John Cowaya

John Cowaya was born in 1812 in Florida of mixed Geechee, Seminole, and Spanish parentage. He served as Asin Yahola’s interpreter during the first years of the Second Seminole War and rose to prominence as a Geechee leader after Asin Yahola’s capture by General Thomas Jesup. He escaped from Fort Marion with Coacoochee. Together, they held General Zachary Taylor at bay during the Battle of Lake Okeechobee while Halpatter Micco and Arpeika led their people to safety. John Cowaya surrendered in 1840, agreeing to remove to the Indian Territories with his family, though he returned to convince Coacoochee to surrender as well.

John Cowaya was the son of a Seminole man and a Geechee woman, making him a slave under both American and Seminole custom. The Americans granted him freedom for convincing Coacoochee to surrender. Micco Nuppe granted him freedom for his services to the Seminole people. The Geechees, however, continued to face harassment by Muscogee slavers, encouraged by Indian agents. John Cowaya and Coacoochee led a group of Seminoles and Geechees to Mexico, where slavery had been abolished in the 1820s. John Cowaya served as a captain in the Mexican army and, briefly, a scout for the Americans. He disappeared in 1882 during a trip to Mexico City to obtain reaffirmation from the government of their land grant and to put a stop to a local land grab.