Obstinate Daughters

Chapter 1
How It Begins

When does a revolution begin? What marks its start? Historians are often separated from the moments they study by decades, even centuries, and their perspectives benefit as a result. There is the luxury of time elapsed, the advantage of a long range view. It is easier to analyze the outcome of a battle than it is to break down every messy, human confrontation that comprised it. It is simpler to characterize the needs and wants of an entire nation than to acknowledge the myriad wishes and struggles of its citizens. From the relative comfort of far, far away, we can look back and say, There. That's where it all began.

The American Revolution is not so much a unique event as it is an ensuing episode in a series of ongoing conflicts that raged on this continent long before any colonies declared for independence.

There is no day one. There is only that which came before.

At what is considered the start of the American Revolution in 1775, the Native Americans east of the Mississippi numbered roughly a quarter of a million people, representing more than eighty different tribal nations. By comparison, there were an estimated 2 million white people and nearly half a million individuals enslaved by them. Decades before tea was spilled in any harbor, Nanye'hi had already known years of conflict. From the moment a European foot trod upon North American ground, Native nations had been fighting to keep and protect their land, making choices and forging alliances that they hoped would help preserve and protect their rapidly eroding homeland and the way of life it supported.

Nanye'hi lived in Chota, capital of the eastern Cherokee settlements, in what is now eastern Tennessee. At the time of the European arrivals to the Southeast, Cherokee of that region lived in areas called Overhill Towns, Middle Towns, Valley Towns, and Lower Towns, all cradled by the Blue Ridge Mountains. When Nanye'hi was born, in the late 1730s, the Cherokee were already trading with the British and the French. Those relations would forever impact the Cherokee and the course of the burgeoning American colonies.

Over the years, clashes between Native American nations, and between those nations and European settlers, grew. These sorts of strained relationships impacted not only Nanye'hi and her people, the Cherokee, but all Indigenous nations throughout America. The newcomers increasingly imperiled all these people had ever known, and everything they cherished.




Between 10,000 and 14,500 years ago, the Paleo-Indians, living alongside mastodons, were the first known people to inhabit untouched carpet of green and rock, of river and forest, lying in the shadow of the Appalachians, that mountainous eruption created by repeated Ordovician collisions. In the Archaic Period that followed, from around 8,500 BCE up through the first century or two of the Common Era, inhabitants developed their hunting and fishing methods. The Indigenous peoples of the Woodland Period brought the bow and arrow, pottery, and the cultivation of corn to the region. Trade routes extended further and etched deeper into this land. More permanent villages began to take shape, rising on the landscape. During the Mississippian Period, between around 800 and 1600 CE, squash and beans joined a new cultivar of corn as Indigenous peoples brought the “Three Sisters,” a staple of sustenance, into being.

To their delight, the early peoples found that this land was home to countless medicinal plants that had sprouted after the Ice Age in the southern Appalachians. Later writers and scholars would dub it the "seed cradle of the continent." Cherokee land covered nearly 140,000 square miles, extending throughout the Southeast, including lands in what is now Tennessee, Alabama, North and South Carolina, and Kentucky. Those lands were bordered to the south and east by the Muscogee ("Creek"), Choctaw, and Chickasaw.

Though Indigenous peoples had been here long before Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his entourage of hundreds came through Cherokee lands in Southern Appalachia in 1540, the increasing influx of Europeans dramatically impacted those native to North America.

Their arrival in the Cherokee lands brought horses and metal goods, which were welcome, and also more trade, now primarily with the British. Both sides agreed upon prices for the exchange of materials and supplies. According to an agreement made between the Cherokee Lower Towns and the royal province of South Carolina in the early 1700s, a pistol was worth 20 deerskins or 120 bushels of corn; a hatchet, 3 deerskins or 18 bushels; and for a pair of scissors, the Cherokee would offer 1 deerskin or 6 bushels of corn as trade.

Beyond goods that the Cherokee and other Native Americans across North America could use, the European arrivals also brought something unwelcome to these shores: diseases to which the Indigenous peoples had no immunity. By 1650, the population of Native peoples throughout the Americas had dropped 90 percent from its high point in the late fifteenth century. The relationship between the Cherokee and the British soon began to deteriorate, as well as the Cherokee's relationship with the neighboring Creek.

