The choice of a Native American Indian to go to war was was entirely voluntary. Public gestures were made to demonstrate an acceptance to go to war. Among the eastern tribes an Indian would strike the red-painted war-post, or, on the plains, by smoking from a ceremonial pipe. The term warpath referred to a route taken by a war party of American Indians going to a war. The word warpath referred to an actual route called the Great Trail, or the Great Path, which was a network of footpaths created by Indians which connected the Great Lakes region of Canada to New England. It is also interesting to note that the Tomahawk was a Native American symbol of both war and peace.