"The Smell of Ether, the Odor of Blood"
Trauma and Surgery
Chest and Abdominal Wounds
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 Chest and abdominal wounds were nearly always fatal. Treatment of abdominal wounds often involved pushing in protruding organs and suturing the wound. Food was withheld because fecal material leaking from the intestines caused contamination. Opium was often administered to halt the action of the digestive system. Abdominal wounds were fatal in almost 90 percent of the cases reported by Union surgeons. Chest wounds were cleaned and the wound was sutured.
The Case of Major General Henry Barnum
 Major General Henry A. Barnum of the 12th New York was injured at Malvern Hill, Va. on July 1, 1862, by a musket ball that passed through his left lower abdomen. The ball penetrated his intestines and hip bone. The wound was considered fatal and he was left in a field hospital. A few days later he was captured and taken 18 miles to Libby Prison. Fifteen days later he was transported 17 miles and exchanged. In October, the wound was opened and several bone fragments were removed. He was promoted to Colonel in January of 1863 and sent back to the field. A year later, Barnum visited a private physician who pushed a probe through the wound causing a large abscess to drain. In order to keep the wound draining, the physician threaded a probe with a strip of oakum and passed it through the wound. Barnum wore a thread through the wound his entire life. He was promoted to Brigadier General and was also injured in battles at Kenesaw Mountain and Peachtree Creek, Ga.. Barnum died of pneumonia at the age of 65 still wearing a thread through the wound.
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