Annals of the Royal College of

Suirgeons of England (I976) 1vo 58

John Hunter and two Cherokee Indians History through art Anthony A Pearson

MA

PhD

Professor Emeritus of Anatomy, Unirersity of Oregon Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine, Portland, Oregon.

Introduction A visitor entering the Royal College of Surgeons of England for the first time finds himself surrounded with historic personalities in the form of marble busts, statues, and portraits in oils. Here John Hunter is the dominant figure. The hall containing the Hunterian Art Collection",2 immediately captured my own attention. Among these paintings, four were of native Americans. I would have expected to find portraits of men like Benjamin Rush or Benjamin Franklin. To my surprise there was an 'Esquimo Woman from Labrador', an 'American Indian and Family', and two 'Cherokee Indians'. My immediate questions were, who were these people and what brought them to London? Under what circumstances did they meet John Hunter and who painted

said to be Cherokees, the object of whose mission is not generally known'. In December of the same year another notice, also in the Gentlemen's Magazine, mentioned three Indians from Quebec in the company of an English officer. The Gloucester Journal on Ist November I790 reported two men in Indian dress with many feathers and painted with vermilion about the ears. One of them was described as a handsome Englishman who had lived with the Creek Indians for many years. According to the Kentish Gazette there were six visitors, two of whom were chiefs and one an Englishman named Bowles. Since they were all dresva>d like Indians, Bowles was often mistaken for an Indian. Lord Dorchester was said to have arranged for the passage of six Indians sailing from Canada, three Creeks and their portraits? The search for the answers to th ree Cherokees. Their mission appears to these questions led to the unfolding of the have been concerned with problem.s related following story of the two Cherokee Indians to the Spanish along the Gulf of Mexico". (Figs I and 2). Information gathered from a number of sources3'; abouit the two Cherokee Indians whose portraits are in the Hunterian CollecThe Indians The two portaits of Cherokee Indians were tion suggests that they were the Cherokee commissioned by John Hunter and were paint- chiefs who accompanied W A Bowles to Loned by William Hodges RA in I790 or 1791. don in the auitumn of 1790, and the date of They are referred to in the notes ef William the painting of these portraits coincides with Clift3, who worked closely with Hunter. Ac- the time of the visit of Bowles to London. cording to Clift the two Cherokees came to Their white shirts with ruffles and their silver England after the War of the American Revo- gorgets and arm bands closely resemble those lution, in which they had fought on the British in the portrait of Bowles painted by Thomas side. In London they met John Hunter at a Hardy during this same period. Engravings of party given by the famous naturalist Sir Joseph his portrait (Fig. 3) are preserved in the British Banks, who, with Hodges, had accompanied Museum in London and the National Portrait Captain Cook in the Endeavour to Australia. Gallery in Washington, DC. Ornaments simiA reference thought to be related to these lar to the silver gorgets, arm bands, and ear Indians is in the Gentlemen's Magazine dated pendants shown in these portraits can be seen igth October 1790: 'Arrived in Portsmouth, in exhibits at the Museum of the American the Lord Dorchester, merchantman from Que- Indian in New York City. bec. In her came passengers, some Indians, Attention is called to the ears of the Chero-

John Hunter and two Cherokee Indians 375

Cherokee Indian FIG. I (RCS, Hunterian Collection, No 245). Oil on canvas, by William Hodges RA, unsigned. This Indian wears a dark blue blanket with red and yellow braids over a white frilled shirt with a black neckcloth. On his chest is a silver gorget. He has silver wheel ear rings, a silver band on his right arm, and a white feather in his hair.

