Major Sprague and the Indians. Illustration from Cassell's History of England, Vol VII. New Edition published Circ 1873-5.
This image springs from an anecdote in Cassell’s History of England given by a United States officer, a certain Major Sprague, and used to illustrate the Native Canadians gratitude for the protection afforded by England. Sprague said, “Some years ago, I was engaged in removing some Indians beyond the Mississippi, and one day when encamped I saw a party approaching me". [Sprague had presumably been deployed with the US Army in 1835 to enforce the Treaty of Payne's Landing, the precursor to the Second Seminole War in Florida]. Sprague continued, " I took my glass and found they were Indians. I sent out an Indian with the stars and stripes on a flag, and the leader of the Indians immediately displayed the red cross of St George! I wanted him to exchange flags, but the savage would not; “for”, he said, “I dwell near the Hudson’s Bay Company, and they gave me this flag, and they told me that it came from my great mother across the great waters, and would protect me and my wife and children wherever we might go. I have found it to be so, as the white men said, and I will never part with it.”
Size: 3292px × 4842px
Location: Somewhere in the southern USA
Photo credit: © Timewatch Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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