For what it may be worth, the memoirs of legendary Canadian Frontiersman John George “Kootenai” Brown (1839-1916) relate an incident in about the late 1860’s or 1870’s when he and a companion came under attack by Indians (interestingly, at a locatiom which is now within the City of Medicine Hat, where I live) and he was wounded by an arrow. His companion removed the arrow and treated the wound with turpentine before binding it. The men had been on the trail for quite some time, and the area they travelled through had not yet been settled, so obviously they had the turpentine with them. I don’t recall any mention of what uses they had for it, but I suppose they may have included such mundane purposes as gun cleaning, disinfection/ treatment of wounds, and perhaps (based on my own personal experience) even a fire-starting aid …