What Killed Them? VUL SCLOPET

Cause of death for confederate soldier Russell Comfort:

 

At first I was not sure if it was all one word or an abbreviation.  Luckily the military website Fold3 published this explanation:

Vulnus sclopetarium is a wound inflicted by a gunshot. Other similar spellings found included: vulnus sclopeticum (defined as multiple flesh wounds), vuluus sclopet, vul sclopeticum, viel sclopet, and vulius sclopet.

What is Apoplexy?

John Wheeler Watson died in Pittsburgh in 1893 of apoplexy at the age of 28.  The term apoplexy refers to bleeding into an organ or loss of blood flow to an organ. Sometimes the organ is specified but when it is not, the term generally refers to sudden stroke symptoms caused by a brain blood clot or bleeding into the brain.

Functional apoplexy is when a person appears to be having stroke-like symptoms but there is no brain abnormality ... from this comes the slang term we sometimes use currently "she went apolplectic".