AmericasEvent
Alexis St. Martin shot at Fort Mackinac, leading to Beaumont's digestion studies
- When
- 1822
- Where
- Fur trading post on Mackinac Island
- Episodes
- 1
On June 6, 1822, Alexis St. Martin was accidentally shot at Fort Mackinac, Mackinac Island, Michigan. The injury created a persistent opening between his stomach and skin, enabling William Beaumont's subsequent experiments on digestion.
Episodes
Background and detail
The Shooting. While waiting to trade furs, a gun accidentally discharged just inches from St. Martin, blowing a hole in his abdomen. The musket was fired from close range at the fur trading post. The injury was near-fatal but survived, leaving a persistent opening between the stomach and skin by June 1823.
People involved
- Alexis St. Martin · Fur trader and subject of digestion experiments
- William Beaumont · U.S. Army surgeon conducting digestion experiments
Sources
- Fort Mackinac Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-05
- Alexis St. Martin Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-21
- William Beaumont Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.