Femur with Bullet Wound

Civil War weapons were designed to kill and maim; rifle bullets and artillery shells tore flesh and shattered bones. A soldier shot in the arm or leg was lucky. Most head, chest, and abdominal wounds were fatal, but a man might survive losing a limb. An estimated 60,000 men needed to have their limbs amputated during the war, either because of battlefield wounds or later infections. This femur (thighbone), one of many bone specimens given to the Mütter Museum by the U.S. Surgeon General, came from an amputation or a post-mortem surgery. The specimen includes the bullet that hit it. Minié balls or bullets, named for their French inventor, were rifle bullets made of lead with hollow bases and ridges on the outside. When a Minié ball pierced a soldier’s body, it flattened or deformed, damaging flesh and bones. Depending on where and how a bullet hit, it could crack or splinter bones, causing intense pain, bleeding, and weakness. Bullets and other projectiles could be embedded in bones, as with this specimen, or pass through the body, leaving exit wounds the size of a fist. Military surgeons collected anatomical specimens so they could study new kinds of wounds and come up with new treatments, a process that still continues today