Mangled By a Shell-- Part 3: Two Facial Operations

On the day after Christmas, Oliver Dart was admitted to Stanton General Hospital in Washington, D.C. where his chances of recovery were considered  slim.  One doctor noted, "Wounded in battle probably mortally."

His older brother George visited him and found the hospital conditions deplorable.  After five weeks, Oliver Dart was discharged from the Union Army and sent home to South Windsor, Ct., where he miraculously recovered and underwent an operation on his face at the home of his brother James and then underwent a second procedure on his face at the home of his father.

In June 1863, he filed for divorce from his second wife, Maria, claiming "a total neglect of all duties of marriage."  It took three years before it was granted.  Maria was the sister of John Symonds, the soldier who had also been wounded next to Dart at Fredericksburg.

--Old Secesh