Cowkeeper

Cowkeeper (ca 1710 - 1783) is the Anglicized name of the first recorded chief of the Alachua band of Seminole tribe. His traditional name was actually "Ahaya."

Related Topics:
1710 - 1783 - Seminole

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Ahaya the Cowkeeper was born about the year 1710, a member of the Oconee tribe of Central Georgia. But, his people settled along the Chattahoochee River in North Florida when he was a small boy.

Related Topics:
Oconee - Georgia - Chattahoochee - Florida

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By his mid-twenties, Ahaya was chief of his village, and had developed a passionate hatred for the Spaniards who ruled over Florida. When James Oglethorpe of Georgia launched an English raid against the Spanish capital at St. Augustine in 1740, he found Ahaya and his thirty warriors were willing allies.

Related Topics:
James Oglethorpe - St. Augustine

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About the year 1750, Ahaya led his people south to what is now Payne's Prairie, possibly near the ruins of the Timucua village of Potano. They found abundant game and fish, as well as many wild cows. His people rounded-up the cattle to form a vast herd, earning their chief his English byname "Cowkeeper."

Related Topics:
Payne's Prairie - Timucua - Potano

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By 1757, the Cowkeeper's people had a thriving village of their own called Cuskowilla, on the northwest shore of Lake Tuscawilla where the modern town of Micanopy 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 one hundred Spaniards.

Related Topics:
Cuskowilla - Lake Tuscawilla - Micanopy

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In 1763, when Spain was forced to cede Florida to the British, Cowkeeper was overjoyed. He even traveled to St. Augustine for the inauguration of the new British governor Patrick Tonyn. The British treated his people as separate and distinct from the other native people of Florida, calling them "Seminoles," a name derived from the Spanish word "cimarones," or "runaways." Eventually, this name was applied to all the tribes.

Related Topics:
Spain - Patrick Tonyn

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In 1774, naturalist William Bartram of Philadelphia visited Cowkeeper at Cuskowilla. He was honored with a great feast featuring a number of 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 reign to explore his lands.

Related Topics:
William Bartram - Philadelphia

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

Related Topics:
John Bryan - Creek - James Wright

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In 1783, when the British had to cede Florida back to Spain, Cowkeeper saw a chance to finally fulfill his vision of killing a hundred Spaniards befoe his death. He organized a war party to attack St. Augustine, but quickly fell ill. Knowing his end was near, he summoned his sons Payne and Bowlegs to his side to confess that he had only killed eighty-six Spaniards and asked them to kill the remaining fourteen in his name.

Related Topics:
Payne - Bowlegs

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He was succeeded as chief of the Alachuas by his elder son Payne.

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