Crude Civil War Amputation Saw, as in Lord’s Encyclopedia

This is another nice piece being offered from a Civil War collection I recently acquired – it is simply known as a “Bone Saw” and the overall size is 16 ½” x 2”. There appears to be something etched in script on the blade, but I can’t make it out. During the Civil War the H&C Disston company, established in 1840, had government contracts for swords, saws, and bayonets this is the same design they manufactured.

Saws as this one are identified in earlier Civil War collector references, such as “The Civil War Collectors Encyclopedia”, by Francis Lord (see pictures). He describes the example pictured as “U.S. Medical Department bone saw. Both sides of the blade are stamped ‘U.S.’ and the blade is also marked ‘E.M. Boynton I.W. York”. There is another documented example of this same saw in the Maine Historical Society Civil War collection which was used by a Maine surgeon during the war.

The fact that this type has appeared in private and respected museum field hospital equipment displays leave a place for these combination instruments in Civil War collections. With the thousands of unexpected amputations as a result of the Civil War, pristine medical instruments would be scarce and just about any type of saw would have been utilized, even more so with the Confederacy.

This bone saw remains in solid condition, having the typical flaws of a well-used piece and some light surface rust on the blade from long storage. It can definitely be cleaned up better if desired, but I left it just as I received it.