Conservative treatment was employed in the cases of flesh wounds or minor bone fractures. The wound was cleaned of bone fragments, clothing, and other debris and dressed with bandages. Local anesthetic was often applied. Conservation left the limb intact, but the use of unsterilized instruments, unwashed hands, and dirty bandages often introduced infection.
The Case of Corporal G.W. Stone
Corporal G.W. Stone, Company A, 12th Massachusetts was wounded at Fredericksburg, Va. on Dec. 13, 1862, when a conoidal ball penetrated his right eye and lodged behind his left eye. His only exterior symptoms were a small wound to the lid of his right eye and the slight protuberance of his left eye. His left eye continued to function normally. Corporal Stone complained only of a slight headache. The wound to his right eye healed well, and within in three weeks, he was allowed to walk about the city with a hospital pass. Suddenly on Feb. 6, 1863, he developed chills. Fever and delirium followed. He died at midnight on Feb. 15, 1863.
The Case of Private John Tucker
Private John Tucker, 17th Maine, age 20, was wounded by a shell explosion at the battle of Chancellorsville, Va. on May 3, 1863. The shell removed a large portion of the skin and muscle of the buttocks and lower back. Applications of wet lint doused with disinfectant lotion were used to treat the wound. Several days later he contracted tetanus and was treated with olive oil applied to cotton batting and with doses of morphine. He survived the tetanus. By 1870, part of the wound remained an open ulcer that drained a thick pus. The doctor recommended the new technique of skin grafting to heal the wound but it is unknown if Tucker underwent the operation.
Head Wounds
Head wounds were not always fatal. A soldier's prognosis was best when bone splinters were removed and the wound was left to heal. In more severe wounds, trephination was used. Trephination involved drilling a circular hole into the skull to relieve pressure from bleeding or to remove fragments of bone pressing on the brain. Trephinations were fatal in over half of the 220 operations performed by Union surgeons.
To perform a trephination, the patient was first anesthetized. The tissue surrounding the trephination site was then pulled back and the trephine placed on the site. The trephine was turned in a circular motion to slowly cut through the bone. Care was taken not to cut the tissue surrounding the brain. An instrument called an elevator was used to raise sections of fractured bone away from the brain. A Heye's saw was used to remove protruding bone fragments.
The Case of Private J. Luman
Private J. Luman of Company A, 122nd Ohio Volunteers was wounded at the battle of Mine Run, Va. on Nov. 27, 1863, when a minie ball passed through his skull. He was treated in the field hospital for several days before being evacuated to the 3rd division hospital in Alexandria. By Dec. 8, Private Luman was comatose, and Surgeon E. Bentley applied a trephine and removed the splinters of bones associated with the wound. He condition failed to improve and he died five days later.
The Case of Corporal G.H. Swift
Corporal G.H. Swift, Company C, 18th Massachusetts, was injured at the battle of Chancellorsville, Va. on May 3, 1863, when a musket ball fractured the top of his skull. Surgeons attempted to trephine the wound but halted the procedure upon discovering that the inner surface of the skull was not fractured. Corporal Swift died on May 17.
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