Union Army axes and hatchets from the Civil War

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Oxbow

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Feb 5, 2015
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I found an old carpenter's hatchet head buried in the dirt the other day, and a google image search found this very cool link with images of many axes and hatchets excavated from an 1863 Army of the Potomac winter encampment in Stafford County, Virginia.

They also quote the Union Army 1865 Quartermaster's Manual regarding axe specifications.

"Felling axes, – to be of three sizes, and to be made of the best American iron and steel; blade to be well steeled to the edge; for medium sized axe, length of blade, 7 3/4 inches; width of pole 3 7/16 inches; thickness of pole, 7/8 of an inch; width on edge, 4 3/4 to 5 inches; size of eye 2 3/8 by 3/4 inches, oval in shape. The other sizes to correspond proportionally and with the above specifications, and to all average in weight 56 pounds to the dozen."

"Axe handles, – to be made of good, seasoned hickory wood, 34 to 36 inches long, and free from knots or shakes."

My back of the envelope calculation says that 56 pounds to the dozen makes an average 4.5 lb axe if they meant heads only or 3.5 lbs if they were talking hung axes.

I note that there isn't a single double bit described, but they mention that double bits were a fairly new invention at the time, and perhaps the army was to conservative to purchase something so new-fangled.
 
Unless the hatchets were re-hafted at a later date (even though wood can remain intact underground in the absence of oxygen) the photos would indicate that curved handles were already in common use in 1865.
 
Pretty sure those were rehafted for display purposes. But curved handles date back at least 2400 years.
 
The article does specify that the hatchets and shovels are not on original handles except for the one hatchet against a red background. It seems that handles aren't interesting to historians. :(
 
They may have been found with the wooden handles completely rotted away. Some of those heads are pretty pitted so I'd be surprised if the wood was in any better shape.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
They may have been found with the wooden handles completely rotted away. Some of those heads are pretty pitted so I'd be surprised if the wood was in any better shape.
Click to expand...

The handled example with the red background is from another site. All the other axes and tools displayed were "excavated" so I cannot imagine they had any handles to speak of left.

It is an interesting site. I just happened on it because the image of the carpenter's hatchet popped up and it looks very similar to the one I found especially given the burial pitting, although mine is much newer and is all steel.

With regard to the curved handles, they definitely used curved handles. On another page of the site they have period photos containing tools in use in the field. There are plenty of curved and straight axe handles from what I can see.
 
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Oxbow said:
The handled example with the red background is from another site. All the other axes and tools displayed were "excavated" so I cannot imagine they had any handles to speak of left.

It is an interesting site. I just happened on it because the image of the carpenter's hatchet popped up and it looks very similar to the one I found especially given the burial pitting, although mine is much newer and is all steel.

With regard to the curved handles, they definitely used curved handles. On another page of the site they have period photos containing tools in use in the field. There are plenty of curved and straight axe handles from what I can see.
Click to expand...

Nice find there.
 
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