Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Harvard Memorial Biographies

[204] he received his mortal wound, his bravery, fidelity, and patriotism entitle him to my warmest approbation, and must render his memory forever sacred in the hearts of his friends and comrades.

On the 7th of November, while leading his company at Rappahannock Station, he was struck in the wrist of the right hand by a bullet, which passed entirely through it. Weston himself always believed, rightly or wrongly, that this bullet came from a shell which exploded nearly over his head; ‘one of the kind,’ as he wrote with his left hand to a friend afterwards, ‘that are filled with anything, from a bullet to a horseshoe.’

His wound, though very painful, was not at first thought to be dangerous, and during the two weeks of his stay in the Harewood Hospital in Washington it does not appear that amputation of his hand was ever suggested by his surgeons. But it told fearfully upon his already enfeebled health and exhausted strength. The hospital at Washington, though doubtless as well managed and comfortable as was possible under the circumstances, was not at all the place for him, and he failed rapidly during the two weeks he passed in it. At the end of that time an intimate friend, who had come to Washington for the purpose of taking him home, succeeded, after the most persistent and vigorous efforts, in getting the furlough, which, if obtained a few days earlier, might perhaps have saved his life; and after a most painful journey, alleviated so far as human watchfulness and care could accomplish it, he arrived in Boston and was taken at once to private rooms in the Massachusetts General Hospital. Here all that the best skill could do was done, united with all the appliances of tender nursing, but without avail.

On the 4th of December his right hand was amputated just below the middle of the forearm, and for several days after the operation his recovery seemed probable; but the tone of his system was never restored, and on the afternoon of the 5th of January, 1864, he died. Throughout his entire sickness his sufferings had been most acute; but in the intervals of comparative relief, his mind was clear and active,