King Payne

King Payne († September 28, 1812 ) was a supreme chief of the Seminoles . He was a son of the chief of the Alachua Seminoles, cowkeeper (Secoffee) and grandfather or uncle of Micanopy . After Cowkeeper's death in 1783 he was his successor. He fought several battles against the Spaniards and Americans from Georgia .

At the beginning of the 19th century, the settlements and plantations of the white Americans from Georgia expanded more and more towards the border of Georgia and Spanish-Florida . There were repeated flight of black slaves to the Seminoles. Many of the slaves married into the tribe. The Georgia slaveholders invaded the Seminole area to repatriate the fugitive slaves. Conflicts arose between the whites and the Indians.

At the beginning of the British-American War of 1812, the Seminoles, led by King Payne and his younger brother Bolek (Bowlegs), carried out several attacks on American settlements on the Georgia border. Georgia Governor David Brydie Mitchell then dispatched the Georgia militia with 117 militiamen under the command of Colonel Daniel Newnan to destroy the Alachua Seminole villages and kill the Indians.

On September 24th, the village of King Payne Cuscowilla (Alachua) was attacked by militiamen. The fight lasted for several days. On September 28, 1812, King Payne was killed and the militiamen withdrew to Georgia. He was succeeded as Chief Chief by his brother Bolek.

The place Paynes Town and the Paynes Prairie in Alachua County in Florida are named after him.

literature

• Lars Andersen: Paynes Prairie. A history of the great savanna. Pineapple Press, Sarasota, Florida 2001.
• John Reed Swanton: Early history of the Creek Indians and their neighbors. GPO, Washington 1922.
• Dan L. Thrapp: Encyclopedia of frontier biography. AH Clark Co., Glendale, California 1988-1994.

predecessor	Office	successor
Cowkeeper	Supreme Chief of the Seminoles 1783–1812	Bolek