Nancy Ward: Beloved Woman of the Southern Cherokee

Beloved Woman of the Southern Cherokee
Nancy Ward
1738-1824
Cherokee Tribal Leader

Nancy Ward was spared the sight of her people’s exile to Indian Territory in 1838, but because her spirit was present at Chota, they knew she had preserved that connection to their eastern home.

Introduction

The role of Ghighua, or Beloved Woman, among the Cherokee was an influential one indeed. The most noted of the Cherokee Beloved Women was Nancy Ward, or Nan’yehi. Closely related to such leaders as Old Hop, the emperor of the Cherokee nation in the 1750s, Attakullakulla, the Wise Councillor of the Cherokee, and Osconostato, the Great Warrior of the Cherokee nation, Ward won the honored title of Ghighua and her own leadership position after displaying great bravery in battle. But Ward was not merely a warrior. She spoke on behalf of her people with U.S. representatives and wisely counseled the tribe against land cession. She did not live to see her warnings become reality as the Cherokee were dispossessed of their eastern lands.

Earns Title Beloved Woman

Born about 1738 at Chota, a “Peace Town” or “Mother Town” in the Overhill region of the Cherokee Nation, Ward came into the world at the beginning of a crucial era in Cherokee history. Raised by her mother, Tame Deer, and her father, Fivekiller (who was also part Delaware or Lenni Lenap‚ ), Nan’yehi realized at a young age that her people were in turmoil. Missionaries, Moravians (Christians who seek to persuade others to accept their religion and follow the Bible as their rule of faith and morals) in particular, were trying to gain access to the Cherokee people in order to convert them. Still very conservative (resistant to change), preserving their traditional customs and religion, the Cherokees had a mixed reaction to the missionaries. Many regarded them as a threat, others saw them as a blessing.

One of those who straddled this fence was Nan’yehi’s very influential maternal uncle, Attakullakulla (“Little Carpenter”). He eventually struck a deal allowing Moravians into Cherokee territory, but only if they would build schools to instruct Cherokee youth in English and the ways of the white man. Later critics would see this as evidence of Attakullakulla’s desire for the Cherokee to accept European ways; others saw this as a tactic to teach the tribe more about their enemy. Like her uncle, Nan’yehi too would try to find the middle ground between tradition and innovation....

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