Ward, Nancy (1738?-1822?), was a prominent Cherokee leader and peacemaker in the 1700’s. Her Cherokee name was Nanye’hi. During her life, she earned the title ghigau, which means beloved woman in the Cherokee language. The title gave her many of the rights of a Cherokee elder. These included the right to speak at the council and to pardon captives.
Few written records of Ward’s life exist. Scholars believe she was born in Chota, a Cherokee community near what is now Maryville, Tennessee, around 1738. Her mother was a member of the wolf clan. Historians believe her father was from the Delaware tribe. As a young woman, Nancy married Kingfisher, a Cherokee warrior. In 1755, she was at his side in a battle against some Creek warriors. After he was mortally wounded, Nancy picked up his musket and continued to fight with other warriors. For her bravery, the Cherokee gave her the title of ghigau.
By the 1760’s, European settlers began moving into Cherokee territory. They introduced many manufactured goods and alcohol, which led to changes in traditional Cherokee life. Nancy married Bryant Ward, a white trader.
Nancy’s cousin, a Cherokee chief named Dragging Canoe, led armed resistance against encroaching settlers beginning in 1775. Nancy often worked to promote peaceful relations and to protect settlers from attack. She secretly alerted settlers to planned Cherokee raids. She used her authority as ghigau to prevent the killing of a settler woman who had been taken captive.
Nancy spoke for peace at the signing of the Treaty of Hopewell on Nov. 28, 1785. The treaty established a border between the United States and Cherokee lands. In 1786, the nearby Choctaw and Chickasaw peoples also signed the treaty.
Nancy understood that the Cherokee could not continue to thrive without lands of their own. In 1817, she sent a letter to a meeting of Cherokee leaders urging them not to give up any more territory. Despite her plea, Cherokee leaders agreed to sell more of their land to the United States in the Hiwassee Purchase of 1819. Shortly thereafter, they reorganized tribal government to model it after the U.S. government. Under the new system, the political status of women declined, and the position of ghigau was effectively eliminated.
The Cherokee Treaty of 1819 forced Nancy Ward to move from Chota. She spent her remaining years in southeast Tennessee, near Benton, where she owned an inn. She is thought to have died there in 1822.
