Nancy Ward (Eng. Nancy Ward 1738-1822 or 1824) - "military woman" from the Cherokee tribe. This status allowed her to participate in meetings and make decisions along with tribal leaders and other military women. She believed in peaceful coexistence with Euro-Americans and negotiated with them, she was also an ambassador, and played a big role in maintaining peace. Her activities led to significant changes in the Cherokee society [1] .
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| Birth name | Nanyehi |
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Military Woman
Nancy was born in the main city of Chiroki, Chota. Her Cherokee name is Nanyehi, which translates as "the one who comes first." She was the daughter of a British officer and sister of the Cherokee leader (from the Wolves clan) and knew both languages (English and Cherokee) [1] . In her tribe, she wore the high title of “Military Woman,” which allowed her to participate in higher assemblies and make decisions on an equal basis with everyone. This status went to her after she showed herself to be a good warrior during the military conflict between the Cherokee and the Brook tribe in 1775 [1] . In that battle, her husband was killed, and Nancy picked up his weapon and rushed into battle, leading his people to victory [2] . So at the age of 18, Nancy became a member of the Council of Leaders. She was also appointed head of the Women's Council and took on the role of negotiator and ambassador. [3]
Nancy got married a second time. Her new husband was Brian Ward, who, however, at that time already had a wife who lived in South Carolina. Soon he returned to his first wife, but did not cease to maintain a relationship with Nancy [4] .
Social Change
In the early 1760s, the Cherokee allied with the English colonists. In exchange for the help of the Indians, the colonists promised to protect them from the attacks of the Stream tribe and the Choctaw tribe. This led to the construction of a British military base on the lands of Cherokee. However, an incident occurred during which the British military killed a group of Cherokee Indians returning from the hunt. To take revenge, the Indians killed 20 settlers of the military base and from this began a two-year conflict between the Cherokee and the settlers [5] .
As a military woman, Nancy had the opportunity to free the captives by her own decision. In 1776, she freed Mrs. Lydia Bean from captivity, which Nancy brought to her home to heal her wounds received in a battle between the English and the Cherokee. Mrs. Bean taught Nancy how to weave clothes. Until this moment, the Cherokee made clothes from the skins of animals and fabrics purchased from the colonialists. This has brought about enormous changes throughout the Cherokee society. Not only clothes, but also the way of life changed - now women were weaving, and men had to take on agricultural work, which until then had traditionally been considered a women's business [6] .
Mrs. Bean also brought Nancy two cows from a military base and taught them how to milk, care for and raise them, and taught her how to cook dairy products. Nancy transferred this knowledge to the Indians and later it helped them survive in the years when hunters brought little prey [6] .
Both of these innovations caused major changes in the social structure and lifestyle of the Cherokee.
Negotiations
Nancy learned the art of diplomacy from her maternal uncle, the leader of Attikulakulla [7] . Nancy believed in peace negotiations and for many years tried to establish peace between her tribe and the British, tried to prevent military conflicts, was an unofficial ambassador of her tribe. Her efforts helped to prevent attacks on the English settlers by the Cherokee, and on the Indians by the British [8] . But not all of her attempts to establish peace and protect her tribe were successful. So, she tried to stop her fellow tribesmen, who sold land to the colonists. She warned them of the consequences and urged, instead of selling, to develop and increase their land in order to receive more benefits from them. But her words were ignored and more and more lands went to the aliens [9] .
In 1781, the Cherokee met with a delegation led by John Sevier to talk about the lands along the Little Pigeon River. Nancy expressed great surprise that there was not a single woman negotiator among the colonialists. But John, in turn, was shocked by the fact that she believed that such an important work should be given to a woman. To this, Nancy answered him: “You know that women are always looked upon as an empty place, and yet we are your mothers, and you are our sons. We call you to peace. And this world must last forever. Let the sons of your women be our sons, and our sons will be yours. Let your women hear our words. ” [10] Later, the witnesses of that meeting said that her speech was very moving.
The Memory of Nancy
Nancy died before the Americans drove the Cherokee from their remaining lands. She was buried on a hilltop in Benton, Tennessee . In 1923, a memorial plate was erected over her grave [11] .
There have also been attempts to create a Nancy Ward Museum. A statue of Nancy, created in 1906, was stolen, the Historical Society of America is trying to find and return it [12] .
Nancy is remembered not only as an important figure for the Cherokee tribe, but also as one of the first women in American politics. [12]
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Brooklyn Museum: Nancy Ward . www.brooklynmuseum.org. Date of treatment March 18, 2018.
- ↑ Transatlantic feminisms in the age of revolutions . - New York: Oxford University Press, 2011 .-- 1 online resource (xii, 403 pages) p. - ISBN 9780199743490 .
- ↑ Nancy Ward | Native American leader, English , Encyclopedia Britannica . Date of treatment March 18, 2018.
- ↑ Nanyehi (Nancy) Ward . National Women's History Museum. Date of treatment March 18, 2018.
- ↑ Carl Waldman. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes . - Infobase Publishing, 2014-05-14. - 386 p. - ISBN 9781438110103 .
- ↑ 1 2 Timberlake, Henry, -1765. The memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake: the story of a soldier, adventurer, and emissary to the Cherokees, 1756-1765 . - Cherokee, NC: Museum of the Cherokee Indian Press, 2007. - xxxii, 176 pages, [8] pages of plates p. - ISBN 9780807831267 .
- ↑ Notable American women, 1607-1950; a biographical dictionary. . - Cambridge, Mass.,: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971. - 3 volumes p. - ISBN 9780674627345 .
- ↑ Felton, Harold W., 1902-1991. Nancy Ward, Cherokee . - New York: Dodd, Mead, 1975 .-- 89 pages p. - ISBN 9780396070726 .
- ↑ Rozema, Vicki, 1954-. Footsteps of the Cherokees: a guide to the eastern homelands of the Cherokee Nation . - 2nd ed. - Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair, 2007 .-- xix, 394 pages p. - ISBN 9780895873460 .
- ↑ Indigenous women and feminism: politics, activism, culture . - Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010 .-- x, 333 pages p. - ISBN 9780774818087 .
- ↑ Women and war: a historical encyclopedia from antiquity to the present . - Santa Barbara, Calif .: ABC-CLIO, 2006 .-- 1 online resource (2 volumes) p. - ISBN 9781851097708 .
- ↑ 1 2 Sutton, Jane S. The house of my sojourn: rhetoric, women, and the question of authority . - Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2010 .-- 1 online resource (xii, 219 pages) p. - ISBN 9780817317157 .