Nanye'hi was in her teens when she married a man called Tsu-La (Kingfisher) in the 1750s. By then the Cherokee had been warring with the Creek for more than a decade-almost Nanye'hi's entire life. But one battle among many altered the course of her life and both her role within the Cherokee people of her time and Cherokee history, even through to the present day.

The Cherokee-like many Indigenous peoples-are a matrilineal society, with clan membership passing down generation to generation from mother to children, whether those children are male or female. There were seven clans: A-ni-go-te-ge-wi (Wild Potato), A-ni-wo-di (Paint), A-ni-gi-lo-hi (Long Hair), A-ni-sa-ho-ni (Blue), A-ni-a-wi (Deer), A-ni-wa-ya (Wolf), and A-ni-tsi-s-qua (Bird). Kingfisher was a member of the Deer Clan, and Nanye'hi was Wolf Clan, like her mother, Tame Doe.

In 1755, early in her marriage, the Battle of Taliwa took place in what is now the city of Ball Ground in northern Georgia. Though the Cherokee and Creek had been fighting for years, Taliwa proved to be the site of perhaps the bloodiest and most brutal conflict. There Oconostota, the Cherokee war chief, fought with roughly five hundred Cherokee, but the Creek outnumbered them. Among those five hundred men was Kingfisher. Alongside Kingfisher on the field of combat stood Nanye'hi.

Nanye'hi was already a mother to a daughter-Ka-ti, or Catharine, born around 1752-and a son, Hiskyteehee-"Fivekiller"-born around the time of the Battle of Taliwa. As that battle raged, Nanye'hi crouched behind a log, preparing Kingfisher's ammunition. According to lore, she bit down hard and gnawed on the soft lead bullets destined for the barrel of Kingfisher's rifle. This was not an isolated practice, and reference to chewing (and/or poisoning) bullets goes back to at least 1670. The resulting tooth-pocked and jagged surfaces of the bullets were believed to inflict more damage on their fleshy targets.

As Nanye'hi prepared the deadly projectiles, a Creek bullet tore its way into Kingfisher's flesh and bone. Nanye'hi's husband fell dead beside her. She then picked up Kingfisher's rifle, loaded it with the ammunition she herself had prepared, and rose to fight.

When the battle ended, the Cherokee emerged victorious. Nanye'hi's actions did not go unnoticed. As a sign of their appreciation for her bravery in the bloody conflict, the Cherokee presented her with the "gift" of an enslaved person who had been left behind on the field of battle by the retreating Creek.

Nanye'hi returned to Chota and found that news of her fighting had preceded her arrival and made an impression on her people. They bestowed upon her the title of "Ghigau" ("Beloved Woman"), a position not only of respect but also of influence. Nanye'hi now had a more powerful voice in the community. She not only led the Woman's Council; she had a vote on the Council of Chiefs. She used her voice on behalf of her people and also occasionally in defense of the increasing number of Europeans who kept settling on Cherokee lands.

Nanye'hi had watched as the presence of the English grew on Cherokee territories, further strengthened by Fort Loudon, the establishment northwest of Chota that the English built in 1756 on the banks of the Little Tennessee River. The English wanted to protect their trade with the Cherokee and prevent the French from making any inroads there. The French and Indian War was taking its toll. Still more traders arrived, enticed by routes already long traveled by Indigenous peoples.

One of these traders was Bryant Ward, whose business brought him to Nanye'hi's home of Chota. Though Ward had another (European) wife he had left behind at his home in South Carolina, he married Nanye'hi in 1759. From that point forward, her English name was Nancy Ward. The pair soon had a daughter whom they named Elizabeth. But Bryant Ward's sojourn on Cherokee land with his new family was brief: By 1760 he was gone.




The French and Indian War was a part of a larger, global conflict involving key European countries, the Seven Years’ War. Those power struggles now reached across the Atlantic and had embroiled the kingdom of Great Britain, the French, the colonists, and Indigenous peoples in a costly war over control of territories on the North American continent.

England and France battled for control of land and trade with Indigenous people, as Cherokee-British relations continued to deteriorate. Treaties came and went, were agreed to and later broken. The first land treaty, in 1721, had ceded a portion of Cherokee land to the British colony of South Carolina, and a second ceded still more in 1755. These would not be the last treaties that drastically shrank Cherokee lands, no matter the pact or pledge. In 1759, a fresh war erupted with the British, which the Cherokee called the "War with the Red Coats." The onset of that bloody struggle brought with it a smallpox epidemic as well-the second the Cherokee had suffered in twenty years.

