- Richard Hum
A near infinite number of events had to have occurred to bring us to where we are today. Sometimes, our daily routine becomes so normal that we forget that our current lives are simply a microcosm of the entire history of humanity. What we eat, how we sleep, and how we communicate are just a few snapshots of our days, completely dependent on those who lived before us. I often wonder, how much different life could be if certain people were not born into existence? What if there was no Galileo to explore the laws of inertia, kinematics, and falling bodies? Would Einstein have ever won his Nobel prize for his discovery of the photoelectric effect? What if we didn’t have Shakespeare, how empty our art and literature would be. Or even Michael Jordan, who’s shoes could be seen on every kid in the early 2000’s, enabling Nike to be the 143-billion-dollar company it is today. And finally, James E. Hanger, the first amputation patient in the civil war. What if on that fateful June 3rd, 1861, that cannonball that tore through his leg in the Battle of Philippi never hit him, or worse, killed him? What would our technology in prosthetic limbs look like today - the industry that serves thousands of veterans, cancer survivors, and trauma patients every year?
Born on February 25, 1843 in Churchville, Virginia, James Edward Hanger was enrolled in Washington College of Lexington, now known today as Washington and Lee University. Soon after enrolling, his life changed forever when he joined the army, enlisting in the Churchville Calvary, where multiple cousins and his two older brothers were already serving. Only two days after being placed on guard duty near the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in West Virginia, the Battle of Philippi blossomed. Although this battle was only considered a small and maybe insignificant skirmish in the grand scheme of the Civil War, it will have forever changed the life of Mr. Hanger.
During the battle, Hanger was taking cover in a barn when a six-pound cannonball crashed through the barn siding and impacted his left leg near the knee. Severely injured, Hanger underwent immediate lifesaving surgery at the hands of the 16th Ohio’s surgeon, Dr. James D. Robinson and Dr. George W. New of the 7th Indiana Infantry. The surgery that he underwent is what unfortunately coined the common nickname for surgeons (Sawbones), the circular amputation. Hanger is considered one of the very first amputee patients in the entire Civil War, one of over 50,000 in the span of a little bit over four years.
A few months later, Hanger was transferred back home to Norfolk, Virginia, a man missing his left leg because of the medical technology at the time, an unsatisfactory prosthetic leg to replace it. Prosthetics in the 19th century were made of inflexible wood and metal had a multitude of problems, ranging from expensive, uncomfortable, and dysfunctional. Patients were left extremely crippled, and in the words of Hanger, “I cannot look back upon those days in the hospital without a shudder. No one can know what such a loss means unless he has suffered a similar catastrophe. In the twinkling of an eye, life’s fondest hopes seemed dead. I was prey of despair. What could the world hold for a maimed, crippled man.” However, despite his seemingly desolate future, and little to his knowledge, James E. Hanger would go on to change his life and the lives of millions of people for decades to come.
It is said that Hanger would spend hours in a day, locked in his bedroom, requesting his family members to provide him with oak barrel staves, rubber, and nails. To them, he was writhing in pain and maybe even going a little crazy. However, little did they know that he was designing a new prosthetic limb. One that was more comfortable and functional, having multiple joints that allowed him bend at the knee and ankle. He patented his creation the “Hanger Limb.” Over the following years, Hanger and his brothers would open a shop in Staunton and become the leading supplier of prosthetic limbs to Confederate veterans. By 1910, the Hanger prosthetic business boomed out of Virginia, occupying Baltimore, Pittsburg, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Washington D.C. It even grew its base oversees, providing limb prosthetics to allied soldiers in Paris and London.
James E. Hanger died in 1919 and left behind him a legacy that will forever impact the world as we know it. Today, his billion-dollar company that occupies over 75 branches in the United States and Europe combined has aided in over half a million patients worldwide. So again, I ask the question: what would our world be like today, if on that fateful June day in Virginia had that cannonball not been fired?
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Sources
1. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Galileo-Galilei
2. https://www.britannica.com/question/What-is-Albert-Einstein-known-for
3. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NKE/nike/net-worth
4. https://corporate.hanger.com/about/our-history/je-hanger-story/
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