Pipe tomahawk given by Washington in 1792 returned to tribe
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This photo March 15, 2019, photo provided by Seneca-Iroquois National Museum in New York shows a long-missing peace pipe tomahawk President George Washington gave to Seneca Indian leader Cornplanter in the late 18th century that has been returned to the tribe in western New York. An anonymous collector returned the artifact to the museum and officials there decided to give it back to the Senecas. (Philip J. Pantano/Seneca-Iroquois National Museum via AP)
A long-missing peace pipe tomahawk President George Washington gave to a Seneca leader in the late 18th century has been returned to the tribe in western New York.
Washington gave the combination tobacco-smoking pipe and weapon to Cornplanter as the United States negotiated a peace treaty with the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.
The artifact eventually wound up at the State Museum in Albany, where it remained until being stolen in the late 1940s.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Last year, an anonymous collector returned the artifact to the museum. Officials there decided to give it back to the Senecas.
Cornplanter's pipe tomahawk was presented Thursday to the Seneca Nation of Indians, who have put the artifact on display in the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum in Salamanca, near the Pennsylvania border 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Buffalo.