Back

Wounded Civil War Soldier

Medical treatment during the Civil War was crude and many servicemen developed lifelong problems after being wounded or incurring illness. Here is one eyewitness account of such an injury: Surgeon General's Office Army Medical Museum Photograph No. 79 - Shell wound of the face with great destruction of the soft parts. Private Joseph Harvey, C, 149th New York, was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, by a fragment of shell. The right eye was destroyed, the right superior maxilla was fractured, a fragment was chipped off the lower jaw, and the right cheek was frightfully lacerated. The patient fell into the hands of the enemy and remained a prisoner eleven days. In the middle of June, 1863, he was admitted into Mansion House Hospital at Alexandria. In August, portions of exfoliated bone were removed. A ferrotype, representing the appearance of the wound at this date was forwarded to the Army Medical Museum. On May 7, 1865, Harvey was discharged from service on account of physical disability. He was subsequently employed as night watchmen at the Commissary Hospital in Alexandria. The photograph was taken June 22, 1865. A loss of substance in the cheek was still unrepaired, and liquid and saliva escaped from it. There was slight deafness and a partial facial paralysis on the right side. The soldier was pensioned and his death, from cause not known, was reported December 9, 1868. Photographed at the Army Medical Museum. By order of the Surgeon General: George A. Otis, Assistant Surgeon, U.S.A., Curator, A.M.M.

Back