the American Revolution changed the course of his life. William's father refused to support the cause for American independence and this made him a Loyalist. William became indignant over insults to his family and volunteered to fight for the British King. He joined the British Army in Philadelphia and was sent to Florida. Here he found himself in trouble and was discharged. At the age of i 6 years he was alone in a strange country. The Creek Indians were kind to him and invited him to their village. He lived with these Indians for several months and married the daughter of an Indian chief. Later he rejoined the British Army in William Bowles In order to understand the significance of the Florida and in I780 he distinguished himself -two Cherokee Indians in the Hunterian Col- in a battle with the Spanish. (At this time lection one must examine the life story of Spain occupied Florida and there were occaBowles4'5'8. William Augustus Bowles was born sional skirmishes between the British and on the Maryland frontier in 1763. He Spanish forces.) His military service in Florida was described as a handsome youth ended when General Campbell surrendered with an olive complexion. The War of the Maryland Loyalists to the Spaniards.

kee in the portrait shown in Figure 2. Each ear lobe, from which a silver wheel-like ornament hangs, has a hole large enough to pass one or two fingers. It was not unusual for these Indians to pierce their ear lobes with a scalping knife and to stretch the rim of each ear, making the opening larger. Henry Timberlake7 lived with the Cherokee Indians for a period and he described this practice in his Memoirs. The procedure was said to be so painful that one ear was pierced and allowed to heal before the other ear received similar treatment.

376 Anthony A Pearson

Cherokee Indian (RCS, Hunterian Collection, No 246). Oil on canvas, by William Hodges RA, unsigned. A companion portrait to No 245, of a different sitter in similar attitude and dress but without the feather in his FIG. 2

hair.

Bowles and other prisoners were sent to Havana and then to New York. When Bowles went to Florida he was a confused boy; he now was a man. Soon after William reached New York General Cornwallis surrendered and the war was over. For Loyalists to stay in New York was an unattractive future and few remained; they feared reprisals and many of them went to Canada. Bowles went to the Bahama Islands and eventually to Georgia, where again he lived with the Creek Indians. Life with the Creek Nation did much to mould his character. He shared their hopes and frustrations. Now he was one of them and he became their 'commander-in-chief.' Bowles was quick to learn and was well schooled in experience. He was not unlike a chameleon in that he could adapt to any situation. The story of his life often appears to be more romantic than factual. However, one must remember

the words of Bvron's Don Juan, 'Truth is always strange; stranger than fiction'.

Creeks and Cherokees The Creeks were the largest and best organized tribe of Indians in the south. In the years after the Revolution the Creeks and the Cherokees were hemmed in on the south by the Spanish and pressed on other fronts by American setters. Bowles was aware of the dilemma of the Indians and offered them his services. The Indians were alarmed in particular by the threats of further Georgia expansion. Bowles, like Tecumseh9, had a dream of uniting the Indians in the south with those in the north to form a confederation to stop the American aggresston. Before the Revolution, in 1763, the English and French had signed a treaty5 placing all the Indians east of the Mi's;i'ppi River under

John Hunter and two Cherokee Indians 377

FIG.

3

William

A ugustus

Bowles, Chief of the Embassy from the Creek and Cherokee Nations. An engraving of a painting by T Hardy, 1791, London. Reproduced by courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

the jurisdiction of England. The English, through treaties and their Indian agents, had established strong ties with many Indian tribes. As a result the loyalties of the Indians were more often with the English than with the American colonies. By a Royal Proclamation George III set forth a policy excluding settlers from territories west of the Appalachian Mountains until the Indians had been pacified. The British Government thus attempted to keep the white settlers out of the Indian hunting grounds where they had aroused so much ho6stiity. This put the British in opposition to

powerful forces developing in American life which led to the American Revolution. After the Revolution the Cherokee Indians made peace with South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia'"'". These treaties deeded millions of acres of land from the Cherokees to these states, and the Indians were forced from the Piedmont region into the mountain areas west of South Carolina, between Georgia and Virginia. The Cherokees, in givng up large portions of their lands, hoped for a peace which would be a lasting one. With more American threats the Creeks and Cherokees, though not tradi-