Raids. Retaliations. Prisoner exchanges. Negotiations. Both sides shouldered great losses. In 1760, officials in South Carolina captured and imprisoned thirty-two Cherokee during a battle and eventually killed twenty-two of them. That same year Overhill Cherokee attacked the British outpost of Fort Loudon on the Little Tennessee River. A British colonial force made its way to the besieged fort, traveling along the Savannah River and setting fire to the Cherokee Lower Towns they came upon along the way. The attempt to relieve those at Fort Loudon failed, and another agreement between the Cherokee and the British imploded.

The Cherokee promised to leave the departing British garrison enough ammunition for the journey back to South Carolina. But before departing, the British laid waste to the rest of the Cherokee munitions and, in the process, to their lingering and tenuous agreement with the Cherokee. After this, in the aftermath of what was called the Battle of Echoee, the Cherokee attacked the garrison and killed in the neighborhood of twenty-two soldiers-about the same number of Cherokee prisoners that the British had killed in South Carolina.

In reprisal, refortified British colonial forces, along with allied Catawba, Chickasaw, Stockbridge, and Mohawk warriors and scouts, returned to the area near Echoee and attacked the Cherokee. Again, both sides suffered tremendous loss of life, supplies, crops, and more, leaving thousands of Cherokee with no homes or food. The Cherokee now numbered fewer than 2,500-less than half the 5,000 members counted in 1739.

In the summer of 1761, South Carolina sent a Lieutenant Colonel James Grant and more than 2,000 troops into Cherokee territory, eradicating fifteen towns and roughly 15,000 acres of crops. The Cherokee, under the leadership of Attakullakulla, Nanye'hi's uncle and the first Beloved Man of the tribe, had little choice: They signed peace treaties with both the colony of Virginia, in what is now the state of Tennessee, and the colony of South Carolina at Charles Town. Attakullakulla was the lead figure in Cherokee diplomatic efforts and traveled extensively, often to meet with colonial leadership in efforts to stem the flow of European settlers onto Cherokee lands. The relief that the treaties of 1761 brought would not long endure.

The following year, in 1762, members of the Cherokee tribe traveled to London with Lieutenant Henry Timberlake, a journalist and cartographer, who had been living among the Cherokee in the Overhill Towns. He compiled his observations into writings about Cherokee life and culture that future generations would reference. Timberlake's cartographic skills resulted in comprehensive maps of Cherokee lands and communities, one of which was entitled A Draught of the Cherokee Country. Timberlake described Cherokee homes, weapons, lands, and more in a document that would be consulted by European friends and foes in years to come.

Native American diplomatic travels were not unusual during the eighteenth century. The Mohawk of the Six Nations had visited the court of Queen Anne in 1710. This 1762 voyage was not the first time that Cherokee had crossed the Atlantic to meet with a monarch. Attakullakulla had done so in 1730. The result of that voyage had been an alliance: The Cherokee would trade with the English. But agreements of this sort often had a short shelf life. Other nations-namely the French-made their own pacts with tribes as the presence of Europeans continued to spread throughout Indigenous lands, leading to ongoing conflicts among the various factions now inhabiting North America. This latest visit might help improve relations between the Cherokee and the British.

During the 1762 visit, one of the three Cherokee emissaries traveling with Timberlake was Ostenaco, a noted warrior and chief and a familiar face in places like Williamsburg, in colonial Virginia. In fact, during a dinner at the College of William & Mary, Ostenaco expressed the desire to meet King George III of England. And so it would be. Ostenaco and two other Cherokee, Cunne Shote (Stalking Turkey) and Woyi (the Pigeon), captivated residents of London, where the presence of the Cherokee fed the seemingly insatiable imaginations of the bustling city's residents.

"They are tall, well-made Men, near six feet high, dressed in their own Country Fashion, with only a Shirt, Trowsers and Mantle round them," The St. James's Chronicle wrote of the visitors. "Their Faces are painted of a Copper Colour, and their Heads adorned with Shells, Feathers, and Earrings, and other trifling Ornaments."

The group's translator, William Shorey, became ill and died during that sea voyage, and Timberlake was forced to try to interpret as best he could without Shorey's more adept linguistic skills. The language barrier did little to quell the excitement ignited by the visitors, and the Cherokee were feted to no end with dinners, trips to the theater, and song.

