Nancy Ward Statue
Statue of Nancy Ward placed on a white woman's grave in Arnwine
Cemetery near Liberty Hill, TN
Ray Smith
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Nancy Ward Statue
The following more recent history relates in a unique way to Nancy Ward:
In upper East Tennessee just after the turn of the 20th century James Abraham Walker, a part-time
tombstone sculptor and possibly a descendant of Nancy's daughter, Catherine, was moved by the legend
to produce a quaint statue. The statue was made from gray granite (Bear Creek stone). It was
approximately five feet high and represented Nancy Ward, holding in her right arm a lamb and in her left
hand a plaque with the words "Nancy Ward, Watauga, 1776", referring to the first occasion on which she
helped the pioneers by warning them of impending attack by Dragging Canoe, her cousin and the
Cherokee who most effectively resisted the white settlement of Cherokee land. Walker intended this work
of folk art as a gift to be placed on her grave, but financial reversals in 1912 caused him to sell it to his
brother Elbert (Ebb) Walker, who taking advantage of the $15.00 bargain price, placed it as a monument
at the head of his deceased daughter's grave.
The statue was photographed in the Arnwine Cemetery overlooking the Clinch River, near Liberty Hill in
Grainger County, Tennessee, by David Ray Smith in August, 1975. This photograph was used to
highlight the Nancy Ward section in the Tennessee Blue Books published in the late 1970's. Sometime in
the late 1970's or very early 1980's the statue was stolen from the grave. According to families living near
the graveyard, it was most probably stolen in the summer of 1981. It was seen being taken away in a gray
Cadillac with a portion of the statue protruding out the rear of the trunk. They have no idea what could
have happened to it beyond that last sighting.
The families living in the Liberty Hill community near the Arnwine Cemetery have been asked about the
statue and tell some very fond stories of that grave marker. It was a source of much community pride and
they are quite upset that it has been stolen. For many years the youngsters were told to "be careful going
to that graveyard because that Indian woman is there." When the statue was first placed on the grave it
had small red stones in the holes that made the pupils of the eyes. Those were stolen very soon after the
statue was placed on the white woman's grave. Several of the young children would break matches and
place the match heads in the holes that made the pupils of her eyes.
A story that is told about the statue is that adults would tell the children that if they went to the graveyard
they should go up right in front of that Indian statue and ask here "What are your doing here?" and that
she would "say nothing"... meaning she would be silent, not that she would speak, but this was said so as
to be understood by the children that the statue would speak saying "nothing" in answer to their question.
The older folks living near the cemetery still get a big laugh out of the way the children would go right up
to that statue and say "What are you doing here?" and then wait for it to speak back to them. It was a
community's way of being humorous with the children and taking pride in the statue of an Indian woman
in their cemetery.
The community is quite upset that someone finally stole the statue. For years they feared someone would
take and sell it. They sure do want it to be returned. There is some speculation that it might turn up on
Nancy's grave near Benton, Tennessee, however, this has not yet been the case. It would surely be a
shame if the statue were to be destroyed. Maybe, just maybe, it will turn up again.
I have only recently come into the possession of a large volume of letters written regarding the Statue of
Nancy Ward. These letters begin October 8, 1949 when Burton Jones received a letter from Mary Hardin
McGown (Mrs. L. W.). She recounted to him the story told her by D. S. Hamilton that the statue was
“floated down the Clinch River, lost when the boat sank and found by a farmer who used it for a marker
on his wife’s grave.”
Jones eventually made contact with Charles Hurst of Washburn, TN near the Arnwine Cemetery and got
agreement to haul the statue out to the road with intentions to truck it to Benton, TN and place it on Nancy
Ward’s grave. However, before arrangements could be concluded, Jones got a letter from a lawyer
stating that Mrs. Bertha Fridenmaker of Ashland, KY had retained his services and he advised Jones
“Unless you can show title to said monument you are advised not to remove the same.”
It seems Bertha Fridenmaker was the daughter of the white woman buried in the Arnwine Cemetery.
Evidently someway she had learned of Jones’ attempt to remove the statue and came to visit the
cemetery the first of March 1950. She spoke with Charles Hurst while there and Hurst wrote a letter to
Jones explaining what had happened. Efforts to remove the statue stopped and Jones wrote a letter to
Fridenmaker on March 11, 1950.
