Existing comment:
Cunne Shote, 1710-1785
Cunne Shote traveled from his Tennessee River valley home to London in 1762 with two other Cherokee chiefs to meet King George III and to cement an alliance between the British and the Cherokee. During this visit, Francis Parsons completed this portrait in which the chief wears two medals and a gorget given to him by the king. Cunne Shote was pleased with the likeness and supposedly remarked that "his friends would have something to remember him [by] when he was gone to fight the French." This alliance was important both to the British in their ongoing conflict with the French and to the Cherokee in their effort to remain independent. A year later, Britain completed its victory over the French in the Seven Years' War, and in doing so added vast territories to its holdings east of the Mississippi River that the French had previously claimed. During the American Revolution, the Cherokee remained loyal to the British.
Francis Parsons, 1762 |