204 MYTHS OF THE CHER0KP:E (eth.ann.19 



British officer namc'd Ward and lier mother a sister of Ata-kullakulla, principal 

 chief of the Nation at the time of the first Cherokee war. She was probaVjly related 

 to Brian Ward, an oldtime trader among the C^herokee, mentioned elsewhere in con- 

 nection with the battle nf Tali'wil. Dnring the Revolutionary period she reside<l at 

 Echota, the national capital, where she held the office of "Beloved Woman," or 

 "Pretty Woman," by virtue of which she was entitled to sjieak in conncils and to 

 decide the fate of captives. 8he distinguislied herself by her constant friendship 

 for the Americans, always using her best effort to bring about peace lietween them 

 and her own people, and frequently giving timely warning of projected Indian raids, 

 notably on the occasion of the great invasion of the Watauga and Holston settle- 

 ments in 1776. A Mrs Bean, captured during this incursion, was saved by her inter- 

 position after having been condemned to death and already bound to the stake. In 

 1780, on occasion of another Cherokee outlireak, she assisted a miml^er of traders to 

 escape, and the next year was sent by the chiefs to make peace with Sevier and 

 Campbell, who were advancing against the Cherokee towns. Campbell speaks of 

 her in his report as "the famous Indian woman, Nancy AVard." Although peace 

 was not then granted, her relatives, when brought in later with other prisoners, 

 were treated with the consideration due in return for her good offices. She ia 

 described by Robertson, who visited her about this time, as "queenly and com- 

 manding" in appearance and manner, and her house as furnished in accordance with 

 her high dignity. When among the Arkansas Cherokee in 1819, Nuttall was told 

 that she had introduced the first cows into the Nation, and that by her own and her 

 children's influence the condition of the Cherokee had been greatly elevated. He was 

 tol<l also that her advice and counsel bordered on supreme, and that her interference 

 was allowed to be decisive even in affairs of life and death. Althnugh he speaks 

 in the present tense, it is hardly proliable that she was then still alive, and he does 

 not claim to have tnet lier. Her descendants are still found in the Nation. See 

 Haywood, Natural and Aboriginal Tennessee; Ramsey, Tennessee; Nuttall, Travels, 

 p. 130, 1821; Campbell letter, 1781, and Springstone deposition, 1781, in Virginia 

 State Papers i, ;)p. 435, 436, 447, 1875; Appleton's Cyclopi^dia of American Biography. 

 (15) Gener.^l James Robertson (p. 48): This distinguished pioneer and founder 

 of Nashville was born in Brunswick county, Virginia, in 1742, and died at the Cliick- 

 asaw agency in west Tennessee in 1814. Like most of the men prominent in the 

 early hi.story of Tennessee, he was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His fatln'r having 

 removed about 1750 to western North Carolina, the boy grew up without education, 

 but with a strong love for adventure, which he gratified by making exploring expe- 

 ditions across the mountains. After his marriage his wife taught him to read and 

 write. In 1771 he led a colony to the Watauga river and established the settlement 

 which became the nucleus of the future state of Tennessee. He took a leading part 

 in the organization (jf the Watauga Association, the earliest organized government 

 within the state, and afterward served in Punmfire's war, taking ]iart in the liloody 

 battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, He participated in the earlier Revolutionary cam- 

 paigns against the Cherokee, and in 1777 was a])pointe<l agent to reside at their cap- 

 ital, Echota, and act as a medium in their correspondence with the state governments 

 of North Carolina (including Tennes.see) and Virginia. In this capacity he gave 

 timely warning of a contemplated invasion by the hostile portion of the tribe early 

 in 1 7711. Soon after in the same year he led a preliminary exploration from Watauga 

 to the Cumberland. He brought out a larger party late in the fall, and in the spring 

 of 1780 built the first stockades on the site which he named Nashboi'ough, now Nash- 

 ville. Cnly his force of character was able to hold the infant settlement together in 

 the face of hardships and Indian hostilities, but by his tact and firmness he W'aa 

 finally able to make peace with the surrounding tribes, and establisheil the Cumber- 

 land settlement up(jn a secure basis. The Spanish government at i.me time unsuc- 

 cessfully attempted to engage him in a i>lot to cut off the western territory from the 



