Unusual in the Museum's collection of presentation silver is the treaty
pipe (fig. 7) formally presented to the Delaware Indians in 1814 by
General William Henry Harrison at the conclusion of the second Treaty of
Greenville.
The treaty was intended to commit the Indians to active resistance in
the American cause during the War of 1812. General Harrison and Lewis
Cass had been appointed commissioners by the U.S. Government to
conclude the treaty. On July 8, 1814, General Harrison read to the
Indians a message from the President of the United States, and afterward
he presented to the Wyandotte, Delaware, and Shawnee Indian tribes large
silver pipes elegantly ornamented and engraved with emblems signifying
the protection and friendship of the United States.[5]
[Illustration: Figure 7.--PEACE PIPE presented to the Delaware Indians by
Gen. William Henry Harrison in 1814. Bequest of Victor J. Evans. In
Bureau of American Ethnology. (Acc. 113604, cat. 362061; Smithsonian
photos 44571, 44571-A.)]
The pipe presented to the Delaware Indians has an urn-shaped bowl with a
bead-edged cover bearing acanthus-leaf decorations. The S-shaped stem is
21 inches long and only one-fourth inch in diameter. The great length of
the stem was necessary to cool the smoke; the S-shape added rigidity to
the silver. The piece undoubtedly is the work of a competent craftsman
but it bears no identifying mark.[6]
Although not exactly a pipe of peace, another pipe in the collections of
the Museum represents a gesture of friendship between nations. It is a
meerschaum pipe[7] with a silver lid on the bowl and with a silver
mouthpiece. The lid bears this inscription:
This pipe was presented to Sir Frederick Hankey by the Grand
Vizier of Turkey at Constantinople in the year 1830 and to Thomas
Hankey Esq^re by the Daughter of Sir Frederick and by him to
Charles Alexander Esq^re 9th March, 1873.
The only information that has been obtained about Hankey is that he held
an official position as Chief Secretary of Malta for the British
Government.