Sunday, August 21, 2022

Civil War Veteran Jacob Miller Was Shot In The Forehead In The Battle Of Chickamauga, 1863


 Yes, that's a bullet hole in the forehead of Jacob C. Miller, who served as a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. A gunshot "between the eyes" is almost always fatal, but somehow Miller survived this wound, which he incurred on Brock Field at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, in the Battle of Chickamauga, 1863. Doctors examining him later were able to see his pulsating brain quite clearly.

When Miller was shot, he crumpled to the ground, and he would later say that he could hear the words of his captain: "It’s no use to remove poor Miller, for he is dead." Miller's own description of what happened next is chilling:


"At last, I became conscious and raised up in a sitting position. Then I began to feel my wound. I found my left eye out of its place and tried to place it back, but I had to move the crushed bone back as together as near together as I could first. Then I got the eye in its proper place. I then bandaged the eye the best I could with my bandana."

After Miller returned to his hometown of Logansport, Indiana, doctors were hesitant to remove the bullet, fearing the patient would die. Ultimately they did remove about a third of it, and more pieces simply fell out decades later.

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