Ahaya Ahaya ( Mikasuki ) ( ca . 1710 – 1783 ) was the first recorded chief of the Alachua band of the Seminole tribe . European - Americans called him Cowkeeper , as he held a very large herd of cattle . Early life and education . Ahaya was born to the Muskogean - speaking Oconee , who were originally from central Georgia . His people settled along the Chattahoochee River in North Florida when he was a small boy . They were among the Native Americans who left Georgia and Alabama to escape encroachment by English colonists . Career . By his mid - twenties , Ahaya had been chosen as a chief of his village . He developed a hatred of the Spaniards who ruled over Florida , as they tried to force the Seminole into serving them as militia and workers . When James Oglethorpe , the governor of Georgia , launched an English raid against the Spanish capital at St . Augustine in 1740 , Ahaya and his 45 warriors were willing allies . About the year 1750 , Ahaya led his people south to what is now Paynes 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 collected the cattle to form a vast herd , earning their chief his English byname " Cowkeeper . " By 1757 , Ahaya ' s people had a thriving village of their own called Cuscowilla , 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 . He explained that he had a vision that he would not find peace in the afterlife unless he killed 100 Spaniards . In 1763 , when Spain ceded Florida to the British following the Seven Years War , in exchange for territory west of the Mississippi River , Ahaya was overjoyed . He 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 " Seminole , " a name derived from the Spanish word " cimarones , " meaning runaways , or maroons . Eventually , this name was applied to all the people who formed a new tribe from Creek and other Muskogean peoples . In 1774 , the naturalist William Bartram of Philadelphia visited Ahaya at Cuskowilla . He was honored with a great feast featuring the Alachua band ' s finest cattle . When Bartram explained to his host that he was interested in studying the local plants and animals , Ahaya was amused . He called the American scientist " Puc - puggee , " or " the flower hunter . " But , he also gave him free rein to explore his lands . 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 . Ahaya 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 Creek of Bryan ' s trickery , and Governor Tonyn of Florida issued an arrest warrant for him . In 1783 , when the British ceded Florida back to Spain following defeat in the American Revolutionary War , Ahaya saw a chance to fulfill his vision . 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 killed only 86 Spaniards and asked them to kill the remaining 14 in his name .