File:Pvt. Theodore W. Pease (SP 371), National Museum of Health and Medicine. (5616457655).jpg

Pvt. Theodore W. Pease (SP 371), National Museum of Health and Medicine.

Description: Private Theodore W. Pease, Company H, 19th Indiana volunteers, shows the damage to his right leg following the excision of his hip as a result of a wound sustained at the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 1st, 1863. Due to abscesses, about six inches of the bone were ultimately excised. The patient recovered. Drs. E.A. Koerper and J.K. Bigelow attended. Caption reads: “War Department, Surgeon General’s Office, Army Medical Museum. Surgical Photograph, No. 371. Prepared under the supervision of surgeon D.L. Huntington, U.S.A. By order of the Surgeon General.”

History is on reverse: “Surgeon General’s Office, Army Medical Museum, Washington. Photograph No. 371.—Surgical Section.—Successful Secondary Excision at the Hip for Ostitis and Coxitis more than Eight Years after the reception of the Shot Injury. Private Theodore W. Pease, Co. H, 19th Indiana Volunteers, aged twenty-six years, was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 1863, by a conoidal musket ball, which entered the right thigh anteriorly, about three inches below the middle of Poupart’s ligament, fracturing the femur in its upper third and passing through the trochanter. He was admitted to a First Army Corps Field Hospital, where the missile was extracted from its lodgment behind the trochanter major on July 4th. On July 9th pieces of bone, amounting to three inches, were removed, after which extension was practiced for twenty-four hours, when by reason of causing too much pain it had to be abandoned. The injured thigh became much swollen and painful, and the discharge of pus was profuse but healthful. Cold water dressings were used, and on July 20th Smith’s anterior splints were applied. During the first two weeks the patient suffered from constipation, and after being relieved from this he was troubled with diarrhea for several months. On September 5th he was transferred to Camp Letterman, where the splints were still continued. About the middle of October the bone had partly united and the discharge from the wound had considerably diminished. On November 3d a large and deep abscess was opened, and several days afterwards, bony union having become firm, the splints were removed. At the time of the patient’s transfer to York Hospital, November 14th, measurement showed the limb to be shortened three inches; the wound of entrance and exit had healed, but the seat of the abscess was still discharging. In January, 1864, another deep-seated abscess was opened, the formation of which had been preceded by the patient having a chill followed by a fever. Subsequently abscesses formed from time to time and the wound of exit re-opened, and on February 29th symptoms of tetanus manifested themselves in stiffness of the muscles of the neck and jaw, which were subdued by the administration of camphor and opium pills after four days duration. On August 8, 1864, the patient left for his home in Indianapolis, and was pensioned, having been mustered out by expiration of service. Subsequently there was no improvement in the condition of the injured limb, and suppuration did not cease owing to the existence of progressive necrosis of the bone, gradually involving almost the entire femur and finally necessitating the removal of ten and a half inches of the shaft, which operation was performed on September 2, 1868, by Dr. J.K. Bigelow, late Surgeon 8th Indiana Volunteers. Afterwards the patient suffered from repeated attacks of erysipelas, followed by inguinal and popliteal abscesses, and finally coxo-femoral exsection became necessary and was performed on November 8, 1871, by dividing the shaft five inches below the trochanter and enucleating the head of the bone. The removed fragment was found to be in the shape of a large involucrum and was filled in all its aspects with sharp projecting spicula, which perforated the muscular structure and caused considerable hemorrhage during the operation. A portion of the leaden bullet operation and was entirely closed after twenty-eight days. In three months cartilaginous union had taken place, and the subsequent process of recovery was uninterrupted. In September, 1877, the man was able to attend to the ordinary duties of a Deputy U.S. Marshal, having a perfect arthrodial joint at the hip and being able to walk quite well with the aid of a cane and that of a six inch lift on his right boot. The photograph is an enlarged copy of a card-picture contributed by the operator. The case is recorded in Med. And Surg. Hist., Part III, Vol. II, p. 115. Photographed at the Army Medical Museum. By order of the Surgeon General: George A. Otis, Assistant Surgeon, U.S.A., Curator, A.M.M.”

Date: circa 1868

Photo ID: SP 371

Source Collection: OHA 82: Surgical Photographs

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