Women in the Revolutionary War
German abolitionist Johannes Adam Simon Oertel painted the original Tearing Down the Statue of King George III in 1848. Oertel combines a historical event with mid-nineteenth-century contemporary issues, juxtaposing the past and the present by confronting the Indian Removal Process, women’s rights, and slavery. The painting depicts that all groups of people can fight for equality and justice and fight for a better nation. John C. McRae made the engraving on display after the original painting. Despite the engraving downplaying inclusionary depictions in many ways (such as obscuring the Native Americans), the piece serves to show common and less privileged men and women along with continental soldiers showing their revolutionary attitudes.
Nanyehi
Nanyehi was a warrior and a diplomat born in 1738. She was the daughter of Tame Doe of the Wolf Clan and the niece of Attakullakulla, the civil chief of the Cherokee. In 1755, she fought beside her husband, Kingfisher, in the battle of Taliwa. For her bravery, she was named Ghighua, or Beloved Woman, which honored women warriors or the wives and mothers of male warriors.
As a leader within the Cherokee Nation, she sat in the General Council, headed the Women's Council, and served as a negotiator when treaties were made. During 1781 negotiations that followed a series of attacks by American settlers on Cherokee towns, Nanyehi pleaded for peace as other leaders counseled for war. After they negotiated the treaty, she instructed American Colonel John Sevier to take them back to the women of his tribe for ratification, for she said, "the women must hear our words." Sevier was dumbstruck; women played no role in diplomatic affairs in his world. Nanyehi was equally appalled; how could a treaty be signed in the women of Sevier's world did not give their consent?
After the Revolution, Nanyehi worked as a diplomat for the Cherokee. In 1785, Nanyehi and the Cherokee chief, Utsi'dsata (Old Tassel), met with American representatives signing a new treaty with the newly formed United States. Afterward, Nanyehi gave the treaty her blessing. As settlers began illegally encroaching into Cherokee territory, some leaders signed a treaty exchanging land in present-day Alabama for land in Arkansas. By 1817, Nanyehi was 80 years old, and she sent her son to deliver a plea to stop the exchange to the Cherokee National Council. She wanted to stop the United States government from driving out her people from their land once again, foreseeing terrible consequences. The Cherokee sold the land to the United States government in 1819. Nanyehi died in 1822 as one of the most notable Cherokee diplomats of her time.
Molly Brant (Konwatsi'tsiaienni)
Molly Brant (also known as "Konwatsi'tsiaienni" and "Degonwadonti”) was born around 1736 in the upper Mohawk village of Canajoharie near Little Falls, New York. Not much is known about her childhood other than being raised as a Christian and attended a mission school, learning how to read and write. By the time she was a teenager in 1754, Brant accompanied a delegation of Mohawk Chiefs to Philadelphia to assist discussions on speculators’ fraudulent land transactions. As a adult, Brant became a leader within the Six Nations, receiving the Mohawk name Tekonwatonti, which means “many opposed to one,” and held power and influence on tribal matters and decisions about the colonizers.
By the outbreak of the revolution, the Mohawk Tribe aligned with the British, believing their land would be protected from the expanding American colonists. She collected intelligence for the British, which led their victory at Oriskany, New York in August 1777. During the war, she played a prominent role in mediating political issues with the British. After the war, her family was forced to leave their homes, resettling in Cataraqui (now Kingston, Ontario). For her services, the British Crown granted her a 100 pound annual pension, one of the largest military pensions of the war. Annual commemorations to celebrate her legacy occur on Molly Brant Celebration Day on August 25.
