A pegleg is a

prosthesis In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

, or

artificial limb In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

, fitted to the remaining stump of a human leg. Its use dates to antiquity.

History

By the late 19th century, prosthetics vendors would offer peglegs as cheaper alternatives to more intricate, lifelike artificial legs. Even as vendors touted advantages of more complicated prostheses over simple peglegs, according to a contemporary surgeon, many patients found a pegleg more comfortable for walking. According to medical reports, some amputees were able to adjust to the use of a pegleg so well that they could walk 10, or even 30, miles in one day. Nowadays, wooden peglegs have been replaced by more modern materials, though some sports prostheses do have the same form.

Notable pegleg wearers

* François Leclerc (~1554),

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

* Cornelis Jol, (1597–1641), privateer and

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ...

admiral *

Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant (; in Dutch also ''Pieter'' and ''Petrus'' Stuyvesant, ; 1610 – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Ne ...

(1612–1672), Dutch

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...

Blas de Lezo Admiral Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta (3 February 1689 – 7 September 1741) was a Spanish navy officer best remembered for the Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1741) in the Viceroyalty of New Granada, where Spanish imperial forces under his command ...

(1687–1741), Spanish admiral *

Gouverneur Morris Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to th ...

(1752–1816), American politician *

Brook Watson Sir Brook Watson, 1st Baronet (7 February 1735 – 2 October 1807) was a British merchant, soldier, and later Lord Mayor of London. He is perhaps best known as the subject of John Singleton Copley's painting ''Watson and the Shark, ''which depict ...

(1735 -1807), Lord Mayor of London *

Pierre Daumesnil Pierre Yrieix Daumesnil (14 July 1776 – 17 August 1832) was a French soldier in the armies of Napoleon during the first Empire and Restoration, eventually rising to the rank of brigadier general. He lost his left leg after he was wounded in t ...

(1776 – 1832), French general * Józef Sowiński (1777–1831), Polish General * Billy Waters (1778–1823), aka Black Billy, former African American slave, then sailor in the British Navy until he became an amputee. Also a busker of prolific merit. * Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864), Serbian linguist *

Thomas L. Smith Thomas Long "Pegleg" Smith (October 10, 1801 – October 1866) was a mountain man who, serving as a guide for many early expeditions into the American Southwest, helped explore parts of present-day New Mexico. He is also known as a fur trapper, ...

(1801–1866), American mountain man *

Albert Chmielowski Albert Chmielowski (20 August 1845 – 25 December 1916) - born Adam Hilary Bernard Chmielowski - was a Polish nobleman, painter, disabled veteran of the Uprising of 1863, a professed religious and founder of both the Albertine Brothers and Al ...

(1845–1916), Polish artist, founder of the Albertine Brothers and Sisters, saint of the Catholic Church *

Robert McAlpin Williamson Robert McAlpin Williamson (1804? – December 22, 1859) was a Republic of Texas Supreme Court Justice, state lawmaker and Texas Ranger. Williamson County, Texas is named for him. He is the first white person documented playing the banjo. Early ...

(1804?–1859), nicknamed "Three-legged Willie",

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Me ...

Supreme Court Justice, state lawmaker, and

Texas Ranger Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

Kushibiki Yumindo , also given as Yumeto, Yumito, and Yumeno, was a Japanese impresario responsible for organizing many international exhibitions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Japanese Exhibition King Kushibiki Yumindo was born in the town of G ...

(1859?-1924), Japanese impresario *

Peg Leg Bates Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates (October 11, 1907 – December 6, 1998) was an African-American entertainer from Fountain Inn, South Carolina, United States. Life and career Early life Peg Leg Bates was born Clayton Bates on October 10, 1907 in F ...

(1907–1998), dancer *

Peg Leg Sam PEG or peg may refer to: Devices * Clothes peg, a fastener used to hang up clothes for drying * Tent peg, a spike driven into the ground for holding a tent to the ground * Tuning peg, used to hold a string in the pegbox of a stringed instrume ...

(Arthur Jackson) (1911–1977) American blues musician * Joe "Pegleg" Morgan (1929–1993), first non-Hispanic member of the Mexican Mafia, an American criminal organization

History

Notable pegleg wearers

References

Further reading

Books

Articles