A Bit of History
1812
Changes had come to Florida since the Spanish retook control, the Indian village of Cuscowilla that Bartram had visited had been relocated to a site east of what is now Lake Wauburg and become known as Paynes Town named after the Cowkeeper's eldest surviving son, Payne. Chief Payne would have encounter with Daniel Newnan, a Colonel in the Georgia militia during the Patriot War.
Daniel Newnan
(1780-1851)
September 1812
“Newnan and his troops had spent seven days behind their quickly constructed earthwork of fallen trees. With the few provisions they brought with them depleted, they lived on alligator, palmetto hearts and, after the Indians shot the remainder of their horses, horseflesh which was going rancid in the hot Florida summer. With more men becoming ill, Newnan decided they had to leave the meager protection of their earthworks and retreat to the St. Johns River.”
Daniel Newnan, son of Dr. Anthony Newnan, was born in North Caroline in 1780. After two years of school at the University of North Carolina, he joined the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry Regiment after two years and nine months later in 1802 he resigned and then moved to Georgia where he became a planter. While in Georgia he became active in the militia and was appointed adjutant general of Georgia, a position he held from December 13, 1806 to November 10, 1817.
Newnan entered Florida and its history the summer of 1812 when he led 250 Georgia volunteers into Spanish Florida. The militia consisted mostly of farmers who would volunteer for short duration of service or specific cause. In Newnan’s case the primary purpose of the invasion was to aid the Patriot cause. The Patriot War was an attempt in 1812 to form a rebellion in Florida with the intent of taking it from Spain and making it a territory of the United States. With lax border enforcement by Spain, settlers from Georgia were making incursions into Florida and occupying land. A secondary purpose of the invasion was to punish the Florida Indians for welcoming and harboring slaves who had run away from Georgia owners. For a time, the Patriots had the clandestine support of the administration of President James Madison, but Newnan’s excursion was not officially authorized by the government.