Tomahawk

{{Short description|Axe from North America}} {{Other uses}} thumb|Pipe tomahawk thumb|Modern commercial tomahawk A '''tomahawk''' is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft.<ref name="PH"/><ref name="SSH"/>

==Etymology== The name comes from Powhatan {{Lang|pim|tamahaac}}, derived from the Proto-Algonquian root {{lang|alg-x-proto|*temah-}} 'to cut off by tool'.<ref name="Cutler 2002 139">{{cite book |last=Cutler |first=Charles L. |title=Tracks that Speak: The Legacy of Native American Words in North American Culture |year=2002 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |location=Boston |isbn=0-618-06509-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/tracksthatspeakl00char |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/tracksthatspeakl00char/page/139 139]}}</ref> Alternative sources state that it derived from the Algonquian word ''otomahuk'' (“to knock down”).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-05-01 |title=Tomahawk {{!}} Native American, Throwing, War Club {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/tomahawk-hand-weapon |access-date=2025-06-22 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

Algonquian cognates include Lenape {{lang|del|təmahikan}},<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=tëmahikàn |url=http://www.talk-lenape.org/results?query=tëmahikàn&lang=lenape |dictionary=Lenape Talking Dictionary |access-date=October 27, 2012 |quote=The Lenape root {{lang|del|təmə-}} means 'to cut off' and the suffix {{lang|del|-hikan}} forms the names of tools}}</ref> Malecite-Passamaquoddy {{lang|pqm|tomhikon}}, and Abenaki {{lang|abe|demahigan}}, all of which mean 'axe'.<ref name="Hranicky2009">{{cite book |last=Hranicky |first=William |title=Material Culture from Prehistoric Virginia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nBw1BC2JW4C&pg=PA56 |date=1 April 2009 |publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1-4389-6661-8 |page=56}}</ref><ref name="JahrBroch1996">{{cite book |last1=Jahr |first1=Ernst Håkon |author-link=Ernst Håkon Jahr |last2=Broch |first2=Ingvild |title=Language Contact in the Arctic: Northern Pidgins and Contact Languages |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VAfMZIta9yUC&pg=PA295 |year=1996 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-014335-5 |page=295}}</ref>

The term came into the English language in the 17th century as an adaptation of the Powhatan (Virginian Algonquian) word.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

==History== {{multiple image | align = right | direction = vertical | width = 200 | image1 = Tomahawk, late 19th-early 20th century, 26.802.jpg | caption1 = Tomahawk, Oglala, Lakota, Sioux (Native American), late 19th-early 20th century, Brooklyn Museum | image2 = NezPerce Tomahawk.jpg | caption2 = Nez Perce tomahawk }} Before Europeans came to the continent, Native Americans would use stones, sharpened by a process of knapping and pecking,<ref>{{cite web |title=History and Origins of the Tomahawk |url=https://www.camp4.com/history-of-the-tomahawk/ |work=Tomahawk History |date=3 June 2021 |access-date=10 June 2021}}</ref> attached to wooden handles, secured with strips of rawhide. The tomahawk was created by the Algonquian people. It quickly spread from the Algonquian culture to the tribes of the South and the Great Plains.

Native Americans created a ''tomahawk’s poll'', the side opposite the blade, which consisted of a hammer, spike or pipe. These became known as pipe tomahawks, which consisted of a bowl on the poll and a hollowed out shaft.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shannon |first=Timothy J. |year=2005 |title=Queequeg's Tomahawk: A Cultural Biography, 1750-1900 |url=http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=histfac |journal=Ethnohistory |publisher=Gettysburg College |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=589–633 |doi=10.1215/00141801-52-3-589 |via=The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College|url-access=subscription }}</ref> These were created by European and American artisans for trade and diplomatic gifts for the tribes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tomahawk History |url=http://www.hawkthrowing.com/history-of-tomahawks.html |work=Hawk Throwing |access-date=22 July 2014}}</ref>

In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and European settlers later introduced heads of iron and steel.

Tomahawks were general-purpose tools used by Native Americans and later the European colonials with whom they traded, and often employed as a hand-to-hand weapon.

The metal tomahawk heads were originally based on a Royal Navy boarding axe (a lightweight hand axe designed to cut through boarding nets when boarding hostile ships) and used as a trade-item with Native Americans for food and other provisions.<ref name="PH" /><ref name="SSH" />

==Composition== [[File:Inlaid Tomahawk Pipe Bowl, early 19th century, 50.67.103.jpg|thumb|left|Inlaid tomahawk pipe bowl, early 19th century, Brooklyn Museum]]

