The Cherokees generally sided with  the British in the French and 
Indian War. In 1760, however, a dispute erupted between some 
Virginia frontiersmen and a Cherokee tribe over a group of wild 
horses. The Englishmen killed twelve Cherokees and collected 
bounties on their scalps. News of the incident incited Cherokee chief 
Oconostota to make raids on British settlements. The British 
retaliated with a "scorched earth" policy, decimating villages and 
crops in the Carolina Territory until the Cherokees surrendered 
in1761. The Cherokees found British rule authoritarian and 
financially stringent, and to alleviate tensions, Kinf George III invited 
a delegation of chiefs to come to London in 1762. There, they were 
showered with gifts and ornaments, such as the silver gorgets (neck 
pieces) engraved with the king's imprint, shown in this group 
portrait.