ation for the advancement of sciences since 1875, and is a member of other scientific societies. In addition to his series of catalogues, which contain valuable notes on the articles that are described therein, he has published "Notice of the Mega- therium Cuvieri (Rochester, 1863) and " Descrip- tion of the most Celebrated Fossil Animals in the Royal Museums of Europe " (1866).
WARD, Marcus Lawrence, governor of New
Jersey, b. in Newark, N. J., 9 Nov., 1812 : d. there,
25 April, 1884 He received a good education and
engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was originally
a Whig, aided in forming the Republican party,
and was a delegate to the !N ational Republican con-
ventions in Chicago in 1860 and in Baltimore in
1864. During the civil war he frequently visited
the camps and battle-fields to alleviate suffering,
and for his many services was called the Soldiers'
Friend. He devised a system by which communi-
cation could be transmitted without cost from the
soldier on the field to his family, and also estab-
lished a free pension bureau, which he maintained
at his personal expense. In recognition of his
patriotism the government gave to the hospital
that he equipped in Newark the name of the " U. S.
Ward hospital," which after the war was converted
into a home for disabled soldiers. In 1862 he was
defeated as a candidate for governer of New Jer-
sey, but he held this office in 1865-8. In 1866 he
was chosen chairman of the National Republican
committee. He was afterward elected to congress
as a Republican, serving from 1 Dec, 1873, till 3
March, 1875. In the latter year he declined the
office of Indian commissioner. Gov. Ward was an
early member of the New Jersey historical society,
of the Newark library association, and the New
Jersey art union, aided education in the state, im-
proved the condition of the state prison, and was
an active philanthropist.
WARD, Matt Flournoy, author, b. in Scott
county, Ky., 19 May, 1826 ; d. in Helena, Ark., 30
Sept., 1862. He was educated at Louisville, Ky.,
and Cambridge, Mass., travelled extensively, and
engaged in cotton-planting in Arkansas on his re-
turn, but resided much of the time in Louisville,
Ky. In 1854 he shot a schoolmaster, named
W. H. G. Butler, for chastising his brother, was
tried on an indictment of murder, and acquitted.
He was killed before his house by a Confederate
soldier, who mistook him for one of the enemy, as
he wore a blue blouse like a National officer.
His publications are " Letters from Three Conti-
nents " (New York, 1850) ; and " English Items, or
Microscopic Views of England and Englishmen"
{1852). A report of his trial was printed (Louis-
ville, 1854), and at the time of his death he was
writing a book in which he intended to use some
of the incidents of the Butler tragedy.
WARD, Matthias, senator, b. in Elbert county,
Ga., about 1800; d. in Raleigh, N. C, 13 Oct.,
1861. He was taken while a child to Madison
county, Ala., where he received a classical educa-
tion- After teaching for two years, he studied for
the bar. Removing to Texas in 1836, he became
a citizen of the new republic, and was elected to
its congress, serving for several years. After the
admission of Texas to the Union, he was a member
of the state senate. He was a delegate to the
Democratic national conventions of 1852 and 1856,
and in the latter year presided over the State con-
vention. On the "death of J. Pinekney Henderson
he was appointed to the seat in the U. S. senate
that was thus made vacant, serving from 6 Dec.,
1858, till 4 Jan., 1860, when he was succeeded by
Louis T. Wigfall, whom the legislature had elected.
WARD, Nancy, Indian prophetess, b. about
1740; the time of her death is unknown. Her fa-
ther was a British officer named Ward, her mother
a sister of the reigning vice-king, Atta-culla-culla.
She was the sibyl of the Cherokees. The power of
Oconostota over the nation was absolute in time
of war, but in war or peace it had generally to
give way to the will of Nancy Ward, who was sup-
posed to be the inspired mouth-piece of the Great
Spirit. James Robertson, who visited her at the
Cherokee capital, Echota, in 1772, describes her as
a woman "queenly and commanding," and her
lodge as furnished in a style of barbaric splendor.
Other traditional accounts speak of her as strik-
ingly beautiful, with a tall, erect form, a promi-
nent nose, regular and flexible features, a clear,
though tawny, complexion, long, silken black hair,
large, piercing black eyes, and an air that was im-
perious and yet kindly. She must have possessed
remarkable traits of character to have retained
almost autocratic control over the fierce and un-
tamable Cherokees when she was known to sympa-
thize with their enemies, the white settlers. The
first event recorded of her is the saving the lives
of two pioneers — Jeremiah Jack and William Ran-
kin — who had ventured down to buy corn of the
Indians. They had come into collision with a dis-
orderly party of Cherokees, and their lives were
about to be sacrificed, when Nancy Ward appeared
among the Indians and commanded them to de-
sist. She was instantly obeyed, and the settlers
went home with their canoe loaded with corn. An-
other instance of her kindly spirit was her saving
the life of the wife of William Bean, the first white
settler beyond the Alleghanies. Mrs. Bean had
been captured on the eve of the attack on the fort
at Watauga, and, being taken to the Indian towns,
was condemned to be burned at the stake. The
fagots were already heaped about her, and Drag-
ging Canoe, the chief of the Chickamaugas, who
had ordered the execution, was standing by, when
Nancy Ward came upon the ground and com-
manded her to be liberated. This was done, and
Mrs. Bean was sent back with a strong escort to
her husband. Numerous other instances are re-
lated of her releasing captives that were taken by
her nation in their many wars with the whites.
Among others was that of a young woman who be-
came the ancestress of John M. Lea, of Nashville.
She is reported to have said : " The white men are
our brothers ; the same house holds us, the same
sky covers us all " ; and she always acted in ac-
cordance with this sentiment. But her greatest
service to the white settlers was in giving them
constant warnings, through a course of years, of
every intended raid of the Cherokees. The light-
est hostile whisper spoken in the Cherokee coun-
cils was repeated by her to Isaac Thomas, an In-
dian trader, to be by him conveyed to John Sevier
and James Robertson at Watauga. Thus were the
whites always prepared for the attacks of the In-
dians, and, with the overpowering numbers against
them, it is hard to conceive how in any other way
they could have been saved from extermination.
In doing this Nancy Ward betrayed her own peo-
ple, but she did so from .noble motives and in the
interest of humanity, and for this service she is to
this day held in grateful remembrance by the descendants of the early settlers.
WARD, Nathaniel, clergyman, b. between the years 1578 and 1580; d. in Shenfield, England, in 1652. Cotton Mather, in the "Magnalia," gives
his birthplace as Haverhill, England, which is probably correct; and the date of his birth as "about 1570," which is evidently wrong. His