378 Anthony A Pearson tional friends, were forced to become allies. In 1789 the Grand Council of the Creeks selected several chiefs to accompany Bowles to London. Bowles, who was both a chief of the Creek Nation and a British officer on half pay, was given the title of 'Director General of the Creek Nation'. He was commissioned to go directly to King George III and request that he reaffirm the treaties signed before the Revolutionarv War and issue new medals, and aLso take the southern Indians under his wing as he had done with the Indian tribes north of the Ohio River. Bowles insisted that the southern Indians were still loyal to the English King4'5. It was during this period that a portrait was painted, perhaps by Bowles himself, showing Bowles in the centre of the picture and a Cherokee chief on either side of him. Under this picture was written: 'General Bowles, Commander-in-Chief of the Creek and Cherokee Nations'. The names of the two Cherokee Indians in this picture were Richard Justice and Moses Price and it is likely that they are the Cherokees in the two portraits in the Hunterian Collection in London. Price at one time acted as a Spanish interpreter and Justice took part in a scalp dance on Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and tore up a scalp with his hands and teeth6. It is reported that this picture of Bowles and the two Cherokees was in the home of Richard Justice in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1792; it was displayed among the southern Indians for many years until it was lost4',.

Mission to England The first leg of the delegation's journey to London took them to Nassau5. A main Indian objective was to encourage King George to sponsor both the northern and southern Indians through the Canadian Indian Department. In 1789 there was the possibility of an Anglo-Spanish war, and the role that the Creek and Cherokee Indian Nations might play in this was an important one. The cause of the dispute5 was the 'Nootka incident', with the Spanish seizure of four British ships in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island on the west coast of Canada. This dispute involved inore than the seizure of a few ships. At stake was the ownership of the entire

Pacific North-West. War was imminent. It was therefore decided that Bowles should go from Nassau to Canada and then to England. The delegation consisted of Bowles and five Indians from the Creek and Cherokee Nations. Bowles was pure white and the two Cherokees, Richard Justice and Moses Price, may have been half-breeds. Indians in that period often had several names and many had English names as well. Bowles was called Eastajaca by the Indians, while the Indian name of one of the Cherokees, said to be 'a young man of engaging countenance', was Unatoy. After many months of delay the Indians landed in Canada. Although they had no official documents to present to Lord Dorchester, the Canadian Governor, they were given lodging and the Governor provided for their passage to England. The party of Indians finally sailed to England on the merchantman Dorchester. They reached Plymouth in October 1790 and wvith much ceremony Bowles and the Indians were taken ashore. Bowles claimed that twenty thousand Cherokees and Creeks, reinforced by many thousands of Chickasaws and Choctaws, were ready to conquer Florida and Louisiana and then march into Mexico. These rumours revived memories of the days of glory with Drake, Hawkins, and Henry Morgan. The Indians were given a few guineas and sent on to London4'5. In London they were lodged at Osborne's Hotel in the Adelphi, which was close to the Thames and Whitehall. After conferring with minor officials they met the Home Secretary, William Windham Grenville. Grenville was concerned over the possibility of a war with Spain and he was interested in the potenti4l military usefulness of the southern Indians. At this same time dissatisfied Vermonters were also in London, exploring the possibility of throwing in their lot with Canada in the event that the United States might break in pieces. It was considered logical that the Indians should take their petitions directly to King George III. Early in November of 1790, a short time after their arrival, a time was set for an audience with the King. Distinguished guests arrived, but no Indians came. The reason was soon obvious. The Spanish had capitulated and there would be no war5. The Indian delegation was greatly disappointed; success had

John Hunter and two Cherokee Indians 379

seemed to be within their reach and had slipped through their fingers There was little reason now for England publicly to recognize these Indians and furnish them with arms. However, even after the crisis had passed the Indians still received a great deal of attention; they were living proof of the concept of the 'noble savage' which had been eulogized by Rousseau. They drew crowds wherever they went, in the theatres and at masquerade parties, where their costumes were not only the most authentic but the most orig-inal, and they were mentioned often in the news. They introduced a new dish to London gourmets called 'Cherokee fricassee'5. They stayed in London until the spring of 179 I. Bowles was especially popular and he wvxs received by the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Gloucester, Lord Townshend, and many of the nobility. A member of the Townshend family, Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Townshend, had been killed in the French and Indian war in 1759 and the interest of this family in the American Indians is illustrated in the Townshend Memorial in Westminster Abbey; the two Indians carved in stone are considered to be among the best pieces of sculpture in the

