THE CASE OF PRIVATE THOMAS CONAUTON - By Craig L. Barry

[Eric Tipton]

Elmira Prison Camp, (Image Courtesy of The Library of Congress)

CASE.--Private Thomas Conauton, Co. F, 56th New York State Militia, aged 19 years, while on duty at "Rebel Camp," Elmira, New York, August 13th, 1864, was wounded by the accidental discharge of an Enfield rifle. A conoidal ball entered half an inch to the right of and below the right nipple, passed through the lung, and emerged at the margin of the posterior border of the inferior angle of the right scapula. The same ball mortally wounded a second man. Conauton felt faint from the loss of blood which followed, but did not fall immediately. Cold-water dressings and bandage were applied. Half an hour later whiskey was administered, upon swallowing which, he raised blood, and, at each effort to cough, the blood ran freely from his mouth until he was nearly exhausted. Three hours after the reception of the injury, he was admitted to the hospital at Elmira. There was considerable hemorrhage from both wounds and great dyspnoea. On the removal of the dressings, the dyspnoea increased to almost immediate suffocation; but could readily be relieved by drawing the integument so as to close the external wounds. The anterior and posterior wounds were at once converted into incised wounds by Assistant Surgeon Charles A. Leale, U. S. V., and the edges brought together and retained in position by silk sutures and adhesive straps, and hermetically sealed with collodion. A bandage was then applied, producing moderate pressure over both wounds. An opiate having been administered, the patient was laid on his back. He passed a very comfortable night; on the next morning there was considerable febrile movement, increased bronchial respiration, and a slight cough Pulse 120. For four or five days, blood, of a bright arterial color, mingled with sputa, came away in mouthfuls, amounting to at least eight ounces a day. The dressings came off in three days; the wounds had both closed by adhesion; not the slightest suppuration took place from the anterior wound, and only a few drops from the integumentary surface of the posterior wound. Acute pneumonia supervened in the right side, which lasted between two and three weeks. [1]

Shootings at Union Civil War prison camps like Elmira were not unusual. The conditions at Elmira were overcrowded and the usual targets were unarmed Confederate prisoners who approached the so-called “dead line.” However, incidents involving guards shooting each other (as was the case here) were not common at all. How did it happen?

On the night of August 13, 1864 two privates of the “56th New York Militia” named Conauton and Burtis were in their quarters at Camp Chemung off duty. They got into an argument about the best fire engines in the city of Brooklyn, of all things. The discussion grew more heated and the Corporal on guard duty (Crummell) was summoned. He was armed with a loaded and capped “Enfield rifle” which was most likely the very commonly encountered Enfield long rifle, pattern of 1853. [2] The weapon discharged in the direction of Conauton and Burtis, whether intentionally or accidentally, at more or less point blank range. As stated above in the medical report, the minie ball entered the chest of Conauton, exited at his shoulder blade and had enough steam to continue straight through Burtis. It then lodged in the knapsack of a third soldier, whose name has not been preserved. Since this particular Enfield rifle was serving the cause of the Union, the ammunition in question would have been the standard three-ring, soft lead .58 caliber conical “minie ball” that caused so much carnage to those unfortunate enough to be hit by one on a Civil War battlefield. The Union did not import .577 English cartridges specifically for the Enfield rifle, but issued standard regulation .58 “rifle-musket cartridges” for both.

Standard issue .58 conical ball for US 1861 and Enfield rifle-musket. (images courtesy collection of author and public domain)

Conauton and Burtis were taken to one of the Elmira Prison hospital wards (there were six) for treatment as outlined above. Conauton survived his injuries. Oddly the second man hit, Burtis, was not as lucky. Corporal Crummell was placed under arrest, but subsequently charges were dropped when Conauton testified that the accident was unintentional. It was documented that “the camp was dispirited” by the whole episode. [3]

Other than luck, is there any possible explanation for why Conauton survived and Private Burtis did not? In terms of ballistics, the soft lead .58 caliber minie ball immediately “mushroomed out” upon impact with tissue or bones. The flattened and sometimes splintered lead projectile caused a much larger exit wound leaving the body than it did entering it. Hence, the projectile that went straight through Conauton was much larger when it next struck Burtis with the most likely result being greater tissue, blood vessel and bone damage. This, more so than pure velocity, is why immediate surgical amputation was so often required when a projectile of this type struck the bone of an arm or leg.

“Mushroomed” .58 caliber minie ball found on the battlefield at Spotsylvania Courthouse. Image courtesy Benny Atkinson (public domain).

If loss of life resulting from this accidental shooting seems a foolish tragedy, it is worth mention that the vast majority of soldiers chosen for ‘prison duty’ were not the cream of the crop from West Point or even the best and brightest of the local rear guard militia. Generally, these assignments were given to volunteers who were not able to serve in the field for one reason or another. For example, the first Elmira Prison commandant was Major Henry V. Colt of the 104th New York Volunteers, brother of the well-known gun-maker, Samuel Colt. [4] Major Colt enhanced his qualifications for the Elmira Prison post after he sustained a serious injury while jumping over a ditch marching towards the battlefield. The portly Major landed awkwardly and the tip of his scabbard stuck in the ground while his momentum drove the grip or handle of the saber into a very sensitive part of the male anatomy, resulting in among other problems, a chronic inguinal hernia. Fortunately, Henry Colt and his wife already had two children back in New York before the war because there is no mention in his biographical data of any more children afterwards. [5] While two prison guards accidentally shot during an off duty argument about fire engines was unusual, Major Colt’s disability from his clumsy attempt to jump that ditch in Virginia is potentially one of the oddest and most embarrassing accidental self-inflicted wounds of the Civil War. One struggles to find any record of an incident remotely similar. It almost sounds like a comedic circus clown skit. Such were the men assigned to run the Union prison system. [6]

As far as the final disposition in the case of Private Thomas Conauton, he was very fortunate compared to other soldiers struck at close range by a .58 minie ball fired from an Enfield rifle. The medical report concludes:

“The patient convalesced without an unfavorable symptom, and was returned to duty in less than five weeks from the reception of the wound. On March 19th, 1866, he was carefully examined. Externally, nothing could be seen except the cicatrices and marks of the sutures, while on auscultation and percussion, a dullness was found at the middle lobe of the right lung, confined to a space of about four inches in circumference, where pleuritic adhesion had taken place. Otherwise that lobe was perfectly healthy, as were the remaining lobes of both right and left lungs, he was in perfect health.” [7]

Major Henry V. Colt (Image Library of Congress)

NOTES

1. Official Records of the War of Rebellion (1861-1865). Medical/Surgical History--Part I, Volume II, Chapter V.--Wounds and Injuries of the Chest. Section II.--Gunshot Wounds of the Chest, US Government Press (Washington), 1875, p. 502.
2. Michael Gray, The Business of Captivity: Elmira and its Civil War Prison, Kent State University Press (Kent, Ohio), 2001, p. 21.
3. Ibid, p. 22.
4. Ibid p. 22, see also: Biographical Review of Livingston and Wyoming Counties, New York, Brown Publishing Company (Boston), 1895, p. 315.
5. Most officers before, during and after the Civil War-era did not wear a saber unless on parade or in battle, especially not while on the march. Officers had a baggage wagon and the cutlery generally rode in the “in the rear with the gear.”
6. Clayton Holmes, A History of the Elmira Prison Camp, Knickerbocker Press (New York), 1912, p. 81. His ditch jumping days behind him, Major Colt was generally well regarded by fellow officers and prisoners at Elmira. He was considered a fair man and “a man of good judgment.”
7. Ibid, Official Records, p. 502.