page_title: Nancy Ward
section_title: Death, burial, and legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Nancy Ward / Death, burial, and legacy
caption_attribution_description: The grave of Cherokee "Beloved Woman" Nancy Ward (right, with the plaque) and her son, Fivekiller (left), and her brother, Longfellow (middle) near Benton, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. This small cemetery is situated along US-411 on a small hill overlooking the Ocoee River. The plaque reads: IN MEMORY OF NANCY WARD PRINCESS AND PROPHETESS OF THE CHEROKEE NATION THE POCAHONTAS OF TENNESSEE THE CONSTANT FRIEND OF THE AMERICAN PIONEER BORN 1738 - DIED 1822 ERECTED BY THE NANCY WARD CHAPTER DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1923
context_page_description: Nanyehi, known in English as Nancy Ward, was a Beloved Woman and political leader of the Cherokee. She advocated for peaceful coexistence with European Americans and, late in life, spoke out for Cherokee retention of tribal lands. She is credited with the introduction of dairy products to the Cherokee economy.
context_section_description: Nancy Ward opened an inn in southeastern Tennessee at Womankiller Ford, on the Ocowee River (present-day Ocoee River). Her son cared for her during her last years. She died in 1822, or possibly 1824, before the Cherokee were removed from their remaining lands in the late 1830s. She and her son Fivekiller are buried at the top of a hill not far from the site of the inn, south of present-day Benton, Tennessee. 
  A chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Tennessee was named after her.
  In 1923 the Nancy Ward chapter of the DAR, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, placed a memorial marker at the two Ward grave sites in Benton.
  The Polk County Historical and Genealogical Society maintains a Nancy Ward Room in their genealogy library.
  Polk County, Tennessee is trying to raise money to establish a Nancy Ward Museum.
  Nanyehi has been documented in historical papers and accounts. She is noted in the Calendar of Virginia State Papers, the South Carolina State Papers, James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, and the Draper Collection. Theodore Roosevelt mentions her in his book, The Winning of the West (1905).  
  A statue of Nancy Ward, carved by James Abraham Walker around 1906, was sold in 1912. It stood in a cemetery in Grainger County, Tennessee for about 70 years, but was stolen in the early 1980s. The East Tennessee Historical Society is seeking the return of the statue to Tennessee.
  Nancy Ward is remembered not only as an important figure of the Cherokee people but is also considered an early pioneer for women in American politics. She advocated for a woman's voice during a turbulent period in her tribe's history.
caption: Memorial to Nancy Ward, located near Benton, Tennessee.
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