Can anyone help me find info on a soldier who survived a spear through his head?

Question

I saw this on the History Channel (or one of those) a long time ago. I can't remember the details and I can't find info on it anywhere. A soldier in (perhaps) the Civil War was impaled through the head with a spike, spear, bayonet or perhaps a pice of debris or something (It was rather large, I remember and pierced his brain). Amazingly he survived the incident, but his personality was changed so dramatically that he became estranged from his friends and family. Has anyone heard this story? What was his name, when did it happen, are there any similar cases like this? This information is rather important to a philosophical/theological debate I've been having with someone, and I don't want to submit information if I'm unsure of it. Thanks!

Answer 1

I believe that the man you are looking for is a railroad worker called Phineas Gage. He had a tamping rod go through his frontal lobe with the resultant changes in personality you describe.

Here's the wiki article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage

Incidentally, his skull is on display at the Harvard Medical School Library if you ever wanted to go have a peek. It's creepy.