This next piece is a hand-forged pike-staff head, thought to have been manufactured by colonial rebels during the American Revolution. It would have been affixed to the end of a wooden shaft and used in defensive formations.
This piece probably was made as a cheaper and more expedient response to the British bayonet. Bayonets were necessary during the American Revolution because at that time, people still lined up in nice, neat rows and exchanged volleys of gunfire while advancing toward the enemy. Toward the end of this advance, combat switched to swords and bayonets.At the time, folks were just figuring out how to hide behind trees and rocks and stuff (although, to be fair, this mode of combat was a European thing - other cultures long ago either figured out how to hide or shield themselves from projectile weapons or else ritualized combat to the point that few people were seriously hurt).
As accurate shooting became prevalent with the advent of rifled barrels and metallic cartridges, the "line up and shoot at each other" tactic became less prevalent, although it was still somewhat evident in WW1, even though the opposing sides finally figured out hiding in trenches (this was done in the US Civil War, too).
By WW2, battle lines remained fairly well-defined, but by the time of the Korean and Vietnam wars, opposing lines of battle were a thing of the past. Consider the modern "insurgency/counterinsurgency" mode of combat...it's a direct ancestor of this departure from the century-old "battle lines".
And yet despite the change in field tactics, bayonets are still standard issue for when things get up close and personal.
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