Alexander Cuming-An examination of contemporary documents

Matthew Allen Newsome
Curator and Manager Scottish Tartans Museum
Franklin, NC
Cherokee representatives went to England with Alexander Cumming in 1730, and are depicted in this sketch amongst native plants.

In the spring of 1730 a Scottish nobleman, on no authority but his own, came into Cherokee territory during a time of general hostility and forever altered the course of Anglo-Cherokee relations. This man was Sir Alexander Cuming, Baronet of Culter, and his story has been told often in the hills of southern Appalachia, especially in Macon County, North Carolina, where Nikwasi Mound still marks the site of his fateful visitation. Many call Cuming a hero. Many say he was mad. Beneath the stories, however, lies a real individual and it is that individual I intend to uncover.

We know a few hard facts about Cuming from the memoir he wrote in 1764, towards the end of his life. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on December 18th, 1691. When he was only 12 years old he obtained a Captain’s commission from Queen Anne in the Earl of Mar regiment (May 28, 1703). In 1713 he attained Doctor of Law at the University of Aberdeen. During the Jacobite uprising of 1715, he led a company against the Jacobites. He later became a lawyer after the rebellion subsided, and in 1719 he was summoned into the employ of the Duke of Argyll, who paid him 300 pounds per annum from Royal Funds.

Life seemed to be going quite well with the young lawyer. He remained in Argyll’s employ until the Christmas of 1721. He was then offered the Governorship of Bermuda, but later denied it. In 1725 Cuming’s father died, making him the second Baronet of Culter. Cuming now had lands and a title, and was set on making a better name for himself. It is at this point in the story that his ambitions begin to get the better of him.

Cuming was a candidate in 1727 for a position in the Shire of Aberdeen, but did not win the election. This was perhaps when he set his sights on making his name with out the British Isles. He was an elected fellow of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge and had, as he himself put it, “His Majesty’s Leave of Absence to travel where he pleased.” In September of 1729, he took advantage of this freedom and set sail for the Carolinas.

What he hoped to accomplish there is not completely understood. Macon County historian Barbara McRae says that Cuming claimed to have made the trip overseas because of a strange, prophetic dream that his wife had. She had dreamed that Alexander would accomplish great things among the Cherokees of the New World, and it was this vision that inspired him to sail across the ocean and serve as a diplomat in dangerous territory, with no authority from his government. Cuming himself wrote in his journal that he established the silver standard for the economy in Charles Town. Regardless of his intent, we know that he arrived in Charles Town (present day Charleston, South Carolina) in the first week of December and left on March 13, 1730, for Cherokee territory.

Cuming’s own account of his travels in his Memoirs is scant. He simply states that he established himself as their law giver, met with the emperor Moytoy of Teliquo [Telliko], and was gifted the crown of their nation and the scalps of their enemies. His letters written closer to the time, however, paint a more detailed picture of his journey. With the help of these and other accounts, it is possible to put together a cohesive timeline of his travels.

At the time of his departure, the Cherokees were on the verge of allying themselves with the French, and were by all accounts rather hostile towards the British. Cuming was definitely aware of the situation with the French, as he recalled that year to the Duke of Newcastle in a letter. This knowledge definitely did not stop Cuming from venturing deep into what he called the “Cherokee Mountains.” There are some that would suggest he was fleeing financial peril. Others believe he was seeking yet again a great name.

He came first to the Lower Towns, where he met with a council at Keowee. There he knelt in the council house and demanded all others kneel as he did, and acknowledge King George II as their leader. According to McRae, they all did so. One could hardly expect the Cherokees to be fully aware of exactly whom or what they were giving their allegiance to, or to comprehend the European ceremony at all. But this would not be the only European custom that Cuming would introduce them to. Cuming then declared that the heads of all the Cherokee villages should meet in ten day’s time at the village of Nikwasi for a grand council. It now remained for Cuming to ensure that the Cherokees came.

