Axe Owned by Davy Crockett To Be Auctioned at Local Gala

The fifth annual Fayetteville Community Center & Performance Theater Gala is Feb. 7 at Windy Knoll near Round Top. The past galas have featured some amazing auction items, and this year is no exception as the Live Auction will present a rare piece of American history.

A ceremonial axe that was presented to Col. David (Davy) Crockett at a reception in July of 1834 by the Young Men’s Whig Association of Philadelphia is up for auction. The provenance is documented all the way back to Crockett, and the winning bidder will receive the axe in a presentation case along with the original letter from the family that Crockett gave the axe to when he left Tennessee for Texas.

The provenance of the axe also includes the list of several subsequent owners before Fayetteville’s Bob Axelrod with Axe Antiques. Axelrod, who displays antique firearms every year at The Compound in Round Top, purchased the axe and brought it to Fayette County.

A newspaper article in 1834 noted Crockett receiving the axe after just being presented a gun as a gift by the Philadelphia group of Whigs: “The proceedings took an unexpected turn when the committee announced a second gift. A presentation axe, wrought in the style of a ceremonial tomahawk, was placed in Crockett’s hands. The steel head was brightly finished, and upon the long haft were affixed two silver plaques. One bore the simple engraving: ‘D.CROCKETT.’ The other proclaimed: ‘FRIENDS OF THE WHIGS.’” The family that received the axe from Crockett documented the sale when the piece left their family. “Sold to John Ashworth,” the words in the letter spell out in shaky print. “A small hatchet that was owned by Mr. Davy Crockett. It was left with my family along with other things as he left to go to Texas. It has been in our family ever since.” The short note is signed, “Doris Christian.”

In February, this piece of history will find a new home in Texas. A second axe, given to Crockett a year later in 1835 by another group from the Whig Party, resides in the Smithsonian Institute.

For more information on Davy Crockett’s axe or the Fayetteville Community Center & Performance Theater Gala, call Joan Herring at (713) 818-9766.