Amputation Kit (c. 1863)

This image shows a Civil War-era amputation kit : a wooden box lined with compartments that held a surgeon’s essential tools. Inside are bone saws, scalpels, forceps, clamps, and a tourniquet used to stop blood flow during limb removal. The instruments are made of steel and brass, kept in a compact case so army surgeons could easily carry them to field hospitals or battle sites.

Amputations were among the most common surgical procedures of the Civil War. The Minié ball, a soft-lead bullet used in rifles, shattered bones beyond repair, forcing doctors to amputate to prevent deadly infections such as gangrene. Surgeries were often performed in makeshift conditions, with little time between operations and minimal sanitation. Despite this, most soldiers survived, largely because anesthesia like chloroform and ether was used in nearly every procedure, making surgery faster and more controlled than in previous wars.

This amputation kit captures the harsh realities and medical innovations of wartime medicine. It symbolizes both the brutality of 19th-century surgery and the progress that emerged from necessity. The efficiency, organization, and tool design of these kits helped shape the foundations of modern trauma and battlefield medicine.