A Bit of History
Daniel Newnan
Map of the Alachua Savana and Seminole village of Cuscowilla By William
Bartram, 1779
In 1812 the area of Alachua centered around the great Alachua Savana did not belong to anyone, well except for the native Indians but they didn’t count. Technically, being in Spanish territory, the land belonged to the King of Spain, who had could grant the land to individuals and would do so, but not until 1817 with the Arrendondo Grant. The fertile land of Alachua had long been used by the Native Indians and was described as such by William Bartram in his book about his travels there in 1773. Settlers from Georgia recognized the value of the fertile lands of Alachua and, calling themselves Patriots, wished to claim Alachua for the U.S.
At the time Payne, the chief of the Alachua Seminoles, had remained neutral in the conflict between the Patriots and Spain, but his brother Bowlegs wanted war and during the summer of 1812 destroyed white settlements on both sides of the St. Johns River. Newnan along with his 250 volunteers were going to Florida to fight back.
Upon arriving in Florida, Newnan was placed under the command of Colonel Thomas Smith, commander of the U.S. troops in Spanish Florida. Smith, having no directive from the U.S. War Department, favored the Patriot cause and ordered Newnan and his troops to destroy the Seminole villages near the Alachua Savana. Just before Newnan was to march to Alachua, Smith redirected him to come to his aid as he was under siege by the Indians. Newnan and his troops marched to Smith’s rescue, successful freeing Smith and his men.
But now time was running out. Newnan’s troops were volunteers who had only committed for a limited amount of time of service. After saving Smith, they only had one week left to serve and Newnan still wanted to march to Alachua. With the volunteers mostly being farmers, they wanted to get back to their farms in Georgia and after considerable persuasion, only 84 of the volunteers agree to stay and then only for another three weeks. For saving his ass, Colonel Smith added 24 additional volunteers from his troops and then nine of the local Patriots joined the expedition. With less than half of his original company, Newnan set off from Picolata on the St. Johns River on September 24th with 117 men eager to punish “those merciless savages.”
Following the Indian path to Alachua, the first two days were uneventful then on the third day they suddenly saw a hundred mounted Indians coming towards them led by Chief Payne on a large white horse who ordered an attack. With the Indians whooping war chants, firing their guns, Newnan’s troops quickly dismounted and returned fire. The Indians remained at the edge of the swamp some 200 yards away while Newnan’s troops spread out in a half mile long line. After exchanging fire for two and a half hours, the first skirmish was over with three of Newnan’s troops killed and seven wounded. Nine of the Indians were left on the ground and the volunteers scalped several of them. During the battle Payne shot from his horse and died from his wounds a few days later. Payne’s was succeeded as head chief by his brother Bolek or Bowlegs as the white people called him.
After a reprieve, a half hour before sunset the Indians begin an ear-piercing noise of animal screams, howls, and roars. After being reinforced with more of their tribe and some negroes, they renewed their attack and advanced within 200 yards of Newnan’s position. The assault lasted until eight P.M. with two more Georgians killed and another wounded. Fearing another attack, Newnan’s troops worked all night to build a rampart of logs and dirt. Fearing the worst, Newnan sent a captain along with five men, including the surgeon, to Picolata to ask Colonel Smith for help.
Newnan and his troops spent seven days fighting 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. With more men becoming ill, Newnan decided they had to leave the meager protection of their earthworks and retreat to the St. Johns River.
Hoping to escape under the cover of darkness, they left that night at nine P.M. The able men took turns carrying litters of the wounded but only managed to go eight miles before they had to stop from hunger and exhaustion, but they still summoned the energy to build a second, though less secure, barricade. Exhauted, they did not continue their retreat until three P.M. the next day before.
Newnan with a high fever was to week to carry his own musket and walked at the rear of the column of men. After traveling only five miles, they again came under heavy fire from the Indians but managed to repel them although four more men were killed. To exhausted to travel, they camped the night on the battlefield and then continued on the next day only traveling five miles before camping and raising another barricade. The following day, troops sent by Smith finally reached them and they were safely taken to Picolata where they boarded a boat.
Newnan’s volunteers had been out eighteen days, lost 17 men and eight wounded. They neither aided the Patriots nor destroyed the Seminole villages in Alachua. It is not clear how many men the Seminoles lost although Newnan estimated 60 had been killed, but the Seminoles considered it a victory with the white men being driven from their land.
Newnan returned to Georgia where he was an adjutant general for the Georgia militia. Newnan did return to battle and the killing of Indians when in 1813 his army burned two towns, killed 200 Indians with many more wounded at the cost of eleven of his own men killed and 54 wounded. Newnan escaped without injury. Newnan resigned his commission in 1817 and returned to farming. In 1820 Newnan entered politics and was representative in the Georgia legislature and later became the Georgia Secretary of State. After resigning as a major general in the Milita in 1827, he was again appointed a brigadier general at the start of the Second Seminole war in 1837. Newnan died alone at his farm in northern Georgia on January 10, 1851.
Paynes Town on Lake Wauburg was destroyed by Tennessee Volunteers in 1813.
In 1828 the first permanent county seat for Alachua was established by an act of the Legislative council. The town on the Bellamy Road, previously known as Dell’s, was renamed “Newnansville” in honor of Daniel Newnan. Sometime around 1845, the large lake just west of Gainesville, known as Lake Pithlachocco in Newnan’s time, was renamed Lake Newnan.
One hundred and forty-two years later, the Gainesville Sun printed an article which rated Newnan's battle of September 27, 1812, as one of the most important of the early days "of colonization." Newnan's men, the article continued, showed courage seldom equaled against heavy odds. Nothing was said about the courage of the Indians repelling the white men who were intent upon killing them and burning their villages.
This story based upon “Daniel Newnan: A Neglected Figure in Florida History,” by John K. Mahon, The Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 74, no. 2, 1995, pp. 148–53. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30148817.