After the restoration of peace Ostenaco went on a visit to Williamsburg, Virginia, and there saw a picture of King George III. This fired his ambition to make a journey to England, as his old friend, Chief Little Carpenter, had once done. After Ostenaco’s persistent pleading the governor of Virginia gave his consent. Ostenaco with two attendants and with William Shorey of Chickamauga as interpreter set sail with Lieutenant Henry Timberlake as guide. Before reaching England William Shorey took sick and died. On their arrival they were presented to King George by Lord Eglinton. The Indians attracted considerable attention. Sir Joshua Reynolds, eminent artist, made a group painting of the Indians, and then he made a separate painting of Ostenaco.
Without an interpreter Ostenaco suffered a serious handicap. He was unable to deliver an address he had prepared for King George. He was determined that the King should know what he had to say and on his return to America, November 3, 1762, he gave the following address to Governor Bull of Charleston, S. C., to be translated and transmitted to King George:
“Some time ago, my nation was in darkness, but that darkness has now cleared up. My people were in great distress, but that is ended. There will be no more bad talks in my nation, but all will be good talks. If any Cherokee shall kill an Englishman, that Cherokee shall be put to death. Our women are bearing children to increase our nation, and I will order those who are growing up to avoid making war with the English. If any of our head men retain resentment against the English for their relations who have been killed, and if any of them speak a bad word concerning it, I shall deal with them as I see cause. No more disturbances will be heard in my nation. I speak not with two tongues, and ashamed of those who do.”
Ostenaco was seasick on his way over the big pond, and the following brief report hints as to what impressed him most on the long journey:
“Although I met with a good deal of trouble going over the wide water, that is more than recompensed by the satisfaction of seeing the King and the reception I met from him being treated as one of his children and finding the treatment of every one there good to me.
“The number of warriors and people all of one color which we saw in England, far exceeded what we thought possibly could be. That we might see everything which was strange to us, the king gave us a gentleman to attend to us all the day, and at night till bedtime.
“The head warrior of the canoe who brought us over the wide water, used us very well. He desired us not to be afraid of the French for he and his warriors could fight like men, and die rather than be taken.”
The Chickamaugas were not ready to give up after their towns had been destroyed in 1779. They rebuilt Chickamauga Town, but in 1782 John Sevier, in command of a troop of mounted Tennesseeans, descended on them, and after burning Chickamauga, marched up the creek and destroyed Little Owl’s village. Fourteen years later John Sevier became the first governor of Tennessee.
It is of interest to note that the land on which Little Owl’s village was situated, containing 105 acres, has been The Elise Chapin Wild Life Sanctuary, owned by the Chattanooga Audubon Society. On the property is an Indian cabin which, according to reports and records handed down by the earliest white settlers, was the birthplace of Spring Frog, or Tooantuh, the Cherokee sportsman and naturalist. The cabin has been preserved by Mrs. Sarah Key Patten and is one of the oldest found in this part of the Cherokee country. Tooantuh was born about the year 1754, fought with Andrew Jackson in the Creek war, and was praised for his bravery at the battle of Horseshoe Bend. He went West and took up the life of a farmer at Briartown, Oklahoma, where he died. He was a man of great influence and was among the chiefs whose portrait was painted for the War Department.