Oxinaa the Cherokee Wench: Diplomacy and Negotiation in the Eighteenth-Century Overhills

This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 PM. Please visit here to register.

In 1756, a Cherokee woman named Oxinaa led a party of diplomats and warriors from the Overhills town of Talikwa to Fort Toulouse and New Orleans. Along the way, she treated with Creek, Shawnee, and French polities, securing favorable trade terms and alliances for Talikwa women. At home, Talikwa women assisted Oxinaa, while a contingent of Its’ti women opposed her, working to ensure that Its’ti families and their British allies maintained power in the Overhills. This paper reconstitutes these networks of Cherokee women to demonstrate that Cherokee women’s political priorities were at the center of imperial and Indigenous political decision-making.