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Cherokee Gypsy's blog: "Kayle's"

created on 06/25/2007  |  http://fubar.com/kayle-s/b95397
strength and courage of one ancestor in particular, the tribal leader Nan'yehi, later known as Nancy Ward. Sylvia Kralik said her family is directly descended from Ward, who became one of the most revered women in Cherokee history. Born in 1738, Nan'yehi was descended from Old Hop, emperor of the Cherokee nation in the 1750s. After the Battle of Taliwa in 1755, Nan'yehi won the honored title of Ghighua, or Beloved Woman. It was unusual for someone as young as Nan'yehi to be named Ghighua, but since the name also translates as "War Woman" and was usually awarded to women warriors, Nan'yehi had earned the honor. Another traditional duty of the Ghighua was as ambassador, and this role made Nan'yehi a figure in non-Cherokee history. After the death of her husband Kingfisher in the Battle of Taliwa, Nan'yehi married an Irish trader named Bryant Ward. But she continued to be a shrewd negotiator for her people. Having lived during a time when continued white settlement on Cherokee lands created constant tension between Indians and European settlers, she took a realistic view of helping the Cherokee survive. When militant Cherokees prepared to attack illegal white communities on the Watauga River, Ward disapproved. Wanting to spare innocent settlers, she warned several of the Watauga settlements of the impending attack. But not all the settlers were able to escape. One of them, a woman known as Mrs. Bean, was captured and sentenced to execution. Bean was being tied to a stake when Ward intervened and exercised her right as Ghighua to spare condemned captives. Ward took Bean into her home and nursed the injured Bean back to health. In the meantime, Ward learned two skills from Bean that would have far-reaching consequences for the Cherokee. Bean taught Ward how to set up a loom and weave cloth, a skill that would make the Cherokee less dependent on traders. Bean, whose family owned dairy cattle, also taught Ward to prepare and use dairy foods that could provide nourishment when hunting was poor. When Ward introduced dairy farming to the Cherokee, it led to the Cherokee amassing large herds that required manual labor. The labor requirements soon led to the introduction of slave labor among the Cherokee. (Ward had been given the African slave of a fallen Creek warrior after the Battle of Taliwa, becoming the first Cherokee slaveowner.) Despite her acclimation to European culture, Ward had not sold out her Cherokee heritage. She continued to work on behalf of her people as an ambassador. In 1781 she negotiated with Tennessee politician John Sevier at the Little Pigeon River. She also negotiated the 1785 signing of the Treaty of Hopewell, the first treaty the Cherokee made with the United States. By the 19th century, though, it became apparent to the Cherokee that the U.S. government intended to take more of their land in the southeastern United States. Ward, now called "Nancy" by her many non- Indian friends, feared someday the Americans' hunger for land would destroy the Cherokee. So in 1808 Ward headed the Women's Council and urged the Cherokee to sell no more of their land. By 1817, when Ward again took her seat in council, she told the younger Cherokee to refuse any more requests for land and to take up arms against the Americans if necessary. Ward knew that Cherokee removal west of the Mississippi River was a foregone conclusion, but rather than face the possibility of leaving her homeland, she decided to blend into the white world. The Wards became innkeepers near Chota, on Womankiller Ford of the Ocowee River in eastern Tennessee, the place of her birth, and there she died in 1824. Her son, Fivekiller, reported seeing a white light leave Nan'yehi's body as she died, a sign that she had preserved her connection to their eastern home. Nancy Ward was spared the sight of her people's exile to Indian Territory in 1838.
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