didn't need it anyway

[Ted]

Historians have generally concluded that Sgt. Charles Floyd, a member of the Lewis & Clark expedition of 1804-1806, died of a burst appendix in what is now Council Bluffs, Iowa, along the Missouri river. He was the only member to die during the expedition, and there wasn't anything anyone could do about appendicitis in 1804, even back in Philadelphia.

Now you're not as bad**ass as Doctor Rogozov, he had to remove an appendix as part of a Soviet Antarctic expedition. His own!

Yep - he recognized the symptoms, and knew he was a goner unless he removed his own appendix. Evacuation was a no-go, the weather was skosh and planes couldn't get in. He had someone hold a large mirror up so he could see what he was doing.

 

[b.stark]

Historians have generally concluded that Sgt. Charles Floyd, a member of the Lewis & Clark expedition of 1804-1806, died of a burst appendix in what is now Council Bluffs, Iowa, along the Missouri river. He was the only member to die during the expedition, and there wasn't anything anyone could do about appendicitis in 1804, even back in Philadelphia.

Fun fact, I see the Floyd Monument every day while driving into town, it is quite visible here. I've only actually stopped there once though. A minor correction, he died near Sergeant Bluff/Sioux City rather than Council Bluffs. They named the Floyd River in his honor, which flows more or less through downtown Sioux City in its lower reaches.