By the late 19th century, prosthetics vendors would offer peglegs as cheaper alternatives to more intricate, lifelike artificial legs.[2]
Even as vendors touted advantages of more complicated prostheses over simple peglegs,[2]
according to a contemporary surgeon, many patients found a pegleg more comfortable for walking.[3] 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.[4]
Nowadays, wooden peglegs have been replaced by more modern materials, though some sports prostheses do have the same form.[5]
Notable pegleg wearers
Pegleg of Józef Sowiński
François Leclerc (~1554), privateer
Cornelis Jol, (1597–1641), privateer and Dutch West India Company admiral
Peter Stuyvesant (1612–1672), Dutch Director-General of New Amsterdam[6]
Blas de Lezo (1687–1741), Spanish admiral
Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816), American politician
Brook Watson (1735 -1807), Lord Mayor of London
Pierre Daumesnil (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 (1801–1866), American mountain man
Albert Chmielowski (1845–1916), Polish artist, founder of the Albertine Brothers and Sisters, saint of the Catholic Church
Robert McAlpin Williamson (1804?–1859), nicknamed "Three-legged Willie", Republic of Texas Supreme Court Justice, state lawmaker, and Texas Ranger
Kushibiki Yumindo (1859?-1924), Japanese impresario
Peg Leg Bates (1907–1998), dancer
Peg Leg Sam (Arthur Jackson) (1911–1977) American blues musician
Joe "Pegleg" Morgan (1929–1993), first non-Hispanic member of the Mexican Mafia, an American criminal organization
Murdoch, George and Wilson, A. Bennett (1998) A primer on amputations and artificial limbs C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, ISBN0-398-06800-3
Pitkin, Mark R. (2009) Biomechanics of Lower Limb Prosthetics Springer verlag, New York, ISBN978-3-642-03015-4
Seymour, Ron (2002) Prosthetics and orthotics: lower limb and spinal Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ISBN0-7817-2854-1
Warren, D. W. (2001) James Gillingham: surgical mechanist & manufacturer of artificial limbs Somerset Industrial Archaeology Society, Taunton, England, ISBN0-9533539-5-8
Articles
Bliquez, Lawrence J. (1996). "Prosthetics in Classical Antiquity: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Prosthetics". in Haase, Wolfgang. Philosophie, Wissenschaften, Technik. Wissenschaften (Medizin und Biologie [Forts.]). doi:10.1515/9783110809008-009. ISBN9783110809008.
Padula, Patricia A.; Friedmann, Lawrence W. (1987). "Acquired Amputation and Prostheses Before the Sixteenth Century". Angiology38 (2): 133–141. doi:10.1177/000331978703800207. PMID3548491.
Reeves, Nicholas (1999) "New lights on ancient Egyptian prosthetic medicine" In: Davies, W. V. (editor) (1999) Studies in Egyptian Antiquities. A Tribute to T.G.H. James British Museum Press, London, pp. 73–77, ISBN0-86159-123-2