Ostenaco

The expeditionary party comprising Lieutenant Henry Timberlake, Sergeant Thomas Sumter, John McCormack (an interpreter), and an unnamed servant, arrived in the Overhill town of Tomotley on December 20, where they were greeted by one of the leading men in the town, Ostenaco, who was visiting from Keowee.[11]

After spending several days in Tomotley as guests of Ostenaco, Timberlake and his interpreter proceeded to the Overhill mother town of Chota, where a number of chiefs had gathered in the town's large councilhouse. Ostenaco gave a speech and ceremonially buried a hatchet in the ground, symbolizing a state of peace between the English and the Cherokee. Afterward, Timberlake took part in a peace ceremony in which he smoked several ceremonial pipes with the gathered chiefs, a practice Timberlake personally found "very disagreeable," but participated without openly complaining.[12]

Portrait of Ostenaco by Joshua Reynolds, 1762

On January 2, 1762, Timberlake returned to Tomotley with Ostenaco, his assignment largely completed. Timberlake spent the next few weeks studying Cherokee habits and making notes for his maps of the Overhill country. At the end of January, rumors began trickling in from Cherokee scouts of renewed hostilities with rival tribes to the north. Timberlake grew anxious and begged Ostenaco to guide him back to Virginia. Ostenaco reluctantly agreed, and the party set out on March 10, 1762.[13] The party arrived in Williamsburg in early April.[14]

While in Williamsburg, Timberlake and Ostenaco attended a dinner party at William & Mary College at which Ostenaco professed his desire to meet the king of England. A young Thomas Jefferson, then a student at the college, later wrote of Ostenaco:

"I knew much of the great Outassete (Ostenaco), the warrior and orator of the Cherokee. He was always the guest of my father on his journeys to and from Williamsburg. I was in his camp when he made his great farewell oration to his people the evening before he departed for England. The moon was in full splendour, and to her he seemed to address himself in his prayers for his own safety on the voyage and that of his people during his absence. His sounding voice, distinct articulation, animated action, and the solemn silence of his people at their several fires, filled me with awe and veneration, although I did not understand a single word he uttered."[15]

Drawing of Chief Ostenaco during his visit to London, 1762, by Joshua Reynolds

In May 1762, Timberlake, Sumter, and three distinguished Cherokee leaders, including Ostenaco, departed for London.[16] Arriving in early June, the Cherokee were an immediate attraction, drawing crowds all over the city. The poet Oliver Goldsmith queued for over three hours to meet the Cherokee, and offered him a gift. Ostenaco thanked him by kissing him on both cheeks, leaving them smeared with ochre, which caused bystanders to laugh, and discomforted Goldsmith, who didn't expect that 'natives' would apply makeup as heavy as that common in European society.[17] It may have been Goldsmith who suggested to his friend Joshua Reynolds to paint Ostenaco's portrait. Reynolds was not satisfied with the result: he failed to find a solution to the need for harmonizing neoclassical principles about conveying something universal while catering to contemporary taste's interest in individualizing features. Thus he chose to ignore his subject's tattoos and ochre makeup, while depicting his wampum and hairstyle against a forested mountain backdrop. As a result he put the portrait, entitled 'Syacust Ukah', into storage.[18]

The Cherokees returned to North America with Thomas Sumter in August 1762,[19] and the trip secured for Ostenaco lasting fame on both sides of the Atlantic.[20]