A Red Indian Visit to 18th Century England
Received by the King, blessed by the Primate and huzza’d by Etonians, Chief Tomochich's party was a model good-will mission. By T.R. Reese.
It was in 1732 that King George II granted a charter to a small group of trustees for establishing a new colony in America. This new colony, Georgia by name, was to be settled between the Rivers Savannah and Altamaha and to act as a buffer province between British Carolina and Spanish Florida. For this reason, the first concern of James Oglethorpe, who led the earliest group of settlers to Georgia in 1733, was to secure the safety of the colony, both against the Spaniards in Florida and the French on the Mississippi and the Mobile. He was thus inevitably involved in competition with the French and Spaniards for the friendship of neighbouring Indians, and soon showed great ability in winning their confidence. As early as 21st May, 1733, Oglethorpe signed a treaty with a small branch of the Creek nation living at Yamacraw on the Savannah, and in the following year, when he returned to England, he was accompanied by representatives of this tribe on what we today should call a good-will visit.
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