=== Original models === The tomahawk's original designs were fitted with heads of bladed or rounded stone or deer antler.<ref name="Cutler 2002 139"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Colin F. |title=Native American Weapons |year=2001 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman, Okla. |isbn=0806133465 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JYSqNL0LPsAC&pg=PA30 |access-date=2012-11-17 |page=30 |quote=The wooden ballheaded club at this time was also generally referred to as a 'tomahawk'}}</ref>

thumb|left|A pipe tomahawk dating to the early 19th century According to Mike Haskew, the modern tomahawk shaft is usually less than {{convert|2|ft|cm|abbr=on}} in length, traditionally made of hickory, ash, or maple.<ref name="PH"/><ref name= "SSH">{{cite journal |last=Haskew |first=Mike |title=Star-Spangled Hawks Take Wing |journal=Blade |date=2006-09-01 |pages=30–37 |volume=33 |issue=9 }}</ref><ref name="LL"/>

The heads weigh anywhere from {{convert|9| to |20|oz|g|abbr=on}}, with a cutting edge usually not much longer than {{convert|4|in|cm|spell=in}} from toe to heel.<ref name="SSH" />

The poll can feature a hammer, spike, or may simply be rounded off, and they usually do not have lugs.<ref name="PH">{{cite journal |last=Haskew |first=Mike |title=Pipe Hawks |journal=Blade |date= 2003-09-01 |pages=26–34 |volume=30 |issue=9 }}</ref><ref name="SSH" />

=== Colonial period models === European traders brought with them metal axe-heads, which Native Americans and white settlers alike adapted into their tomahawk designs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Activity Maine |url=https://activitymaine.com/tomahawk/#:~:text=Four%20hundred%20years%20ago%2C%20the%20Europeans%20introduced,of%20the%20tomahawk%20from%20that%20point%20forward. |website=activitymaine.com |access-date=9 June 2025}}</ref>

From the 1800s onward, these sometimes had a pipe-bowl carved into the poll, and a hole drilled down the center of the shaft for smoking tobacco through the metal head.<ref name="SSH" />

Pipe tomahawks are artifacts unique to North America, created by Europeans as trade objects but often exchanged as diplomatic gifts.<ref name="PH" /> They were symbols of the choice Europeans and Native Americans faced whenever they met: one end was the pipe of peace, the other an axe of war.<ref name="PH" /><ref name="SSH" /><ref name="LL" />

In colonial French territory, a different tomahawk design, closer to the ancient European francisca, was in use by French settlers and local peoples.<ref name="LL">{{cite journal |last=Haskew |first=Mike |title=Legends and Lore Through the Spike Tomahawk |journal=Blade |date=2004-09-01 |pages=12–19 |volume=28 |issue=9 }}</ref> In the late 18th century, the British Army issued tomahawks to their colonial regulars during the American Revolutionary War as a weapon and tool.<ref name="TK">{{cite journal |last=Dick |first=Steven |title=Frontier Hatchets still On Duty |journal=Tactical Knives |date=2002-05-01 |pages=43–47 |volume=10 |issue=5 }}</ref>

=== Contemporary models === Many of these modern tomahawks are made of drop forged, differentially heat treated, alloy steel.<ref name="EKI" />

The differential heat treatment allows for the chopping portion and the spike to be harder than the middle section, allowing for a shock-resistant body with a durable temper.<ref name="EKI">{{cite journal |last=Emerson |first=Ernest |author-link=Ernest Emerson |title=The Modern Tomahawk |journal=American Handgunner |page=15 |year=2007}}</ref>

==== Competition-based ==== The tomahawk competitions have regulations concerning the type and style of tomahawk used for throwing.

Today's hand-forged tomahawks are being made by master craftsmen throughout the United States.<ref name="wedge" /><ref name="MH">{{cite news |url=http://www.americantomahawk.com/media/av/mountaineer.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822155131/http://www.americantomahawk.com/media/av/mountaineer.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 22, 2006 |title=Tomahawk Makes Front Page News in San Francisco |publisher=Mountaineer-Herald |date=January 25, 1968 |page=8 |access-date=July 14, 2008 }}</ref>

There are special throwing tomahawks made for competitions such as the World Axe Throwing League. Requirements such as a minimum handle length and a maximum blade edge are dictated by each organizing body of competition in its rules.<ref name="comp" />

==== Law enforcement use ==== Some companies produce "tactical tomahawks" marketed as SWAT oriented tools. Some designs include multiple uses wherein the shaft is designed as a pry bar.

==Modern use==

=== Civilian use === Tomahawks are useful in camping and bushcraft scenarios. They are mostly used as an alternative to a hatchet, as they are generally lighter and slimmer than hatchets. They often contain other tools in addition to the axe head, such as spikes or hammers.<ref name="Fadala2006">{{cite book |last=Fadala |first=Sam |title=The Complete Blackpowder Handbook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dzxyneq43AEC&pg=PA348 |year=2006 |publisher=Gun Digest Books |location=Iola, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89689-390-1 |page=348 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

thumb|Traditional form tomahawk These modern tomahawks have gained popularity with their reemergence by American Tomahawk Company in the beginning of 2001 and a collaboration with custom knife-maker Ernest Emerson of Emerson Knives, Inc.<ref name="wedge"/> A similar wood handle Vietnam tomahawk is produced today by Cold Steel.<ref name="wedge"/>

