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Private Charles Mullen of the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry was born in County Antrim, Ireland, and was an ironworker in Pottsville before the war. He was wounded in an unusual way in Maryland in September 1862: by a saber cut to the left side of his head.

This excerpt from the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870) describes his treatment and outcome and includes an illustration of a piece of his skull. He survived the wound and was sent home with a pension in June 1863. He married and had children, but his “mental faculties were much impaired” and he was permanently paralyzed on one side.