Presentation Pipe-Tomahawk

From card: "additional info in lab acc. file. wooden handle, oval in x-section. inlaid on each side, for its entire length, with a wavy band of silver attached with small tacks. axe head with pipe bowl on the back is made of silver, blade also. engraved on one side with figure of a half face and the sun, and the inscription: '1850, tom hill from p.b. reading'; clasped hands and 'peace and friendship'. on the other side: national eagle emblem, moon and stars, gun, tomahawk, powder horn, and bow and arrow. 1/19/1960: arthur woodward, 'the clasped hands & the sun are old n.e. woodlands symbols. right hand is that of military officer, the uniform cuff indicated by three straight marks, & the indian's hand shows the ruffled wrist-band of a calico shirt. tom hill, a delaware went west, married a nez perce woman, late 1830s or early 40s and tho accused by missionaries of responsibility for the whitman mission massacre in oregon, before that time had gone into calif., where he fell in with the fremont party. in the early 1840s a fight occurred between americans and native californios in the salinas valley (see bancroft:hist. calif. for details). hill, a courageous man, was sent to monterey for aid, and in the process of the fight, when he had to cut his way thru the californios, he apparently lost his tomahawk. maj. p.b. reading [pierson barton reading] was also of fremont's party, and a friend of hill's who settled in n. calif.. when he made a trip east (ca. 1850) he had this axe made for hill, apparently by: w.a. woodruff, a silversmith, possibly of cincinnatti, ohio. returned from political history 4/9/1969. lent to npg 12-20-1984, returned 02-26-1986."

Illustrated on p. xl of Legends of the Delaware Indians and Picture Writing, by Richard C. Adams, 1997 edition, Syracuse University Press [originally published 1905]. Noted there as having been sold to Victor Evans from the estate of Richard C. Adams.
Note: a symbol of clasped hands and the words "peace and friendship" were used on the reverse of a number of U.S. Peace medals, including ones that predate or are contemporary with this artifact. The Heraldic eagle with shield on its chest (from the Great Seal of the United States) was used on some early U.S. Peace medals. Also, the crossed tomahawk and rifle depicted on this pipe tomahawk is similar to the crossed tomahawk and "peace pipe" design used on a number of U.S. Peace medals, including ones that predate or are contemporary with this artifact.

As noted above, this artifact was formerly owned by Richard Calmit Adams, who in 1909 lent it to the Smithsonian under loan acccession no. 49797, catalogue no. 253553. Reference: "Indian Relics For Museum," The Washington Post, February 27, 1909, 5. This object is also illustrated as No. 4 in plate illustrating "Delaware Indian Relics. Delawares In The "Cherokee Nation," 1891." after p. 44 in: United States. 1894. ... Extra census bulletin: The five civilized tribes in Indian territory: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole nations. Washington: Census pr. o. . The subsection of this Census document on the Delaware Indians in the Cherokee Nation, where the illustration is published, notes that much of the information in that section was supplied by R.C. Adams. See: http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1890e1-02.pdf .

Note re photos: color digital neg. # 2009-4926 is shot of entire pipe tomahawk, the side with the inscription.

Silver pipe tomahawk E362064 is probably the silver tomahawk referenced on p. 22, 28, 36, and 39-40 in Adams, Richard C. 1921. Claims of the Delaware Indians; memorial of the Delaware tribe of Indians ... in support of Senate bill 663 and H.R. 6051. http://archive.org/details/claimsofdelaware00adam.