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From the pics it looks like that handle shows no sign of age, no splitting, no cracks. Unless it receives regular care, wood suffers from time and age, it dries out, shrinks, cracks, etc.
I'd say there's no way that handle is Cival War era.
I was thinking Filipino. The '|X||' file work is often seen on the spine of knives and bolos of non-Moro Filipinos.
Could be from the late 19th or early 20thC.