Answer: Silas Weir Mitchell was an early American physician who invented the phrase "phantom pain".
Born in 1829 in Philadelphia, Silas Weir Mitchell earned his medical degree and worked as a doctor in the Civil War. It was here that he began to specialize into the field of neurology.
One of his observations involved patients who had their limbs amputated as a result of injuries sustained on the battlefield. He published these findings in The Atlantic in an article called "The Case of George Dedlow". Dedlow, a pseudonym, had lost both of his arms and legs in the battle. Afterwards, he reported that those limbs, even while missing, experienced severe burning pain and muscle clenching sensations. Dedlow describes an incident where he asked an attendant to help him by rubbing his calves to help relieve the muscle tension. The attendant replies "Calf? You ain't none pardner. It's took off."
Dedlow was one of only thousands of patients who reported feeling sensations of a limb where they once were. In some cases, the amputated limb was simply existing, but at other times, produced insatiable pain. Mitchell described these sensations as "phantom pain." Many patients experiencing such unusual sensations were referred to Turner's Lane Hospital in Philadelphia, where Mitchell worked. Because it was one of the only hospitals at the time with a specialty in the field, it came to be known as "Stump Hospital". Some people had even gone to see Dedlow in person to speak with a man thought to be insane, but they were turned away at the door since there was no patient named Dedlow.
The experiences of these combat veterans vary tremendously. Some of them reported feeling that they regained full use of their limbs while dreaming, before that sensation suddenly became a pain so intense, they woke from their sleep. Many experienced burning pain in their missing limbs, but were unwilling to see the doctor, since they would not be able to provide any significant evidence about their pain.
In addition to these accomplishments, Mitchell is often described as being the "father of modern neurology".