File:Pvt. Eben E. Smith (SP 29), National Museum of Health and Medicine (5298477752).jpg

Pvt. Eben E. Smith (SP 29), National Museum of Health and Medicine

Description: Drawing of Private Eben E. Smith, 11th Main volunteers, by Hospital Steward Baumgrass of the Army Medical Museum. Smith was wounded at the skirmish at Deep Bottom, Virginia on August 16, 1864 by a musket ball. The wound was severe and the leg was amputated on September 12, 1864, with another further amputation to the hip on January 19th, 1865 by Acting Assistant Surgeon J.H. Packard. Following this secondary amputation, Smith recovered well, at which point this drawing was made.

History (from SP 29): " Private Eben E. Smith, A, 11th Maine, aged nineteen, was wounded at the engagement at Deep Bottom, near Drury’s Bluff, on August 16, 1864, by a musket ball, which fractured the head of the right tibia. He was admitted at the U.S. General Hospital at Beverly, on August 22, 1864. On admission, the injured knee-joint was swollen and painful, and there was irritative fever of a moderate grade. On September 12th, secondary haemorrhage occurred, and the thigh was amputated, by circular incisions at the lower third, by Acting Assistant J.C. Morton, the patient being under chloroform. The case progressed favorably until October 17th, when secondary haemorrhage recurred, and was arrested by ligating the femoral artery in Scarpa’s triangle. The stump remained swollen and painful, and furnished a profuse fetid suppuration. Osteomyelitis supervened; the end of the femur protruded, and was removed by the chain saw. Necrosis finally extended as high as the trocanters, and numerous abscesses formed. On January 19, 1865, amputation at the hip-joint was performed, under chloroform, by Acting Assistant Surgeon J.H. Packard, the antero-posterior flap operation being adopted. On January 27th, there was haemorrhage from the stump, and the external iliac artery was tied. The ligature separated on February 17th, and two days afterwards there was profuse bleeding from the divided artery, which was contracted by pressure for fourteen days. After this the patient rapidly improved. In April he was reported well, and Hospital Steward Baumgrass, one of the artists of the Army Medical Museum, was sent to Beverly, and made the drawing from which the photograph was taken. It is numbered 67 in the Surgical Series of Drawings. On April 12, 1865, Smith was transferred to White Hall Hospital, near Bristol, Pa. Assistant Surgeon W.H. Forwood, U.S.A., reports that, on May 27, 1865, he was discharged from service, quite well and strong, the wounds being entirely healed. The necrosed lower portion of the femur is Specimen 3709; the upper portion is specimen 81, Army Medical Museum. Smith was pensioned, and rated at second grade. He was paid March 4, 1874, and exempted from biennial examinations.”

Date: April 1865

Photo ID: SP 29

Source Collection: OHA 82: Surgical Photographs

Repository: National Museum of Health and Medicine, Otis Historical Archives