File:Pvt. Samuel Decker (SP 205), National Museum of Health and Medicine (308900612).jpg

Pvt. Samuel Decker (SP 205), National Museum of Health and Medicine

Description: Image of Private Samuel Decker, Co. I, 4th U.S. Artillery, who suffered a double amputation of the forearms for an injury caused by the premature explosion of a gun. He was injured at the battle of Perryville on October 8, 1862. Photograph taken at the Army Medical Museum.

History is on reverse: "Surgeon General’s Office, Army Medical Museum. Photograph, No. 205. Double amputation of the forearms for injury caused by the premature explosion of a gun. Private Samuel II. Decker, Co. I, 4th U.S. Artillery, while ramming his piece at the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862, and had half of his right forearm, and somewhat less of the left, blown off by the premature explosion of the gun. At the same time his face and chest were badly burned. Five hours after the accident, both forearms were amputated by the circular method, about the middle, by an Assistant Surgeon of the regular army whose name he cannot recall. He lay in the field hospital at Perryville until the wounds were partially cicatrized, when, on November 1st, he went to Louisville, Kentucky, and, on the 3d of November, 1862, he was discharged the service. About the middle of January, 1863, the stumps were completely healed. In the Autumn of 1864, Mr. Decker began to make experiments for providing himself with artificial limbs. He produced, in March, 1865, an apparatus hitherto unrivaled for its ingenuity and utility. He receives a pension of $300.00 per year, and is a doorkeeper at the House of Representatives. On November 29, 1867, Mr. Decker visited the Army Medical Museum, where a number of photographs of his stumps were made. With the aid of his ingenious apparatus he is enabled to write legibly, to pick up any small objects, a pin for example, to carry packages of ordinary weight, to feed and clothe himself, and in one or two instances of disorder in the Congressional gallery has proved himself a formidable police officer. Photographed at the Army Medical Museum. By order of the Surgeon General: George A. Otis, Bv’t Lt. Col. and Ass’t Surg. U.S.A., Curator A.M.M.”

Date: 1867

Photo ID: SP 205

Source Collection: OHA 82: Surgical Photographs

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