CHEROKEE INDIANS

In the South in the eighteenth century the balance of power between the English, French, and Spanish was held by the Indians. Escorting them to England was a means through which allegiances could be secured. By the end of the third decade of the eighteenth century, the growing French presence in the Mississippi and the Ohio River Valley threatened the relationship between the English and the Cherokees. Therefore, in 1730 Sir Alexander Cuming escorted a delegation of seven Cherokees—one king and six warriors—to London for the purpose of securing a new treaty.

During the visit, an artist identified only as Markham painted a group portrait, subsequently etched by Isaac Basire. While contemporary accounts describe the natives as being “naked, except an Apron about their Middles,” in this image they are pictured primarily, though not completely, clothed in European attire. Despite their clothing and the fact that their deportment was rendered in a manner characteristic of the aristocracy, their facial tattooing and hairstyles leave little doubt that these men were culturally alien to the English. Somewhat disconcerting, then and now, is that each of the seven is pictured brandishing some form of weaponry from European swords and firearms to Indian tomahawks, clubs, bows and arrows.