New look at old wounds

James Bedell's cranium was cracked by a Confederate saber in 1863 and now resides in Washington, DC. Credit: Courtesy of National Museum of Health and Medicine, surgical photograph no. 8" />James Bedell's cranium was cracked by a Confederate saber in 1863 and now resides in Washington, DC. Credit: Courtesy of National Museum of Health and Medicine, surgical photograph no. 8 One of the

Written byBob Grant

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One of the shattered skulls kept within the walls of the National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) in Washington, DC, belonged to private James Bedell, a 45-year-old Union soldier from Michigan. He was captured by Confederate forces on July 3, 1863, when his horse was shot out from under him during the Battle of Gettysburg. Bedell fell in line behind his captors with other hapless Union fighters, but he was unable to keep up with the Confederate brigade as it retreated from the battlefield. This sluggishness earned him a crack to his skull from a Confederate lieutenant's saber. Bedell was left by the roadside to die.

Passing Union scouts soon found him and took him to a nearby hospital. Bedell drifted in and out of a stupor until he finally succumbed to his injuries on Aug. 15, 1863, more than 40 days after his skull was nearly split in ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
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From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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