Gunshot Fracture of the Shaft of the Right Femur, United with Great Shortening and Deformity

A wounded young veteran of the American Civil War, wearing only a shirt and jacket, stands supported by crutches, his right leg severely wounded as described in the photograph's title. A mirror is placed behind him in order to show the leg from multiple angles, but the reflection mercifully reduces the gruesome evidence to shadow, blocked by the right crutch. He stares intently at the camera, perhaps uncomfortable being photographed in such an awkward and immodest position, yet surely grateful to be among the survivors. Like their counterparts in other army branches, medical officers such as William H. Bell, who became official photographer of the Army Medical Museum, carefully documented the effects rather than the events of the war, as well as their healing techniques.