War Woman ,Ghighau (Beloved Woman), and Wild Rose of the Cherokee are
a few of the names and titles given to Nancy Ward, the most powerful and
influential woman of the Cherokee Nation in recorded history. She ruled over
the Council of Women and had a voting seat in the Council of Chiefs.
Nancy was born in 1738 at Chota and was given the name Nanye-hi that
means "one who goes about." The name of her father is not known, but Cherokee
society was matrilineal. Nanye-hi's mother was Tame Doe, of the Wolf Clan,
a sister of Attakullakulla, civil chief of the Cherokee Nation.
By age 17 she had two children, Five Killer and Catherine. Her husband
was killed in a raid on the Creeks, where she fought by her husband's side,
chewing the lead bullets for his rifle to make them more deadly. When he
fell in battle, she rallied the Cherokee warriors to fight harder. Taking
up a rifle, she led a charge that unnerved the Creeks and brought victory
to the Cherokees.
Because of her valor, the clans chose her as Ghighau, "Beloved Woman"
of the Cherokees. In this powerful position, her words carried much weight
in the tribal government because the Cherokees believed that the Great
Spirit frequently spoke through the Beloved Woman. She was loved and respected
by the settlers as well as the Cherokees. She had absolute power over prisoners
and on numerous occasions saved the lives of white people. On at least
two occasions during the Revolutionary War period she sent warnings to
John Sevier at the Watauga settlements of planned Indian attacks, thus giving
them time to prepare a defense or counter-offensive.
Enormous changes took place during her lifetime as the Indians adopted
the commercial agricultural lifestyle of the nearby settlers and pressed
for a republican form of government. Unlike the old system of clan and tribal
loyalty, the new Cherokee government provided no place for a "Beloved Woman."
The Hiwassee Purchase of 1819 forced Nancy Ward to abandon Chota. She
moved south and settled on the Ocoee River near present-day Benton. There
she operated an inn on the Federal Road until her death in 1822. The last
"Beloved Woman" is buried nearby on a hill beside the graves of Five Killer
and her brother Long Fellow.
She was the last Ghighau of the Cherokee Nation.
Her children were Five Killer and Catherine.
She led a charge against the Creeks with her dead husband's rifle.
