they'd insert fingers into the wound feeling for the musket ball the soft Le ball often flattened or changed directions inside the body making it harder to find sometimes the ball could be seen Under the Skin but usually special tools like bullet extractors were used once the ball was located the surgeon would carefully remove it but fragments of dirty clothing carried in by the shot also had to be removed to avoid infection after the wound was cleaned the surgeon would sometimes cauterize it with a hot iron to prevent further infection
