The Tomahawk, Scots-Irish Iconic Tool

The humble hand axe, or tomahawk, is an iconic tool of the Scots-Irish.  It was the multi-tool of its day, of use around the camp for cutting, splitting wood, to drive stakes, and also used for personal protection.  It was good in hand to hand close combat and a skilled wielder could throw it with great precision at ranges from five to twenty yards.   While some associate it with the frontier, its design and use goes back several thousand years.

hand axe in war from a medieval Gaelic manuscript 

 



typical frontier tomahawk

Small hand axes, of the same design and type as used by the Scots-Irish on the frontier, were in use since prehistoric times in both Ireland and Scotland.  The battle axe was called a tuagh (said Too-ah) in Gaelic.  There are many hundreds of them in the Irish National Museum.  Early ones are in stone and as technology improved they were made in copper, bronze, iron, and eventually steel.  From their ethnogenesis in Scotland, to their migration to Ireland, and then to the frontier of the New World, the hand axe, or tomahawk, has remained the one constant of Scots-Irish material culture. It was the Scots-Irish frontiersman that introduced the American Indians to the tool.

deployed American soldier with tomahawk

 

The tomahawk is still very much in use today and is just as useful in the 21^st Century as it was to our Neolithic ancestors.

Scots-Irish Dog Trot Cabin

Dog Trot style Cabin, a design used by many Scots-Irish families.

Sex and the Scots-Irish

An interesting quote from Anglican missionary Charles Woodmason when visiting Scots-Irish backsettlments in the Carolinas in the 1760s: "How would the polite people of London stare, to see the Females (many very pretty) . . . ," he wrote. "The young women have a most uncommon practice, which I cannot break them of. They draw their shirt as tight as possible round their Breasts, and slender waists (for they are generally very finely shaped) and draw their Petticoat close to their Hips to show the fineness of their limbs as that they might as well be in purl naturalibus indeed nakedness is not censurable or indecent here, and they expose themselves often quite naked, without ceremony rubbing themselves and their hair with bears' oil and tying it up behind in a bunch like the indians being hardly one degree removed from them. In a few years I hope to bring about a reformation." 

American Rifleman

(above, H David Wright's 'American Rifleman.'

Born in Rosine, Kentucky and raised in Middle Tennessee, David Wright's highly acclaimed art uniquely captures the scenic beauty of the area and its rich historical heritage. His depictions of rural country landscapes and memorable moments in American history have earned him countless awards and placements in prestigious museums and private collections.

Professionally trained and with advanced study in Europe, David has been painting for more than 40 years. He now ranks among America's premier artists, including acknowledgment in Who's Who in American Art. His scholarship and deep historical sensitivities are evident in his works on the American frontier, America's Civil War, hunters, settlers, and American Indians.

His painting above, American Rifleman, captures the very heart and soul of the Ulster settler on the frontier. Information on H David Wright and more of his artwork can be found on his website:

http://www.davidwrightart.com/