and IN
to near the end of that time he worked a
a clerk in the treasury department nj
Washing ton. He was paralyzed on one
side. but able to get about pretty comfort
ably.
One of the skulls preserved at the army
medical museum contained a bullet which
entered the right eye and lodged at the