Surviving Gunshot Wounds In The Old West

[Timthinker]

Granted, bullet wounds in the time period discussed here were not an automatic death sentence. Yet, the probabilities of death or amputation were greater then due to the lack of modern surgical techniques and wonder antibiotics. One story that comes to my mind is the death of General "Stonewall" Jackson in the American Civil War. Jackson lost an arm due to "friendly" fire and later died from pneumonia. If this occured today, Jackson might have lived and perhaps kept his arm.

The point here is that death or amputation was greater in the 19th due to the various reasons listed by our contributors. This topic is interesting and I hope that it leads our readers to look at the history of medicine. Doing this will provide others with more than an historically interesting subject. It may lead some to think about pursuing healthier lifestyle choices. Now that is something truly worthwhile.


Timthinker

 

[Dain Bramage]

That's why a .41 rimfire from a derringer to the abmdoman was feared like a .45 Colt to the chest

I too have heard that the .41 rimfire Derringer might have been the deadliest round in the West. Had enough mojo to penetrate just about half-way into a man.

 

[Dorryn]

The ballistics of the .36 Navy was roughly equivalent to a .38 Special target wadcutter....

Owning and firing both, I find this statistic VERY hard to believe. Shooting a simple pine tree from a distance of 15 feet, a .36 of blackpowder penetrates around 1-3cm, a .38 Special around 5-7in. However, that was round shot, not Minie ball. Ballistics are far too variable to make this sort of comparison.

 

[saltpepperPA]

are you sure that he suffered 50 bullet wounds at the same time... it may have been, the only survivor had survived 50 bullet wounds in his life...

 

[Phil DeGraves]

He was shot with birdshot several times.

 

[1911Tuner]

Owning and firing both, I find this statistic VERY hard to believe.

Allow me to correct. By ballistics, I was referring to projectile energy imparted to the target on impact...not penetration.

a .38 Special around 5-7in.

You sure we're talkin' about the same round?

.38 target-grade wadcutter wouldn't penetrate nearly that much wood. I was on hand once when a youngster accidentally shot his uncle in his muscular and sizeable thigh with a wadcutter. "Big Jake" walked into the house and removed the bullet with a pair of tweezers and a large needle. It stopped just below flush in the flesh after going through his denim jeans.

And...I've owned and fired both myself. Several examples of each, in fact.

 

[Imaginos]

It also re-emphasises that a lot of trauma survival is mental more than physical. Plenty of modern folks have died of survivable wounds, and plently of other carried on with seemingly impossible wounds simply because they decided that they would live.

Years ago I read an account of a 70-ish year old colonial militiaman who was shot and bayonetted by the Brits, lost an arm, and survived to a ripe old age. I wish I could remember his name.

 

[chieftain]

LOL people actually still call it that? Fort Sumter must have attacked itself.

Where I come from, those of us from there still do. Only the Yankee's moving in and taking over now call it the civil war. Wasn't anything Civil about it.

The Southern states figured if they joined, they could un-join. Not really radical thinking. Lincoln had no legal basis for ordering Sumter to withstand South Carolina's call for the removal of Federal troops. Or for that matter, forcing the secessionist states from leaving the Union. It sure ain't in the Constitution.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am glad things worked out the way they did. Even though the North, screwed the south for almost a hundred years, we were still better off being with the United States than against it or separate from.

But it don't change what happened.

A Florida boy.

Go figure.

Fred

 

[.44walkersabot]

One time I was reading an old, old book about medicine, mostly gunshot wounds. I remember that rule number one was get that lead ball out of him first or infection would surely catch hold. The next step, like if it was a shoulder wound where the ball had passed completely through, was to get a piece of stout string and dip it in kerosene if there was any, or maybe strong whiskey. Then rub black pepper all over the string and pull it through the wound, re-rubbing black pepper on the string and pulling it through like that for several times. After that you could cauterize it with something real hot, then put salve over the burned places. Hog lard would work just fine the book read. If the wound was NOT cauterized then after you dragged the black peppered up string through the hole several times. then soak both the entrance and exit wounds very liberally with kerosene..Okay..

 

[Mk VII]

Infection was more common on land that had been tilled & fertilised with animal dung for centuries - much less common in the Western Theater.

 

[David904]

chieftain,
I got a chuckle about the Civil War names. My family in Ridge Spring, SC still refer to it as the "War between the States" or the "War of Northern Aggression." They never call it the Civil War as, "There was nothing civil about it."

We're a proud American family with a long history of serving our country. I even have a great great uncle who received the Medal of Honor.

 

[TYY]

FWIW, infection doesn't usually come from the foreign body, it results from all the devascularized tissue that the bullet created.

 

[Banta]

Maggots from the blowfly were the wound cleaning first choice of many Civil War doctors if I'm not mistaken. They apparently did an excellent job of just eating the rotten flesh and leaving behind the healthy tissue. This greatly reduced infection and gangrene resulting in fewer amputations and deaths.

 

[Slugless]

Lincoln had no legal basis for ordering Sumter to withstand South Carolina's call for the removal of Federal troops

Simply not true. The fort was Federal territory before the secession and Federal territory after the secession. Kind of like Guantanamo bay.

There are no clauses in the Constitution allowing secession. The Southern states were not "forced" to leave the Union. They claimed State's Rights and voted to leave.

The question of whether the Southern states were allowed to leave has been answered quite decisively. By inspection, there is no such right. 600,000 people died to prove that.

Back to topic, note the death/casualty rate in the civil war. Memory tells me that we had 1,000,000 casualties and 600,000 deaths. Getting hit by shrapnel is different than mini-ball and pistol shot but it still gives you a good benchmark.

 

[1911Tuner]

The question of whether the Southern states were allowed to leave has been answered quite decisively. By inspection, there is no such right.

Like the question as to whether we had the right to break it off with Jolly Olde England? Then, in 1861, were were branded "Lawless Rebels" for doing the same thing that the colonists did in 1775...but they were called heroes and patriots.

Perspective is a funny thing...ain't it?

FWIW...It's better that we lost. England was eyeing the possibility of a divided nation a bit too eagerly...

 

[Slugless]

Correct. Note the phrase "by inspection"

By inspection, the United States successfully exercised the right to leave the Empire.

And clearly we were rebels who broke the law.

 

[saltydog452]

Back to lead balls, Andrew Jackson survived a chest wound.

salty.

 

[revjen45]

In the eyes of the law George Washington was a criminal; Adolph Hitler was not. George Washington and the Signers of the Declaration of Independence took up arms against the lawful authority of The Crown and Parliament- they were rebels and traitors. Adolph Hitler was democratically elected and changed the law by legal means before acting. Under the Reich Enabling Act he had the right to do just about anything. Lest I be called a Nazi sympathizer let me say "Up the Rebels!"

 

[Bighouse Doc]

Amputations were more due to lack of surgical ability to revascularize the wounded limb.

Modern vascualr surgery didn't really take-off untill the Korean War.

US Army surgeons began to experiment on wounded N.Korean troops. They developed techniques(and tools) to re-connect areteries that had been damaged. These techniques were then used on wounded GI's.

Of course, this was all in direct violation of the US Army surgical manual which (dating from WW1 with revisions in WW2) stated that damaged arteries were to be ligated and the devascularized limb amputated.

Once the official command got word of GI's having their vascualture repaired, they issued immediate orders to the surgeons to "Cease and Desist" such procedures.

Fortunately for the troops, the surgeons took the risk of Court-Martial and continued to repair the vasculature.

Today, this stuff is bread and butter techniques of even the most basic of surgeons.