Accounts of those traders traveling with Cuming describe him as either brave, brash, or mad, but by all interpretations he was a man with a momentum. When he heard of the legendary “Crown of Tannassy”—a dyed cap of opossum hair—he immediately desired to have it as a good symbol to give to King George upon his return. He traveled further into the mountains, and when he came to the village of Tassetcha, he won over the council there in a similar manner to Keowee. Most importantly, he gained their support in winning over the Overhill Towns. This area was key if he were to befriend the Tannassy Warrior who held the crown he sought, as well as Moytoy, a Cherokee leader whom he desired to name “Emperor” to represent the entire nation. This he did (most likely by promising great benefits to each of them personally) and they both agreed to be at the Nikwasi meeting.

This meeting occurred on April 3, 1730. It was here that Cuming gave his support to Moytoy as Emperor of all Cherokees, to which the council agreed. Moytoy then expressed his desire to share this glory with Cuming, which prompted the other Cherokees present to lift Cuming up onto the seat reserved for Moytoy and perform the Eagle Tail Dance for him. This involved stroking him with the tail feathers of 13 golden eagles. Cuming understood this to be the dance they perform to invest their rulers.

Armed with this authority, Cuming demanded of the gathered council that they hand over the Crown of Tannassy, along with the eagle tails used in this ceremony and scalps of their enemies as signs of submission, and demanded also that they acknowledge the sovereignty of King George II, “all of which they did on their knees, calling upon every thing that was terrible to them to destroy them, and that they might become his People, if they violated their Promise and Obedience.”

This unprecedented act of diplomacy was Cuming’s crowning achievement. Once he had secured the allegiance of the Cherokee Nation to Britain, he desired to return to his native land (and undoubtedly spread the fame of his own name). He wished to return with Moytoy, who refused, but seven other Cherokee warriors agreed to travel with him across the Atlantic. Whether these men were intended to be representatives of their Nation or mere tokens of Cuming’s travels is not known, but once in England they were treated as the former by the courts.

Cuming took these warriors back to Charles Town with him, passing through Oconee and Keowee on his way. On May 4th they set sail for England, and arrived in London on June 5th. After this date, Cuming secured lodgings for the Cherokees, who saw little of him for the next two weeks. It is at this point, when Cuming is back in Britain, that we have the most evidence of his ventures and begin to be able to see a clearer image of the man.

It was on June 18, 1730, when the Cherokees saw Cuming again, in the court of King George II. The Cherokees were said to have bowed down as subjects of the King. Of course, they may have been previously prompted to do so, or simply saw everyone else do it as English custom. This was the first time any Cherokee had ever been in an English court, and the warriors were treated to the knighting of a duke and two earls as Knights of the Order of the Garter. McRae does mention that the Cherokees were disappointed not to have been offered any food during the ceremony and festivities.

Four days later they were formally presented before the King. A formal treaty was then drawn up in Cuming’s residence between Britain and the Cherokee Nation. The seven Cherokees were forced to sign it as representatives of their Nation.

This treaty, the first such treaty to exist between England and the Cherokees, stated that the seven warriors present, “You Scayagusta Oukah, Chief of the Town of Tassetsa—You Scate Casken Ketagusta—You Tethtone—You Clogoillah—You Colannah—You Oucounacou,” had all been made deputies by “Moytoy of Telliko, with the Consent and Approbation of the whole Nation of the Cherokee Indians.” These seven men were assumed to have the authority to make agreements for the entire nation of Cherokees, even though such a unified nation did not exist. Nevertheless, the treaty was written as “if the whole Nation of Cherokees, the Old Men, Young Men, Wives and Children were all present.”

The treaty decreed that the enemies of the English were the enemies of the Cherokees and likewise with their friends. It demanded that the Cherokees treat the English as their own brothers, and must be ready to fight against any one who opposes the English. Most importantly, though, the treaty called for the English to increase their lands so that they may stretch from Charles Town to the Cherokee Nation. “And as the King has given His Land on both sides of the great Mountains to His own Children the English, so He now gives to the Cherokee Indians the Priviledge of living where they please.”

Part 2