The following is a compilation of the vast amount (currently over 620,000 pages) of research we have acquired at the request of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in 2019.
Understanding the Concept between Myth and Truth
Nanyehi was born in 1738 at Itasati, of the Aniwahya Clan. In the shadow of God, she violated the community interest by benefiting a recognized enemy July 1, 1776. She informed John Sevier, her partner in treason and genocide, of the Chickamauga plans. William Fawling, 1/8 blood Cherokee of the Anigilloh Clan, and Isaac Thomas from Itsati, a Peace town, were also her partners.
Isaac Thomas was a guide for all of John Sevier’s campaigns. Sevier, a North Carolinian with orders to go after only Chickamauga - not Cherokee, was instructed by the North Carolina Assembly of 1782. The order instructed that “all males therein to be killed and the females captured for exchange, supplies were captured to be divided among the soldiers participating.”
In 1788, General Joseph Martin attacked the five Lower Towns. General Martin’s wife was Elizabeth Ward, Nanyehi’ s daughter. In 1782, Nanyehi and Betsy spent the winter with Joseph Martin and his son, William. Things were so bad in the Overhill settlements that in the fall of 1782, Joseph Martin took Nanyehi and Oconostota back to the Long Island of Holston to spend the winter out of scarcity of food and respect for Nanyehi, his mother in law. In the spring, Martin arranges for Oconostota to return to Itsati.
Family Tree – One Branch
Intermarriage within your Clan was a sentence of death. Incest was a sentence of death. So when John Taylor was killed by Chickamauga, his son, William S. Taylor, 1775-1837, was adopted by Nanyehi, who was of the Aniwahya Clan. Nanyehi also adopted a girl names Meli, who would also be of the Aniwahya Clan. When these two married, they violated Clan law - same clan marriage. Their son, Gen. William Taylor of the 45th Reg. was an Indian fighter in Florida.
Define diplomacy. On June 12, 1793, Captain Beard raided the Chief and Delegates appointed by President George Washington. They were holding a meeting to discuss peace prospects at Coyatee. The militia, led by John Beard, charges the town, firing on Indians and whites alike. Major Thomas Kind was sleeping with Hanging Maw’s daughter and had to jump out of the back window of the cabin in his bedclothes to avoid death. Other government agents, James Ore (of the Nickajack massacre) and Daniel Carmichael were fired upon but escaped harm. Fool Charles, Betty Kitegista and four others were killed. Hanging Maw, his wife and the daughters of Nanyehi were wounded.
To Give or Not to Give
Nanyehi gave a speech with John Sevier on July 26, 1781 for the Treaty of Long Island on the Holston supporting land being given away. So why file a petition in 1817 opposing exchange of land, which was signed by Nanyehi, Jeanie Mcintosh, Cati Harlan. It was given to the National Council at Amohee. This is the same time Nanyehi resigned as Ghigau, no longer a member of the Council.
GI Jane with Baby
Now understand that in 1755, misrepresenting oneself, wearing fraudulent insignia, using wrong war name, etc, was a public disgrace. Who was it chewing lead bullets and picking up weapons belonging to dead people? Nanyehi, that’s who. Her daughter Caty was 2 years old and Littlefellow, her son was born in 1755, so imagine that a cradle board was in camo. Here what it said: James Mooney (whose report was published in 1891), archaeologist and ethnologist, gets his information from James Wafford who claims in 1815 that Bryant Ward witnessed the battle at Taliwa. Ward does not mention Nanyehi and himself (her husband after Kingfisher was supposedly killed at the imagined battle) traveled to the Overhill towns after the fall of Ft. Loudon on August 7, 1760, 5 years after the supposed battle of Taliwa. He was never there during the battle and lied to Wafford. This site, according to Wafford, was the old trail crossing the Etowah River. The only site in the area, 9CK1 Long Swamp mound, has no ballistic or postmortem evidence of the Taliwa Battle. There is no evidence of Oconostota warriors in possession of 500 Barnett, Brown Bess, French fusil, Northwest or Carolina trader muskets with no evidence of lead ladles, led pots or bullet molds. NO PHYSICAL EVIDENCE of the myth of Nanyehi chewing lead.
This is just the beginning of the story of Nanyehi, laying out the foundation. There is more to come. All of these facts are well documented through many archives, yet well ‘overlooked’ by any and all who have a vested financial interest in perpetrating their fraudulent musings and myths.
Attakullakulla’s Ghost
12-2-2022
(C) This document was produced at the request of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on July 18, 2019, to document the History, Anthropology, Culture, Religion, and Archaeology of The Chickamauga Nation.