File:Pvt. J. McDonnell (SP 329), National Museum of Health and Medicine (4155479380).jpg

Pvt. J. McDonnell (SP 329), National Museum of Health and Medicine

Description: Image of Private J. McDonnell, Co. C, 124th Ohio, who was wounded with a musket ball to the left tibia at Chickamauga on September 19, 1863. He was captured and held in Richmond, Danville, and Andersonville until he was exchanged in March 1865, after which he was received at the Army Medical Museum.

Caption reads: “War Department, Surgeon General’s Office, Army Medical Museum. Surgical Photograph, No 330. Prepared under the supervision of Assistant Surgeon George A. Otis, U.S.A. by order of the Surgeon General. ”

History is on reverse: "Surgeon General’s Office, Army Medical Museum. Photographs Nos. 329 and 330—Gunshot Wound of the Knee-Joint. Private J. McDonnell, C, 124th Ohio, was wounded at Chickamauga, September 19, 1863, by a conoidal ball, which entered over the inner crest of the left tibia, passed upward through the inner condyle of the femur and lodged. He was made a prisoner, and confined at Richmond, Danville, and Andersonville. Treatment: Two stitches in the wound and cold water dressings. A portion of the ball was removed, also sixteen spiculae of bone, at various times. He suffered from scurvy whilst in prison; was exchanged March 28, 1865, and finally discharged from service July 8, 1865, from Camp Chase, Ohio. He received a pension of six dollars per month. Mr. McDonnell called at the Army Medical Museum September 17, 1872, made the above statement and exhibited his wound. His general health was indifferent. There was a large cicatrix on the inner side of the knee-joint, and several smaller ones about three inches above the outer condyle; there was tenderness and preternatural mobility about the joint; it seemed to have undergone a spontaneous dislocation, the femur and patella projecting forward over the tibia. The foot could be inverted and everted much farther than usual, and the limb was shortened about two inches. He could walk with comparative ease, and could readily ascend a stairway. A plaster cast of the injured knee was made and numbered 6199 of the Surgical Series. There are pension examiner’s certificates in this case to October, 1873. 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: 17 September 1872

Photo ID: SP 329

Source Collection: OHA 82: Surgical Photographs

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