File:Sgt. L. Morell (SP 335), National Museum of Health and Medicine (5395981801).jpg

Sgt. L. Morell (SP 335), National Museum of Health and Medicine

Description: Image of Sergeant L. Morell, 119th New York Volunteers. He had cicatrices after shot perforation of the abdomen after receiving a gunshot wound at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. Photograph taken at the Army Medical Museum.

Caption reads: “War Department, Surgeon General's Office, Army Medical Museum, Surgical Photograph, No. 335, 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. Photograph No. 335.—Cicatrices after Shot Perforation of the Abdomen. Sergeant L. Morell, 119th New York Volunteers, aged nineteen, in the assault of the Eleventh Corps, at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863, received three wounds. The first, from a small ball which lodged in the left eye, the second, an instant after, from a ball which entered four inches to the right of the umbilicus, passed directly through the body, and came out near the right sacro-iliac synchondrosis, having grooved the crest of the ilium. The Sergeant fell, unconscious, but recollects that he was hit soon after in the left thigh. He remained on the field until July 4th, and was then carried to a farm house, where his wounds were dressed by a Confederate surgeon. He drank a little gruel, portions of which escaped by the posterior wound almost as fast as it was swallowed. The appearance of the clothing indicated that there had been copious hemorrhage. On the 8th of July he was taken to Eleventh Corps field hospital. No record appears here. August 6th, was moved to Camp Letterman Hospital, where the case is registered as ‘penetrating shot wound of the abdomen, loss of left eye, knee contracted.’ He was under the immediate charge of Acting Assistant Surgeon J.A. Newcombe. There had been a faecal discharge from the posterior wound, but it ceased about July 12th. Acting Assistant Surgeon A.B. Stonelake, enlarged the posterior wound, and removed a considerable fragment of wing of the ilium, perforated by the ball. He was sent to Ladies’ Home Hospital, October 31st, in care of Dr. Newcombe. His bowels were regular and health good. After the journey to New York, there were slight faecal discharges, at long intervals, from posterior wound, the anterior being healed. In February, 1864, the patient began to leave his bed, and the stercoral discharge from the fistulous openings became more copious. There was much contraction about knee joint, and, in December, 1864, surgeon A.B. Mott, U.S.V., divided the hamstring tendons, and extended the limb. The patient went to McDougall Hospital on May 30, 1865. The faecal fistula reopened in June, but soon closed again. On the 18th August, Morell was discharged and pensioned. July 28, 1866, Examiner A.L. Lowell reported that wound was still discharging, and exfoliation from the ilium still continued. The fistula again closed, and May 11, 1867, Morell re-entered the service as Hospital Steward, and was assigned to clerical duty in the Division of Surgical Records of the Surgeon General’s Office, where he is still employed. [Vide Medical and Surgical History, Part 2, Vol. II, p. 80.]. Photographed at the Army Medical Museum. By order of the Surgeon General: George A. Otis, Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Army.”

Date: circa 1867

Photo ID: SP 335

Source Collection: OHA 82: Surgical Photographs

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