SummaryNinety‐five consecutive traumatic injuries to the colon and rectum treated during a five‐year period at Charity Hospital in New Orleans have been reviewed. Gunshot wounds accounted for 74 per cent of the colonic injuries in the series. Primary repair, the preferred treatment, was associated with the fewest complications. The most frequent complication was wound infection, and septicemia was the most common cause of death. The overall mortality rate was 10.5 per cent. Two or more organs were injured in each patient who died. No patient with an isolated colonic injury died.