Nancy Ward And Lydia Russell Bean; Kindred Spirits Working For Peace

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

In yesterday's post I began a story about two women who's people were enemies but they worked together to help each other and to prevent bloodshed.

This took place in what later became Tennessee and what is present day Elizabethton:

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The Cherokee woman, Nancy Ward, saved the life of a white captive woman named Lydia Russell Bean and they became close friends.

Today's story

Nancy Ward believed that all people should be treated with respect and kindness and she didn't care what race they were of. On several occasions she warned Lydia Bean's settlement of imminent attacks by Indians and by doing so she saved many lives.

The two women proved that peace and friendship was possible between the races but sadly they were a rare couple. Nancy Ward became the main negotiator between the Indian tribes of the area and the whites, and she became famous for being a gifted communicator.

A strange twist of fate

When Lydia Bean taught Nancy Ward how to make cheese and butter and furnished two cows, the tribe started raising herds of cattle which increased the need for more manual labor. To solve this problem the Cherokee used slave labor.

In fact, Nancy Ward herself was the first Cherokee who used black slaves! Talk about a mixed up deal...the Cherokee started farm and livestock operations like the whites and also used black slaves like the whites!

The whites kept breaking treaties

Now, during the coming years the conflicts continued because of white settlers encroaching on Cherokee lands. Nancy always advocated for peace.

When the Revolutionary War broke out most of the Cherokee sided with the British but Nancy Ward sided with the Colonists.

The Colonial army came against the Cherokee and most of their villages were destroyed but her village was spared out of respect for her. After the war in one of the peace negotiations with the white settlers she said this:

"You know that women are always looked upon as nothing; but we are your mothers; you are our sons. Our cry is all for peace; let it continue. This peace must last forever. Let your women’s sons be ours; let our sons be yours. Let your women hear our words.”

Here's a bronze statue of Nancy Ward:

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You can really see her heart in that plea and it did allow them to remain on some of their land. In her later years though, after seeing every single agreement with the whites being broken by the whites, she stopped being an ambassador, I think she was sick of the lies.

Nancy Ward and Lydia Bean working together helped the Cherokee nation to change their culture so the tribe was integrating with white society but the prejudice and hate against them was so strong that the whites would not accept Indians living among them.

She joined the whites instead of fighting them

She married a white Inn owner and they had a very successful business. She was also famous for taking in orphans and helped as many as she could until she died at the age of 84.

Lydia Russell Bean also lived to an old age but her brother was killed by Indians while he was out hunting and her daughter was killed by Indians while she was weaving on her loom outside the walls of the station she was living at.

It was a very dangerous time back then if you were on the frontier. Any day could be your last.

A very sad part of Cherokee history

I don't even want to talk about what happened to the Cherokee nation but people need to know. The white settlers continued to pour into the wilderness areas, and they wanted the ancestral lands where the Cherokee had lived for millennia.

In 1830 the United States congress passed The Indian Removal Act. The name says it all. The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw people were rounded up and herded like cattle to what is now Oklahoma territory.

This forced march is what they call "The trail of tears" and estimates of the death of Cherokee alone range from 2,000 to 5,000 out of 16,000 on the trek. Sickness, disease, exposure, starvation, infections, injuries. No mercy and no help.

There were also many black slaves who were forced to go with them and many of them died too. A tragic nightmare that never should have happened.

Through their strength, courage, and compassion these two women created a model of how the whites and Indians could have coexisted peacefully.

Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas