Origin of the Tomahawk....

[reconseed]

The Tomahawk

Though axes, and even throwing axes, have long been a part of history in Europe (the Vikings used throwing axes), the tomahawk deserves its own page in a site dedicated to violence because of its role in warfare in North America. The name tomahawk originates with the Algonquin peoples, but it was a dominant weapon across much of the continent, usually appearing at the side of the native warriors.

The tomahawk was a primarily hand-to-hand combat weapon used by Native North Americans. It was also used as a missile, and could be thrown with impressive accuracy. It was occasionally used for a rushed scalping job. The Native Americans could be called masters of intimidation, for they often stood a ways off from their enemy, screaming and brandishing bloody tomahawks before melting into the wilderness to attack guerrilla style (something the rank and file Europeans were not experienced at combating).

Until the coming of the Europeans (and with them steel), the tomahawk was usually made out of stone, typically with one or both edges sharpened. It could also be made out of a deer's horn or the jaw bone of a large animal. A wooden handle was fastened to the head in a number of ways: by sticking the tomahawk head through a hole in the wood, by tying leather thongs around the head and wood, or splitting the wood and tying the head into the crevasse. If the tomahawk was to be used as a throwing weapon, great care went into creating a balanced wooden handle and head.

Ceremonial tomahawks were richly decorated with painted feathers, and they often had a hollow stem fixed at the end with a pipe bowl for smoking. Amongst some Native American tribes, the tomahawk was buried in the earth when peace was attained with a former enemy. It is believe this is where the phrase, "burying the hatchet" originated.


* I thought this was interesting so I wanted to show it to the fellas on BF. I didnt know many things in this article.


Copyright: http://home.comcast.net/~burokerl/tomahawk.htm

 

[Warrior913]

Good to know and good post!

 

[Kevin the grey]

Interesting quote .

 

[reconseed]

figured ya would like that warrior....

 

[PBJ]

That's an interesting post. Allow me to cloud the issue. lol

A friend who happens to be an English teacher loned me his copy of "The Song of Hiawatha" by Longfellow. My friend's edition is a facsimile of the 1890 edition salted with sketches of indians, indian artifacts, tools and of course indian weapons all by Frederic Remington. I understand Remington used to visit and sketch American indians so I assume his sketches in the book are accurate. I was trying to figure out which came first the stone tomahawk or the bladed war-club.

There are shetches in the margins of steel bladed tomahawks and stone bladed tomahawks throughout but other types of indian weapons in the book resemble war clubs with small pieces of steel fastened to them or through them though some have bones or horn. Usually the weapons are much bigger at the end than they are at the handle. Its not hard to figure that this would increase the energy of any blow.

The one one sketch that I find most thrilling is of Hiawatha literally locked in combat with Pearl-Feather, the immortal who killed his grandmother's father, the Moon. Remington shows Haiwatha locking his lead left leg behind Pearl-feather's lead or right knee while Pearl-Feather is measuring the striking distance to Haiwatha with his left hand on Hiawatha's right shoulder. Both combatants have their right arms cocked back about to unleash a mortal blow with the war-clubs in their right hands.

Their warclubs are flat narrow handled and broad paddle-like at the business end. They somewhere between a forearm's length and a forearm and a half. Haiwatha's war-club penetrating tip looks like a 6 inch long sheeps-foot blade passed through the club, whereas Pearl-Feather's appears to be a 4-5inch spike, maybe of antler passed through his club of wood.

I remember, as a child, seeing drawings of Aztecs and Iroquois with wooden war-clubs and IIRC the Red Sticks Andrew Jackson fought during the 1812 War got their name from using red painted wooden war-clubs, too.

Based on what little I've picked up, it seems that both stone and then steel tomahawks existed along side the wooden war-clubs just as M4s and Ak-47s share the battlefields and hotspots of the modern world.

Nuts. Now I'll have to find some expert at the university to answer this question.

 

[reconseed]

Bottom line, I love studying the history and origins of tomahawks. Some people say that the tomahawk is the first weapon of mankind, or the first step in weapon technology after the sharpening of a blade. Cant remember where I read this.....