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On July 2, 1863 Estee and the 5th Massachusetts Light Artillery was caught in the dreadful “battle of the wheat field.” As Estee raised his arms to load a cannon, a Confederate rifle ball “struck him in the abdomen.”<ref>Frank R. Freemon, ''Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care During the American Civil War''(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2001), 109.</ref> He was able to hold pressure on his wound and make his way to the division hospital. The severity of his wound was not immediately apparent. It was not until he was prepared for evacuation to a general hospital in Baltimore that the gravity of his situation was understood. The attendants at the field hospital found Estee lying in the fetal position. When they attempted to lower his legs in order to move him onto the ambulance——which at the time consisted of either a two or four horse buggy——he maintained his rigid hold on his knees and moaned in pain. He had been “unable to eat and perspired profusely and continually.”<ref>Freemon, 112.</ref> The orderlies managed to load Estee onto the ambulance and subsequent rail car. He endured the trip from Gettysburg to Baltimore with his grossly distended abdomen bouncing on the wooden floor of a boxcar.

When he finally arrived at Jarvis General Hospital he was “feverish and almost delirious”<ref>Freemon, 114.</ref>The private had developed peritonitis as a result of his abdominal wound. As defined by the National Institute of Health, peritonitis is the inflammation of the peritoneum, the thin covering encompassing the abdominal cavity. Estee had what is known as secondary peritonitis resulting from a perforation of the bowel due to the gunshot wound. Without the advantage of modern technology, the attending physician diagnosed Estee by virtue of his classic peritonitis symptoms; abdominal pain and distention, loss of appetite, and fever. De Witt C. Peters, the surgeon in charge at Jarvis General, noted in his report that upon examination the “abdomen was tender and tympanic, the knees drawn up, the breathing difficult.” Peters also noted that fecal matter escaped from both the entrance and exit wounds. Upon the introduction of a catheter, he observed the output of “urine and fecal matter.”<ref>United States Army, Surgeon General's Office, ''The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1861-1865),''Surgical Volume, pt.2, Case 790 (Washington, D.C., 1885), 266-267.</ref> The doctor was convinced of severe peritonitis and informed Estee that “his wound was mortal and he would soon die.”<ref>Freemon, 114.</ref> Estee was wounded on July 2 and received only battlefield first aid before arriving at Jarvis general on July 13, 1863.