Chingachgook's weapon

[freckafree]

I’m seeking a factual answer, but my question has to do with a movie, so if Teh Modz with their mad skillz think this is better suited for Café Society, please move.

I just watched the 1992 “Last of the Mohicans,” and we were all taken with the weapon that Chingachgook used. From what I’ve googled, it may be called a Mohican war axe.

My husband says that director Michael Mann took great pains regarding research for historical accuracy.

So is the weapon historically accurate or the figment of someone’s imagination? Cite if you can.

[Johnny_L.A]

I didn’t see the film, but I looked and found this:

It is a real weapon. I don’t know the proper name of it but it is just a rifle stock with a blade jutting out of the top. Sometimes such a weapon was cut out of wood. But more often they were made out of salvaged muskets which were no longer serviceable as firearms, usually because the barrel was bent, or the fire lock was rusted or no longer functioning. If they could not get a replacement part, the metal was stripped off the stock and it was made into a club. They did not waste anything. They usually had a knife blade either on the top, end, or underside of the stock. The forestock was wrapped in rawhide to provide a nonslip handle and the business end was sometimes also wrapped to prevent splitting after bashing someone’s head.

I also found this thread that has a photo of a gunstock axe/club.

[freckafree]

@Johnny L.A.

I didn’t see the film, but I looked and found this:

I also found this thread that has a photo of a gunstock axe/club.

I found the same thing you found, but I was hoping to find something more substantial than one guy saying “It’s a real weapon.”

The photo you link to doesn’t look all that much like the weapon in the movie. Is one or the other or neither or both historically accurate?

[carnivorousplant]

@freckafree

The photo you link to doesn’t look all that much like the weapon in the movie.

The war axes I remember from the movie looked like something I would expect Conan to carry, or Mary Queen of Scots to be on the wrong end of. You’re not supposed to take a knife to a gunfight, but if I didn’t have a firearm I’d want one of those.