_Sir Alexander Cumming and the Cherokees._--There is a Query by S. S.
(Vol. iii., p. 39.) about Sir Alexander Cumming and the Cherokees, which
I do not think has yet had any reply. Vol. iii., p. 152., a replyist
refers to a work in which is an autobiography of the baronet. I have not
had an opportunity to refer to _that_, but I suspect it would not meet
the question, as Sir Alexander Cumming of Coulter, who was created a
Nova Scotia baronet 1695, and Alexander Cumming, the King of the
Cherokees, were diverse persons. The last died in 1775, and according to
Lysons was buried at East Barnet. At vol. iv. p. 20., under Barnet,
Lysons gives the following account bearing on the Cherokees:
"In 1729 he (Cumming) was induced, by a dream of Lady Cumming's,
to undertake a voyage to America, for the purpose of visiting the
Cherokee nations. He left England on the 13th of September, and
arrived at Charlestown on the 5th of December. On the 11th of
March following he set out for the Indians' country; on the 3rd of
April, 1730, he was crowned commander and chief ruler of the
Cherokee nations, in a general meeting of chiefs at Nequisee among
the mountains; he returned to Charlestown the 13th of April with
six Indian chiefs, and on the 5th of June arrived at Dover; on the
18th he presented the chiefs to George II. at Windsor, where he
laid his crown at his Majesty's feet; the chiefs also did homage,
laying four scalps at the king's feet, to show that they were an
overmatch for their enemies, and five eagles' tails as emblems of
victory. These circumstances are confirmed by the newspapers of
that time, which are full of the proceedings of the Cherokees
whilst in England, and speak of them as brought over by Sir
Alexander Cumming. Their portraits were engraved on a single
sheet. In 1766 Archbishop Secker appointed him one of the
pensioners in the Charter-House, where he died at a very advanced
age."
His son, who succeeded him in the title, became deranged in his
intellects, and died about three years ago, in a state of indigence, in
the neighbourhood of Red Lion Street, Whitechapel. He had been a captain
in the army: the title became extinct at his death.