===Tomahawk throwing=== [[File:Masterpiece of craftsmanship - Franziska forged in modern Tomahawk shape design from cannon steel from the Leopard I battle tank - axe style made of a more than 150-year-old walnut tree.jpg|thumb|left|Francisca forged in a modern Tomahawk shape]]{{Main|Axe throwing}} Tomahawk throwing<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hatchetsandaxes.com/how_to_throw_a_tomahawk |title=How to Throw a Tomahawk |work=Hatchets and Axes |date=February 23, 2011 |access-date=May 3, 2011}}</ref><ref name="comp">{{cite web |url=https://www.awesomeaxes.com/how-to-score-at-axe-throwing/ |title=Tomahawk Throwing Competitions |work=Awesome Axes |date=January 1, 2022 }}</ref> is a popular sport among American and Canadian historical reenactment groups, and new martial arts such as Okichitaw have begun to revive tomahawk fighting techniques used during the colonial era.<ref>{{cite news |first=Joan |last=Taillon |title=Toronto martial arts group visits North Korea |newspaper=The Aboriginal Newspaper of Ontario |date=September 1, 2004 |url=http://www.ammsa.com/publications/ontario-birchbark/toronto-martial-arts-group-visits-north-korea |access-date=July 20, 2008 |volume=3 |issue=8 |page=2}}</ref>

===Military application=== [[File:U.S. Army Spc. Kirk Calabrese with Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment throws a tomahawk.jpg|thumb|A US Army soldier throws a tomahawk as part of the Top Tomahawk competition at Forward Operating Base Spin Boldak in Kandahar, Afghanistan.]] Modern, non-traditional tomahawks were used by selected units of the US armed forces during the Vietnam War and are referred to as "Vietnam tomahawks" to inflict injury.<ref name="wedge" /><ref name="ATC">{{cite news |url=http://www.americantomahawk.com/media/av/pittsburgh.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060825225129/http://www.americantomahawk.com/media/av/pittsburgh.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 25, 2006 |title=Marines Stuck On Tomahawk |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=February 25, 1968 |page=2 |access-date=July 14, 2008 }}</ref>

Tomahawks were used by individual members of the US Army Stryker Brigade in Afghanistan, the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team based at Grafenwöhr (Germany), the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, a reconnaissance platoon in the 2d Squadron 183d Cavalry (116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team) (OIF 2007–2008) and numerous other soldiers.<ref name="wedge" /><ref name="EKI" />

The tomahawk was issued a NATO stock number (4210-01-518-7244) and classified as a "Class 9 rescue kit" as a result of a program called the Rapid Fielding Initiative; it is also included within every Stryker vehicle as the "modular entry tool set".<ref name="wedge">{{cite journal |last=Steele |first=David E. |title=Wedged Edges at War |journal=Blade |date=September 2005 |pages=12–19}}</ref><ref name="EKI" />

This design enjoyed something of a renaissance with US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan as a tool and in use in hand-to-hand combat.<ref name="ABC">{{cite news |last=Tillett |first=David |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90038&page=1 |title=Lethal Weapon:Historic Tomahawk Returns to the Battlefield with Some U.S. Troops |newspaper=ABC News |date=April 15, 2003 |access-date=January 24, 2007}}</ref>

===Modern fighting=== Tomahawks are among the weapons used in the Filipino martial art escrima.<ref name="McLemore2010">{{cite book|last=McLemore|first=Dwight C.|title=The Fighting Tomahawk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=85sOcAAACAAJ|year=2010|publisher=Paladin Press|isbn=978-1-58160-729-1|page=27|location=Boulder, Colorado}}</ref>

== Popular culture == In the 20th and 21st century, tomahawks have been prominently featured in films and video games (e.g. ''Dances with Wolves''; ''Last of the Mohicans''; ''The Patriot''; ''Jonah Hex''; ''Prey''; ''Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'';<ref>{{cite book |last=Grahame-Smith |first=Seth |author-link=Seth Grahame-Smith |title=Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter |publisher=Grand Central Publishing |date=March 2, 2010 |pages=336 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-446-56308-6 |oclc=458890478}}</ref> ''Bullet to the Head''; ''Red Dead Redemption'' and its sequel, and ''Assassin's Creed III''),<ref>{{cite book |title=Assassin's Creed III - Strategy Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ORDSCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT125 |publisher=Game Guide |date=October 28, 2015 |page=125 |isbn=9781621545316}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Altson |first1=John |last2=Lee |first2=Bob |title=The Id from Eden |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IqKEZay_S1wC&pg=PT89 |date=January 29, 2013 |page=89 |publisher=John Altson |isbn=9781482021271}}</ref> leading to increased interest among the public.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

{{Authority control}} {{Forestry tools}} Category:Edged and bladed weapons Category:Axes Category:Ancient weapons Category:Throwing axes Category:American inventions Category:Canadian inventions Category:Military equipment of the United States Category:Indigenous weapons of the Americas Category:Fur trade