Abbey12. Bowles became the 'Don Juan' of London society. He and the Indians had a busy social calendar. They attended the theatre in Covent Garden and saw performances such as 'The Tragedy', 'The Provocation', and 'The Cherokee'. The Indians were painted and dressed to suit the occasion. Both Bowles and the Indians often wore long hunting jackets and buckskin leggings, but while they usually dressed as Indians, at parties they would wear white shirts with ruffles, with a formal cape, knee breeches, and a turban with ostrich feathers. For ornaments they would wear silver arm bands, earrings, and half-moon gorgets. The chiefs would carry ceremonial silver pipe tomahawks, which signified their rank. They also visited St Paul's Cathedral and showed much interest in the organ. Bowles attended the lectures of George Pearson at St George's Hospital and they became close friends'. Hunter also served on the staff at St George's Hospital and it seems likely that he knew Bowles. After the Nootka crisis had passed there was little reason for Bowles to remain in London.

He now requested that Britain help the Creeks and Cherokees in an unofficial manner and arrange a trade agreement between Nassau and the Creek-Cherokee Nation that would bypass the Spanish in Florida. He called the new nation 'Muskogee' and represented himself as their Director General. Bowles also negotiated with the Spanish; the Spanish Ambassador entertained him at his residence in Manchester Square and from time to time he and the Indian chiefs attended formal dinners at the Spanish Embassy5. In the meantime Bowles pointed out to Grenville that British losses in America were great, that one of their remaining trump cards held in America was the southern Indians, and that this should not be lost. It was agreed that Nassau could be open to the Muskogee Nation but that in Florida and Georgia the Indians would be on their own to deal with the Spanish and the Americans. Bowles paid a last visit to Downing Street and returned to America5. Return home Bowles had come to England five months earlier with high hopes. The Nootka settlement had spoiled everything. In London he had been feted, his portrait and those of two of his companions had been painted, his life story had been published', and he had conferred with the highest British and Spanish diplomats. At 28 he had become an international figure and he now must look for other worlds to conquer. Curious crowds of oeople watched as they left London in two coaches. At Gravesend, where Pocahontas had died in I6I7, they boarded the Mercury and, after a stop in Nassau, they continued in a ship carrying the flag of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation. This flag had a blue cross on a red background and in the upper left-hand corner bore a sun with human features. A face in a blazing sun is a popular motif today. In a recent exhibit in San Francisco this symbol was illustrated in a book'3 carried by Sir Francis Drake on one of his voyages to the New World. The Muskogee vessel evaded the Spanish ships and landed in Florida. Here we lose sight of the two Cherokee chiefs in the Hunterian Collection. The complete story of the adventures of Bowles' is much too long to be related

380 Anthony A Pearson

here. Suffice it to say that he returned to his life with the Indians and eventually was arrested, taken to Spain, and finally to Havana, where he died in a dungeon in Morro Castle in I805. Had he not been arrested by the Spanish, he probably would have been seized by the Americans.

