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Many of the historical characters in this book had portraits painted by renowned artists of the day. Readers may find several other pictures interesting as well. Click on the hyperlinks to see the images. Then click your browser’s back button to return to this page.

William Penn was given “Penn’s Woods” by the King of England in order to settle debts the king owed to William’s father. Though he trained to be a soldier, young William became a Quaker and saw Pennsylvania as the place for his “holy experiment” to prove that people of all ethnic and religious background could live together in peace.

This famous painting (Penn’s Treaty with the Indians, by Benjamin West) illustrates the friendly relations the Lenape Indians had with William Penn.

Thomas Penn, son of William, did not maintain the same relationship with the Indians that his father had nurtured.

Chief Tishcohan and Chief Lapowinsa signer of the Walking Purchase Treaty, even though had had grave reservations about doing so and would live to regret it. These portraits were painted by Gustavus Hesselius in 1735.

Teedyuscung, called the “King” of the Delaware, was not fully trusted by either the Indians or the colonial government. He liked fancy clothing, hats, and lots of rum.

James Logan, the Penn family’s personal secretary, lived at Stenton where he hosted many Indian treaties with the colonial Pennsylvania government, including the one in 1737 when the Walking Purchase Treaty was signed. The mansion looks much the same today as it did in 1737.

This portrait– Benjamin Franklin, The Fireman–is an 1850 painting by Charles Washington Wright which portrays Franklin in a fire helmet of the Union Fire Company, which he founded. It is on display at The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

The Pennsylvania Gazette was started in 1723 and bought by Franklin and a friend in 1729. It quickly became one of America’s most prosperous newspapers. This edition was published around the time of the long walk.

Edward Marshall was a renowned athlete, woodsman, and chain bearer for surveyors. He walked the farthest on the long walk, which made him a target for the Indians after fighting broke out. He boasted that he killed over 20 Indians with this rifle, which is now housed at the Bucks County Historical Society.

William Allen secretly bought land from the Penn family and wanted to make a profit by selling it to settlers. Unfortunately for him, the Lenape still claimed this land, prompting the elaborate trick that became known as the Walking Purchase Treaty and the long walk carried out to honor it. Allen was founder of Allentown, though he returned to England when the American Revolution began.