Historical Interpreter Profile

ROBERT K. RAMBO as Atta kul kulla, 'Little Carpenter'

Kentucky Humanities Council

The Kentucky Humanities council website say this about Atta kul kulla:

...the Peace Chief of the powerful Cherokee Nation from 1758 until his death around 1780. Called the “most important Indian of his day,” Atta kul kulla learned English ways (and met King George II) during a visit to London while still a teenager. He developed into a skilled and sophisticated diplomat whose ability to build alliances and treaties caused the English to dub him The Little Carpenter. Many of his policies and actions are still controversial, but he did manage to unite his people, a difficult political feat that laid the foundation for the long-term survival of the Cherokee Nation on a continent that was rapidly filling up with European immigrants.

Atta kul kulla played a key role in the famous land transaction known as the Transylvania Purchase. He negotiated an agreement with Judge Richard Henderson of North Carolina and the Transylvania Land Company, which Henderson used to claim purchase of nearly all of what is now Kentucky and north-central Tennessee. Although the governments of Great Britain, Virginia, North Carolina, and the Continental Congress all annulled the document, Virginia still used it to claim state ownership. Kentucky was lost by the Cherokee forever and sold to a flood of settlers from the east.

You can watch a video of Robert in character giving his presentation here:

Rambo clip from Fort Boonesborough

I've seen Mr. Rambo give his presentation on a couple of different occasions and he does a fantastic job of it. His costume and makeup (especially the ears) are very well done and he brings with him a trunk full of props to show off and use throughout the course of his talks.