Title: Ivory handled instruments

Identifier: Country Doctor Museum   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/14381)

Description: Dr. Matthew Moore Butler, who lived from1838-1913, owned these five ivory handled instruments from Hernstein, Austria. Ivory handled instruments were very expensive. The five instruments are: a hernia knife, a tendon hook, a metacarpal saw for amputating finger bones, a trocar to create drainage spots, and a bistoury, also known as a scalpel. Dr. Butler was a Confederate field surgeon who helped amputate General Stonewall Jackson’s arm in May of 1863. Later, Dr. Butler would be one of the men who signed the Articles of Surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865.