I feel as if it could have been a useful tool, and that someone, somewhere had discovered that if you spill vodka on a wound, it heals better. But I don't recall ever hearing about it in history. And After all, it isn't like alcohol was rare to come across. So why wasn't this used? Or was it?
Yes, alcohol was used as an antiseptic. Although folks didn't understand why alcohol worked, they had observed that it could help a wound heal better.
But medicine was hardly standardized until relatively recently, and the prescribed remedies to treat wounds varied enormously. Some medical practitioners may have used alcohol under certain conditions and some might not have.
For example, in the antebellum US, there were many recipe books or printed guides available for either aiding people concocting home remedies or in training aspiring doctors (see, for example, this, this, and this). A typical recommended treatment for wounds at that time might suggest keeping the bandages wet with "spirits," or turpentine (see, for example, p. 483 of this 1850 medical guide) but it wasn't uncommon to see alcohol, vinegar, nitric acid, camphor, etc. also prescribed as topical treatments to wounds. (But you also can read about less common suggestions for very dubious wound treatments like salt, tobacco, molasses, rind from a piece of pork, black pepper, etc., and you wonder how folks survived.)
It's clear these authors weren't aware of the concept of bacteria or what causes or cures infection in a wound, but many of the most commonly prescribed items had antiseptic properties and would have been at least somewhat effective in treating a nasty wound.
I'm afraid my readings in this area haven't really covered surgery. But if alcohol was used in early surgery, I bet it was probably more likely used to get the patient black-out drunk rather than as an antiseptic.
*edit: fixed links.