The force with which arrows are projected by Indians is so great
that it has been estimated that the initial velocity nearly
equals that of a musket-ball. At a short distance an arrow will
perforate the larger bones without comminuting them, causing a
slight fissure only, and resembling the effect of a pistol-ball
fired through a window-glass a few yards off.
Among extraordinary cases of recovery from arrow-wounds, several
of the most striking will be recorded. Tremaine mentions a
sergeant of thirty-four who, in a fray with some hostile Indians,
received seven arrow-wounds: two on the anterior surface of the
right arm; one in the right axilla; one on the right side of the
chest near the axillary border; two on the posterior surface of
the left arm near the elbow-joint, and one on the left temple. On
June 1st he was admitted to the Post Hospital at Fort Dodge, Kan.
The wound on the right arm near the deltoid discharged, and there
was slight exfoliation of the humerus. The patient was treated
with simple dressings, and was returned to duty in July, 1870.
Goddard mentions an arrow-wound by which the body was transfixed.
The patient was a cutler's helper at Fort Rice, Dakota Territory.
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