One of the most enduring urban legends of military history sometimes passed off as fact is that of the minie ball pregnancy. The evolution of the firearm brought about the muzzle loading rifled musket by the 19th century. The revolutionary bullet of that weapon was the minie ball invented in the 1840s by the French Army captains Minié and Henri-Gustave Delvigne. This type of bullet was used as early as the Crimean war and was the most popular front line infantry projectile in the Civil War. The basis of the tale is that one of these instruments of war was fired through the groin area of a Confederate soldier and subsequently ricocheted into the ovaries of a nearby southern bell whose home bordered the battlefield in question. Nine months later a baby was born and eventually the soldier, being a gentleman, married the young mother and everyone lived happily ever after.
According to Dr LeGrand G Capers in his article published in the American Medical Weekly on November 7, 1871, this actually happened. Dr Capers was the chief surgeon attached to Cuttshaws Battery during the Vicksburg Campaign. He stated that the incident occurred during the very real Battle of Raymond, Mississippi May 11, 1863. He stated in the article that the baby was born to the young lady in question 278 days later who had been examined pre-birth and found to have an intact hymen, suggesting no sexual contact. To tie up loose ends it was also stated that he removed the deformed minie ball from under the baby’s skin after birth.
As reported by the popular culture/urban legends debunker Snopes, the American Medical Weekly published in its November 21, 1874 edition that the Son of a Gun story was a gag. This however did not stop the original article to be passed around and even sited as fact again in the New York Journal of Medicine in 1959. The crew of the Discovery Channel program Mythbusters evaluated the feasibility of the Son of a Gun story in Episode #30 and after their tests declared it busted (impossible) due to the physics and biological aspects of the million to one shot.
The Old Courthouse Museum in downtown Vicksburg Mississippi (only 35 miles east of the Battle of Raymond) has an exhibit of the Son of a Gun story complete with a 577 caliber minie ball (not the minie ball), a picture of Confederate Surgeon Capers, and a copy of the article penned by Dr Capers that started the whole hoopla. The exhibit states plainly "We don't ask you to believe the story, just enjoy it!"
Sources
The American Medical Weekly 1(19):233-234 (Nov. 7, 1874) and 1 (21) 212 (Nov 21, 1874)
Son of a Gun Pregnancy Minie Ball on Display At the Old Court House Museum.1008 Cherry St., Vicksburg, MS. Hours: M-Sa 8:30 am - 4:30 pm; Su 1:30 - 4:30 pm Phone: 601-636-0741), also the pamphlet 'The Minie Ball Pregnancy" by Gordon A Cotton. The museum incidentally has a huge collection of genuine artifacts including one of the best period artillery shell exhibits in the world.