Afterthoughts According to Foreman4 and Wright5 it is unlikely that Bowles himself was presented publicly to King George. Higham4, however, has listed the names of the five Indians and stated that they addressed the English King on 3rd January I791. This meeting with the King was not publicized in the London newspapers. While they were entertained by prominent people, they were not officially recognized in the manner that Pocahontas (i6i6) and the Indian delegations which visited London with Sir Alexander Cuming (1730) and Henry Timberlake (I762) were received. It is hard to believe that John Hunter, who was interested in the whole world around him, was not aware of the nature of the mission on which these Indians were engaged. Unfortunately, many of his notes and records were lost14. The problems of colonial America in dealing with the Indian may have been among the main causes which led to the American Revolution. Indian commissioners like Sir William Johnson"5 had attempted to keep the new settlers away from the Indian hunting grounds. The ministers in Whitehall found themselves in opposition to the aspirations of the hordes of emigrants to the New World. Even colonists like George Washington regarded the King's proclamation of 1763 as a temporary restriction to keep the Indians quiet while the settlers were taking the good lands"6. If the Nootka incident had resulted in war with Spain, King George would probably have recognized the Muskogee Creek-Cherokee Nation. If the war with America in I812 had come as early as I803 the British would probably have supplied the Creek and Cherokee Indians with guns. The British expedition in the Gulf of Mexico against Louisiana would then have been more likely to succeed. General Andrew Jackson would probably not have been victorious in New Orleans and the Muskogee Nation would very likely have

survived with the status of a Dominion of Great Britain. History relates that many Indians, including Bowles's son5, did support the British at the time of the Battle of New Orleans. Fate and Andrew Jackson had other plans for these Indians. The state of Georgia wanted to expel them and President Jackson coveted the western lands of Georgia for future states-Alabama and Mississippi. In this struggle for land even the Supreme Court of the United States was helpless to intervene'3. The US Army, under presidential orders, removed many of these Indians to Oklahoma, their march through the wilderness being called the 'trail of tears'. To use a slang expression, these Indians were 'born losers'. In the War of the American Revolution they chose the losing side and later in the American Civil War many of them fought with the Southern Confederacy. If fate had been different Bowles would not have ended his days in a Havana prison and his two Cherokee companions would have ranked as founding fathers of a Muskogee Nation. Here it is interesting to contemplate that in the person of John Hunter these Indians found a sympathetic ear. It has been said that the spirit of John Hunter haunts the galleries of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Perhaps among these paintings the ghosts of Indians linger still. I wish to express my gratitude to the late Mr Norman CapeIner FRCS and to Dr Donald Crowther MIRCS for their encouragement during the preparation of this paper. I must also thank the staff of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and its Librarian, Mr E H Comelius.

References

2 3

4 5

6

7

L LeFanu, W R (I960) A Catalogue of the Portraits and Other Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture in the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Edinburgh and London, Livingstone. Smith, Sir Rodney (1975) Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 57, II7. Clift, W (i8i6) Records in the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. See also LeFanul. Foreman, C (I943) Indians Abroad. Norman, Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press. Wright, J L jr (I967) William Augustus Bowles, Director General of the Creek Nation. Athens, University of Georgia Press. Gentlemen's Magazine March 1762; October I 763; October and December 1790. London, British Museum Library. Timberlake, H (I765) Memoirs. London, British Museum Library.

John Hunter and two Cherokee Indians 38I 8 Baynton, B (I79I) Authentic Memoirs of William Augustus Bowles, Esquire. London, R Faulder. 9 Billard, J B (I974) The World of the American Indian. Washington, DC, National Geographic Society. io Milling, C J (1940) Red Carolinians. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. ii Cotterill, R S (I954) The Southern Indians. Norman, Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press.

12 Westminster Abbey Official Guide (I97I) Norwich, Jarrold. I3 L'Art de Naviguer (1576) Lyon. I4 Gloyne, S R (I950) John Hunter. Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins. I5 Johnson, J, 6th Baronet of New York (I963) The North American Johnsons. London, P R M Publishers. i6 Miller, L B (I974) In the Minds and Hearts of the People: Prologue to the American Revolution, I760- I774. Greenwich, Connecticut, New York Graphic Society.

John Hunter and two Cherokee Indians. History through art.

Annals of the Royal College of Suirgeons of England (I976) 1vo 58 John Hunter and two Cherokee Indians History through art Anthony A Pearson MA Ph...
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