November 15 & 16, 2022 Extraordinary Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/15/2022
This red-lined cased surgical bears an oval brass escutcheon plate reading “Dr. Geo. Johnson” and comes with a family letter indicating the set had belonged to Johnson of Frederick, Maryland, (1832-1905) who practiced medicine from 1854 until his retirement in 1891, had acted as contract surgeon during the Civil War, and passed the set to Dr. Francis Fenwick Smith. Contract surgeons were civilian doctors hired to work at military hospitals, ranked as first lieutenants, and titled “Acting Assistant Surgeon,” but not formally commissioned and paid on a contract basis for services, often pursuing their regular practice as well. The case includes 14 instruments by Gemrig, a very well-known and respected Philadelphia surgical instrument maker working from 1845 to 1880 and the center key lock is typical of commercial surgical sets such as a civilian doctor would have. Union contract surgeons numbered more than 5,000 and are hard to track, but paperwork included with this set from Surgeon General files indicates Johnson was working at Point Lookout, Maryland, from at least August 1862 to March 1863. Hartzler’s notes indicates he received a commission, but we have not been able to confirm that. A CDV photo of a full surgeon identified as George Johnson comes with the set, but there was a Michigan full surgeon by that name. CONDITION: Excellent, but missing the saw and likely one instrument housed beneath it. A scarce set by a well-known maker and nicely identified to a known US Army Contract Surgeon.
Paperwork
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