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Nancy Ward Statue
On February 23, 1979, a letter was sent from Mike Dahl to Mr. Charles Simpson (grandson of Maggie
Farmer) requesting the Nancy Ward statue be donated to the burial site of Nancy Ward that was being
developed into a State Historic Park. Dahl also sent a letter to Roy Lillard the same day including the
Simpson letter.
On September 28, 1979. Harry Williamson sent a letter to Walter L. Criley, Director of the Tennessee
Department of Conservation, Division of Planning and Development stating that Mike Dahl had obtained a
loan agreement regarding the statue (this proved to be premature - DRS).
On December 11, 1979 Mike Dahl sent a letter to Walter Criley attaching a letter of appraisal from Pete
Lapagleia of The Tennessee State Museum placing the value of the statue at $800 -$1,000. He also
included a letter to Mike Dahl from Mrs. Frank (Arla) Alexander stating that her mother-in-law, Mrs. Bertha
Fridenmaker, had agreed to accept $1,000 for the statue.
On May 28, 1980 Walter Criley sent a letter to Mike Dahl stating that he should inform Mrs. Frank
Alexander that the state would be unable to purchase the statue. This is the last communication
regarding the Nancy Ward Statue I have found to date.
David Ray Smith - 8/1/04
It is interesting to note that the statue was seen being removed in the summer of 1981 (likely in June
1981). One of the local men saw the statue being removed in the trunk of a gray Cadillac while he was
working in a tobacco field located near the road leading from the cemetery.
If you have ANY information on this statue, please e-mail me at: Click here to send E-mail information on
missing statue
David Ray Smith - 8/1/04
Information to revise the above account of the statue was provided me by a person who saw this web
page. This person visited the Arnwine Cemetery in 1994 after traveling 900 miles from Oklahoma to bring
a Nancy Ward descendent to view the statue and to visit Nancy's grave near Benton, TN. The person
providing me the information had actually interviewed the daughter of the artist who made the statue and
after visiting the cemetery and finding the statue stolen published an article describing the disappointment
of the missing statue. The fact that gray granite was the material used to make the statue, the animal in
the arm being confirmed as a lamb, the purchase price of $15.00, the identity of the person purchasing
the statue and that he was Walker's brother were all new facts for me. What a delightful surprise to find
someone who had such information! This further convinces me that the statue is still in existence and that
it will be located, likely through the internet and this web page. History is in the making, if it can be located
and either returned to the Maggie Farmer grave or Nancy Ward's grave. Maybe a duplicate could be
carved and a statue placed on each of the resting places, one the location it had for approximately 70
years and another on its original intended location - Nancy Ward's grave!
The Tennessee Department of Conservation provided copies of the letters written in 1949-1951 and
1979-1980 that shed additional light on the statue. One letter contained the following description of what
happened when the statue was placed on the grave in the Arnwine Cemetery.
Frank Shumate of Lone Mountain, Tennessee wrote Burton Jones February 3, 1951 giving the following
details about the statue:
"A neighbor of mine, who is also my farm laborer - Lee Arnwine, age about 62, was living in the
community near the Arnwine Cemetery at the time the monumnet was put up. He told me the following
story:
'Elbert Walker lived in Kentucky. His daughter, Maggie Walker married Ben Farmer and lived near the
Arnwine Cemetery until her death. Then she was buried in that cemetery. Sometime later Elbert Walker
shipped a monument crated until it was not visible, from Middlesboro, Kentucky by train. Lee Arnwine,
who at that time was a farmer laborer for the Farmers, hauled it in a wagon from the depot at Lone
Mountain, Tennessee, to Ben Farmer's father's farm. There it was put in the granary and remained there
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Nancy Ward Statue
about one year. Ben Farmer would not agree to have the stone put to his wife's grave during this time.
Then Elbert Walker, father of the deceased Mrs. Farmer, persuaded Ben Farmer to let the stone be put
up. Lee Arnwine again hauled it in a wagon to the cemetery and Elbert Walker erected it."
David Ray Smith - 8/1/04
Ray Smith
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