Closer to the battle, Monroe and Washington hurried to capture the Hessian guns before they could fire on the Americans. Monroe was hit in the shoulder by a musket ball that severed an artery and the blood loss was severe. Monroe was lucky; the doctor who had serendipitously joined them quickly came to his aid and clamped the artery so that Monroe didn’t bleed to death, and the young soldier spent the following three months recovering from his wounds, although the musket ball would remain in his shoulder for the rest of his life.
