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.

Albert Woolson, last surviving Civil War veteran ever, enlisting at 14 and dying at 106 in 1956

 As atrocious as war is, it’s amazing to think that someone who served in the Civil War could be alive into the middle of the 20th century. Doesn’t time just blow your mind? As a teen Woolson enlisted as a drummer boy in Company C, 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Regiment on October 10, 1864. He was discharged nearly a year later and spent the rest of his life in Minnesota.

Imagine his wonder at the way life changed from the 19th century to the 20th century. Woolson saw the advent of automobiles, electricity, motion pictures, and even television. When he passed away in 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower said:

The American people have lost the last personal link with the Union Army... His passing brings sorrow to the hearts of all of us who cherished the memory of the brave men on both sides of the War Between the States.