I recently inherited this from my great uncles estate. After he passed away my great aunt packed away his most prized items and organized and labeled them to the best of her knowledge. This was with the oldest group of family photots, and was simply marked 'Ernest -Civil War', Ernest being my great uncle's grandfather. My dad doesn't think that's correct and believes it was just one of the many hatchets my great uncle used as a trapper/hunter. One side has a '2' stamped pretty clearly and there are definitely marks or etching of some kind on the other side but I can't make out what it is and have not been able to find similar markings through some research of both possibilities. The tool is definitely hand forged and the butt-end is an octagon. I am hoping someone willl be able to identify the etching or at least verify what time period its from.
