Bicentennial Story #112-Amputation-1876

Bicentennial Story #112-Amputation-1876

Account of an amputation at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

10/3/1975

Father Louis Pfaller

This recording cannot be copied or reproduced without the written permission of the Dickinson Museum Center. This recording may be freely used for education uses, so long as it is not altered in any way. No commercial reproduction or distribution of this recording file is permitted without written permission of the Dickinson Museum Center.

mp3

audio reel, analog, 1/4 inch polyester tape

English

BS-112

Montana Territory

Copyright Stark County Historical Society and Dickinson Museum Center

Soldiers on the frontier often required medical treatment and surgery out in the open. In the battle of the Little Big Horn, a hundred years ago, big Irish Mike Madden was shot in the knee, and crawled back to a trench. Dr. Henry R. Porter gave him a shot of brandy as an anesthetic and said: "It's amputate or die, Mike." Mike stood the operation without a whimper, then Porter gave him another drink. Mike gulped it down, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and said: "Cut off me other leg, Doc. That brandy tastes mighty good."

This is Bicentennial Story No. 112, prepared by Father Louis Pfaller for the Stark County Historical Society.

Bob and Kathryn Wright: Montana--Territory of Treasures, Gazette Printing Company, Billings, 1964 p. 71

Sound recordings

1:10

128kbps

1970 1979

Bicentennial tape #7, Bicentennial stories 108-127