A black-and-white photograph of a bone with significant damage displayed in front of black background .

Left Scapula, Showing a Gunshot Fracture nearly Parallel with the Spine of the Scapula, with Two Fragments of a Conoidal Musket Ball

William Bell (1830-1910)

Date

1865
Object Type

Photographs
Medium

Albumen silver print
Dimensions

Image: 7 3/4 x 6 7/16 in.
Sheet: 9 13/16 x 7 1/2 in.
Mount: 13 15/16 x 10 7/8 in.
Inscriptions

Recto:
l.r. [Inscribed in negative]: 86
Mount Verso:
c. [paper label] : Surgeon General's Office. \ ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM. \ Specimen No. 809-Photographic Series, No. 86. Left \ Scapula, showing a Gunshot Fracture nearly parallel with the \ Spine of the Scapula, with two Fragments of a Conoidal Musket \ Ball. \ Private William Fuller, Co. F, 18th Massachusetts Vols., aged 30 \ years, was wounded at the second battle of Bull Run, August 30th, 1862, \ by a conoidal musket ball, which entered to the left of the spinal column, \ and passing outwards, traversed the body of the scapula and the muscles \ of the upper part of the arm. \ The patient was conveyed to Union Chapel Hospital at Alexandria, \ On the 3d, and again on the 5th of September, misshapen pieces of ball \ and a few fragments of bone were extracted through an incision on the outer edge of the scapula. \ On September 19th, symptoms of purulent infection were manifested. \ An active treatment of stimulants, quinia, iron, and ammonia, was \ instituted, but unavailingly, and on September 25th, 1862, the case \ terminated fatally. \ At the autopsy, a large collection of extravasated blood was found \ beneath the scapula and between the muscles of the shoulder. There was \ extensive serous effusion in the left pleural cavity, and numerous \ metatastatic foci in both lungs. \ The scapula is numbered: Specimen 188, in the Museum Collection. \ Full notes of the case were forwarded by Acting Assistant Surgeon W.H. Butler, U.S.A. \ Photographed at the Army Medical Museum, BY ORDER OF THE SURGEON GENERAL: \ GEORGE A. OTIS, \ Bv't Lt. Col. and Surg. U.S.V., Curator A.M.M.
l.c. [stamp] : Surgeon General's Office. \ ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM \ PHOTOGRAPHIC SERIES.
Credit Line

Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Gift of Paul Katz, North Bennington, Vermont, and George Rinhart, Colebrook, Connecticut
Accession Number

P1985.10
Copyright

Public domain

In 1862, as the Civil War raged, the Army Medical Museum was established to collect “specimens of morbid anatomy together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed” for research to improve military medicine and surgery. During and after the war, the museum solicited contributions from doctors and documented the grisly and lasting effects of battle on human bodies.

Bell, a veteran of both the U.S.-Mexican War and the Civil War, was the museum’s chief photographer from 1865 to 1867. He made hundreds of images, many of which ended up in the monumental publication The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870–88). This photograph documents the case of 30-year-old Private William Fuller of the 18th Massachusetts Volunteers, who was wounded at the Second Battle of Bull Run. He underwent two operations to remove pieces of musket ball and bone, but he died from infection soon after.

—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023)

Location: Off view

See more by William Bell

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