John Horse (ca. 1812–1882),^[1] also known as Juan Caballo, Juan Cavallo, John Cowaya (with spelling variations} and Gopher John,^[2] was a Seminole-Hispanic-African American who acted as a military adviser to the chief Osceola and a leader of Black Seminole units against United States troops during the Seminole Wars in Florida



By the spring of 1816 there were more than
300 people living on farms that extended for
miles up the Apalachicola River from the
"Negro Fort." Most were occupied by African
Americans, many of whom had escaped
from slavery in the United States or Spanish
Pensacola.