Civil War weapons were known to cause massive amounts of damage to the human body. Large caliber arms could shatter bones, force amputations, and end a soldier’s life in the most gruesome ways possible. It’s no surprise that so many men died in combat during the war, and so many more lost limbs to wounds that might today be treatable.
Knowing this, it’s easy to understand the shock and awe of seeing the enemy you shot in the eye and learning he was alive decades later.
In 1921, Union Army veteran Peter Knapp read a sensational newspaper story about a man who appeared to be choking. The story ended with the man coughing up a one ounce bullet that had struck him while he was a Confederate sniper stationed at Vicksburg near the Mississippi River. Knapp knew immediately that the bullet came from his rifle.
