I was in Rabun County last week and rode on War Woman Road. I am interested in where the name came from. I read your article and learned of a creek by that name. Do you have any information on where the name came from? Thanks
Olan Jones
Olan
Georgia had two women who were known as the "Warwoman," Nancy Ward and Nancy Hart. Ward was a Cherokee who was married to a chief in 1755. When her husband was killed in the battle of Taliwa, near Ballground (present-day Cherokee County), she picked up his weapon and led the Cherokee charge against the Creek. From that day forward she was known as the "Warwoman." Later in life she became a "Beloved Woman", and a member of the Cherokee council. She had the final say if the Cherokee wanted to wage war. Ward's actions were documented by first-hand knowledge passed to settlers who wrote it down (at the time the Cherokee did not have a written language.)
Nancy Hart's claim to that title comes from stories she told her granddaughter as an elderly woman in Kentucky. One of these can best be summed up by the following statement: During the Revolution she may have killed 5 Tories who killed Col. John Dooley, one of the leaders of Georgia troops at the successful Battle of Kettle Creek. Supposedly, while digging a railroad men found the bodies of 5 (or 6) Tories near the home. This did not happen and no such newspaper article exists. Many of the stories claimed to have been told to the granddaughter have major factual errors.
We believe that Warwoman Road was named for Nancy Ward.