"When the Cherokee Chief and his attendants were at Vauxhall Gardens last week," The Leeds Intelligencer and Yorkshire General Advertiser reported, "they had a very sumptuous entertainment. The wines first set before them, were Burgundy and Claret, which however they did not seem greatly to relish. Others were placed on the table, when they fixed upon Frontiniac, the sweetness of which hit their palates, and they drank of it very freely."


The Haymarket Theatre advertised an added performance at its venue, citing:


By Desire of the CHEROKEE Kings And CHIEFS. The LAST Night but ONE . . . TUESDAY next Mr. FOOTE’s ORATORICAL COURSE will continued in the Evening, Previous to which, in order to compleat the Evening’s Entertainments, will be given The MINOR.


Both sides of the Atlantic made note of the Cherokee visit to England. Back in the colonies, The South-Carolina Gazette shared news that “the Cherokee Chiefs went to the Tower to see the curiosities there.”


The Gloucester Journal wrote that the “Indian King and Two Chiefs” would be staying in a house on Suffolk Street. “Cloaths are also making after the English Fashion, in which they are to make their Appearance. They are to be clothed in Scarlet.”


One newspaper writer, Henry Howard, penned a seven-verse satirical tune about the reactions of the English to the Cherokee titled “A New Humorous Song On the Cherokee Chiefs. Inscribed to the Ladies of Great Britain.”


. . . The Ladies, dear Creatures, so squeamish and dainty,
Surround the great Canada Warriors in plenty.
Wives, Widows and Matrons, and pert little Misses,
Are pressing and squeezing for Cherokee Kisses.
Each grave looking Prude, and each smart looking Belle, Sir,
Declaring, no Englishman e’er kiss’d so well, Sir.


The Cherokee visitors also sat for “pictures” with an artist named Mr. Reynolds. This became the most famous—though questionable—image of them. The resulting newspaper illustration included the image of a hunched, tricorne-clad, elderly British chap—this figure has at times been identified as “their interpreter that was poisoned’’—eyeing the three Cherokee. All three individuals are wearing earrings, tunics, and thick half moon–shaped collar necklaces. The caption, which lists a number of early stereotypes of Native Americans, reads as follows:


The Three Cherokees, came over from the head of the River Savanna to London, 1762. 1: Their Interpreter that was Poisoned. 2: Outacite or Man-killer; who Sets up the War Whoop, as, (Woach Woach ha ha hoch Woach) with his Wampum. 3: Austenaco or King, a great Warrior who has his Calumet or Pipe, by taking a Whiff of which, is their most sacred emblem of Peace. 4: Uschesees [a] Great Hunter, or Scalpper, as the Character of a Warrior depends on the Number of Scalps, he has them without Number.


The following year, King George III issued a royal proclamation that promised that there would be no more movement farther into Cherokee land, banning European settlement west of the Appalachians. This move sought to ease, at least somewhat, tensions with the Indigenous inhabitants: Wars were expensive and the Crown was already in debt. Moreover, it was intended to establish a clear line on the Eastern Seaboard of those lands under the control of Britain. King George didn’t want settlers moving farther west and gaining land—and therefore power and influence. Only the Crown could negotiate with Indigenous communities. Only King George or his representatives could purchase lands to the west. The so-called Proclamation Line of 1763 was promptly ignored by white settlers and the ceaseless encroachment onto Cherokee land continued.


“The number of Familys that have come from North Carolina & Virginia, & settled upon a great Part of our best lands, & the bold inroads of a few that are within an easy days march from our Towns, are circumstances very alarming to us,” Cherokee chief Kittagusta protested in 1766—just three years later—to representatives of the British Indian Department at Fort Prince George in South Carolina. He referred to the “great Kings proclamation Relative to his Red Children,” which, Kittagusta insisted, promised the Cherokee “quiet Possession of our Lands, & redress of our Grievances . . .”


Strings of beads were given. Belts of wampum and pipes were exchanged. Troubles continued. A lease agreement between the Cherokee and the white pioneers living on their land eased the situation slightly, but trouble soon erupted again. Nanye’hi’s role in her community began to evolve in unexpected ways, and with monumental consequences. Soon she would find herself in the midst of a battle with these settlers and a revolution that engulfed the entire Eastern Seaboard.