The treaty’s purpose was to delineate a proper boundary line between lands occupied by the Cherokee tribes and the British colonial settlers.

The details of this historic event bring together remarkable individuals, both indigenous Native Americans and transplanted European colonials, whose paths and purposes created the geographical template for the then westernmost reach of the British settlement in 1767.  Some, even among the Cherokee representatives, were world travelers. For example, as noted above,Ostenaco had earlier visited George III in London, with “the fighting gamecock” Thomas Sumter as his guide.

During that visit, Sir Joshua Reynolds painted Ostenaco’s portrait. Tryon himself went on to become the royal governor of New York.

The details of these connections are important.

They matter because they serve to sophisticate our human understanding of the complex interrelationships among people, places and events, which come to be styled “history,” and more pointedly here, “our history.”

Moreover, these details serve further to de-mystify the oftentimes competing horizons of expectations operating in any organized attempt to shape the world in a certain fashion or to influence the perception of people in a certain framework.

– article submitted by Crys Armbrust