Nanyehi—Nancy Ward

Arrows and musket balls unzipped the north Georgia air as Cherokee and Muskogee (Creek) pressed each other forward and backward over disputed land. Among hundreds of warriors in the Battle of Taliwa in 1755, a young woman and her husband waged this decades-old conflict together. Nanyehi, 17 years old, and her husband, Kingfisher, fought together for the Cherokee; he firing bullets chewed by Nanyehi to increase their lethality. Then enemy lead found its mark, and Kingfisher fell dead beside her. Accepted history states that this teenager took up his rifle, continued the fight, and solidified her journey of courage, leadership, and honor that would earn respect and influence across cultures in 18th century America.

Nanyehi, later anglicized as Nancy, was born about 1738 at Chota in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee. “She was born with great character and maturity. But also possessed humility with others,” stated Terri Randolph, Ward’s sixth great-granddaughter from Oklahoma.

Debra Yates, seventh great-granddaughter and author of the Nancy Ward biography, Woman of Many Names, said, “Nanyehi was already famous for her many skills and talents well before the battle. It elevated her status as a warrior woman.” She was thenceforth recognized with the distinction of Ghi-ga-u, or Beloved Woman—arguably the most famous Cherokee woman to hold the title.

The honor carried the rights and responsibilities of having a voice and a vote in councils, and allowed Nanyehi the spoils of war and decision-making abilities regarding prisoner dispositions. 

Yates continued, “After that battle, she became dedicated to the belief that peacefulness was the path to follow.” Several years later she married a trader named Bryan Ward, and they had one daughter named Elizabeth, or Betsy.

In the subsequent decades, as tensions with white settlers escalated, Ward became a peacemaker of extraordinary ability. In the 1760s she acted as intermediary for multiple negotiations. Prior to the Cherokee raids in July 1776, she warned white settlements of the plans. When later asked about her position, she stated: “The white men are our brothers.” 

“The same sky covers us all”

During the same period, Ward took a daring position when white settlers Samuel Moore and Lydia Russell Bean were captured by war parties. Moore was burned at the stake, and Bean would likely have suffered the same fate were it not for Ward’s intervention. She is reported to have said, “It revolts my soul that Cherokee warriors would stoop so low as to torture a squaw. No woman shall be tortured … while I am ‘Ghi-ga-u’.” Afterward, Bean stayed for a time at Ward’s home as her guest, where they taught each other agricultural and presumably basic language skills. When it was safe to travel, Bean was accompanied back to her home by Ward’s brother, Longfellow, and her son, Fivekiller.

“The stories my mother passed down to me show that Nanyehi helped change the course of the Revolutionary War, and many other lives, with her compassion,” Randolph said. There are indications that Ward and George Washington may have saved each other’s lives. Also, a letter to the first president from Ward rests in the historic documents of Thomas Jefferson’s estate.

Later, Ward established the Inn at Woman Killer Ford, located on the Ocoee River in present-day Polk County, Tennessee. She “helped not only the patriots but also those who had no one else,” according to Randolph. She continued to exercise her voice, her vote, and her influence for peace throughout the southern states over the next 40 years. She died around the year 1822, and her “memory and deeds remain relevant today,” Yates said.

“Perseverance is what Nanyehi has taught us through these many centuries. She never gave up. Life would happen, and she would respond,” Yates said. “The people of long ago, as well as today, should learn from her that peace is what we should all strive for. Peace in our own lives; with our families; with others from our own land in America; and with those of other countries.”

Yates recounted how she learned of her link to Nanyehi. “At 12 years of age I learned we were descended from the Cherokee and the famous Nancy Ward. I quizzed and questioned my grandfather (Buffington Tittle) about his early days in Oklahoma, and the life of our grandmother. I couldn’t get enough of these tales. The pride that shown through his eyes as he recounted the stories is something I will never forget. That pride still shines in the eyes of our family who know her story today.”

Nanyehi learned well the red path to war and the white path to peace. And, she dedicated her life to trying to obtain peace. This Beloved Woman of the Cherokee currently rests beside her brother, Longfellow, and her son, Fivekiller, in the Nancy Ward Gravesite State Park in Benton, Tennessee.

Thanks to Nancy Ward’s descendants Debra Yates and Terri Randolph, as well as the president of McMinn County Historical Society, Fred Underdown, for invaluable assistance and insights. For more information about Nanyehi, contact The Association of the Descendants of Nancy Ward at nancyward.org.