Cowkeeper
Encyclopedia
Cowkeeper, also known as Ahaya in Mikasuki (ca 1710 – 1783), was the first recorded chief of the Alachua band of the Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...

 tribe. This was the name which the English used, as he held a very large herd of cattle.

Early life and education

Ahaya was born to the Muskogean-speaking Oconee, who were originally from central Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

. His people settled along the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of...

 in North Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 when he was a small boy. They were among the peoples who left Georgia and Alabama to escape encroachment by European Americans.

Career

By his mid-twenties, Ahaya had been chosen as a chief of his village. He developed a hatred for the Spaniards
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 who ruled over Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...

, as they tried to force the Seminole into serving them as militia and workers. When James Oglethorpe
James Oglethorpe
James Edward Oglethorpe was a British general, member of Parliament, philanthropist, and founder of the colony of Georgia...

, the governor of Georgia, launched an English raid against the Spanish capital at St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...

 in 1740, he found Ahaya and his 30 warriors to be willing allies.

About the year 1750, Ahaya led his people south to what is now Paynes Prairie
Paynes Prairie
Paynes Prairie is a Florida State Park, encompassing a savanna south of Gainesville, Florida, in Micanopy. It is also a U.S. National Natural Landmark. It is crossed by both I-75 and U.S. 441 .- History :...

, possibly near the ruins of the Timucua
Timucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the...

 village of Potano
Potano
The Potano tribe lived in north-central Florida at the time of first European contact. Their territory included what is now Alachua County, the northern half of Marion County and the western part of Putnam County. This territory corresponds to that of the Alachua culture, which preceded the...

. They found abundant game and fish, as well as many wild cows. His people collected the cattle to form a vast herd, earning their chief his English byname "Cowkeeper." By 1757, the Cowkeeper's people had a thriving village of their own called Cuscowilla, on the northwest shore of Lake Tuscawilla, where the modern town of Micanopy
Micanopy, Florida
Micanopy is a town in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is south of Gainesville. The population in the 2000 census was 653. As of 2004, the population according to the U.S. Census Bureau was 652...

 now stands. That year, the chief visited the Governor of Georgia and expressed his hatred both for the Spanish and for any Indian tribes allied with them. His hatred, he explained, came from a vision that he would not find peace in the afterlife unless he killed 100 Spaniards.

In 1763, when Spain ceded Florida to the British, Ahaya was overjoyed. He traveled to St. Augustine for the inauguration of the new British governor Patrick Tonyn
Patrick Tonyn
Patrick Tonyn was a British General who served as the second colonial governor of East Florida from 1775 to 1783.Tonyn was from a military background. His father, Charles Tonyn, was a Colonel in the 6th Inniskillen Dragoons...

. The British treated his people as separate and distinct from the other native people of Florida, calling them "Seminole," a name derived from the Spanish word cimarones, meaning runaways, or maroons
Maroon (people)
Maroons were runaway slaves in the West Indies, Central America, South America, and North America, who formed independent settlements together...

. Eventually, this name was applied to all the people who formed a new tribe from Creek and other Muskogean peoples.

In 1774, the naturalist William Bartram
William Bartram
William Bartram was an American naturalist. The son of Ann and John Bartram, William Bartram and his twin sister Elizabeth were born in Kingsessing, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. As a boy, he accompanied his father on many of his travels, to the Catskill Mountains, the New Jersey Pine Barrens,...

 of Philadelphia visited Cowkeeper at Cuskowilla. He was honored with a great feast featuring the Alachua band's finest cattle. When Bartram explained to his host that he was interested in studying the local plants and animals, Cowkeeper was amused. He called the American scientist Puc-puggee, or "the flower hunter." But, he also gave him free rein to explore his lands. In the same year, a Georgia settler named John Bryan attempted to trick the Creek chiefs in that colony to sign away the tribe's rights to lands in Florida. Cowkeeper was shocked when the bold man traveled as far south as Payne's Prairie to carve his name into a red oak tree, but his allies quickly intervened. Governor James Wright
James Wright (governor)
James Wright was an American colonial lawyer and jurist who was the last British Royal Governor of the Province of Georgia. He was the only Royal Governor of the Thirteen Colonies to regain control of his colony during the American Revolutionary War.James Wright was born in London to Robert Wright...

 of Georgia informed the Creek of Bryan's trickery, and Governor Tonyn of Florida issued an arrest warrant for him.

In 1783, when the British ceded Florida back to Spain following defeat in the American Revolutionary War, Cowkeeper saw a chance to fulfill his vision. He organized a war party to attack St. Augustine, but quickly fell ill. Knowing his end was near, he summoned his sons Payne
King Payne
King Payne was a son of the Seminole high chief Cowkeeper and succeeded him as leading chief of the Seminoles upon his death in 1783. He led his people against the Spanish and Americans from Georgia and established a number of towns and villages, including Paynes Town in Paynes Prairie, both of...

 and Bowlegs
Bolek
Bolek , also spelled as Boleck, and known as Bowlegs by European Americans, was a Seminole chief. He was the younger brother of King Payne, who succeeded their father Cowkeeper as leading chief in Florida...

 to his side to confess that he had killed only 86 Spaniards and asked them to kill the remaining 14 in his name.

Further reading

  • Lars Andersen, Paynes Prairie: A History of the Great Savanna, Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc., 2001.
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