Nancy Ward - Revolutionary War

Revolutionary War

The Cherokees had to face multiple issues during the Revolutionary War. On one hand they were helping the British on the other they were arguing about whether to use force to expel the settler on their land or not. Ward’s cousin, Dragging Canoe, wanted to ally with the British against the settlers but the Cherokees’ Beloved Woman was trying to support them. In May 1775, a group of Delaware, Mohawk and Shawnee emissaries formed a delegation which headed south to support the British who were trying to gain the help of the Cherokees and other tribes. In July of the same year, Dragging Canoe led the Chickamauga Cherokee band in attacks against the European-American settlements and forts located in the Appalachians and other isolated areas of the region. State militias retaliated destroying Native villages and crops and forced the tribe to give up more of their land by 1777. In July 1776, Ward, who was aiming for a peaceful resolution, warned a group of white settlers living near the Holston River and on the Virginia border about an imminent attack of her people. The British supported Dragging Canoe’s war against the settlers supplying weapons but in 1778, 600 soldiers under Colonel Evan Shelby attacked his territory and limited the Cherokee resistance to a minor conflict. In 1780, Ward continued warning American soldiers of attacks trying to prevent retaliations against her people. According to Felton she even sent food in form of cattle to the starving militia. Her efforts couldn’t prevent another invasion of the Cherokee territory by the North Carolina militia, who destroyed more villages demanding further land cessions. Ward and her family were captured in the battle but they were eventually released and returned to Chota. One year later, in July, the Bellowed Woman negotiated a peace treaty between her people and the Americans. After the treaty the Americans were able to send troops to support George Washington’s army against the British General Cornwallis in the American Revolution. Ward continued promoting alliance and mutual friendship between the Cherokees and the colonists, as she showed during the negotiation of the Treaty of Hopewell (1785). She led the Cherokee in the implementation of farming and dairy production. Later on she advised her people not to sell land to the settlers but failed in the attempt. Since she was too sick to attend the Cherokee council in 1817 in which it was discussed whether to move west or not, according to Felton, she sent a letter writing: “…don’t part with any more of our lands but continue on it and enlarge your farms and cultivate and raise corn and cotton and we, your mothers and sisters, will make clothing for you… It was our desire to forewarn you all not to part with our lands," but despite her efforts in 1819 the lands north of the Hiwassee River were sold, forcing her to move.