Trade axe/tomahawk NE America 18th c.

M ELEY · 6th October 2023, 09:36 AM

They were indeed tools back in Europe, but here in the New World, transported by ships in the thousands to be used on the frontier and traded to the Native Americans, I can assure you they were used as both. Many trade axes of the round poll type still turn up as Indian weapons, complete with brass tack decorations, beadwork, wirework, etc. Hartzler's tomahawk book shows numerous examples. There is a pattern of evolution of the axe from weapon to weapon/tool to finally only as a tool in the latter (19th) century in the states. Ship's boarding axes are another classic example. They were both a tool and a weapon, used by boarding parties to storm the deck (well documented, BTW) and as a handy weapon in a pinch. In later years (mid-19th c) they became strictly a fire tool, patterning the first fire aces that were to follow.

6th October 2023, 09:36 AM	#12
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,141	They were indeed tools back in Europe, but here in the New World, transported by ships in the thousands to be used on the frontier and traded to the Native Americans, I can assure you they were used as both. Many trade axes of the round poll type still turn up as Indian weapons, complete with brass tack decorations, beadwork, wirework, etc. Hartzler's tomahawk book shows numerous examples. There is a pattern of evolution of the axe from weapon to weapon/tool to finally only as a tool in the latter (19th) century in the states. Ship's boarding axes are another classic example. They were both a tool and a weapon, used by boarding parties to storm the deck (well documented, BTW) and as a handy weapon in a pinch. In later years (mid-19th c) they became strictly a fire tool, patterning the first fire aces that were to follow.