{{Short description|American minister (1781–1832)}} {{for|the American cyclist|Adam Payne (cyclist)}} {{Infobox religious biography | background = #FFA500 | name = Adam Payne | image= 1832 Adam Payne murder.jpg |caption =An 1878 artist's depiction of Payne's murder | religion = Schwarzenau Brethren | alias = | location = United States | title = Reverend; Elder | Period = | Predecessor = | Successor = | ordination = | post = | birth_date = 1781 | birth_place = Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States | death_date = May 23, 1832 | death_place = near present-day Marseilles, Illinois, United States }} '''Adam Payne''' (1781 – May 23, 1832) was an itinerant minister who enjoyed success preaching among the Potawatomi people in Illinois and was killed by Native Americans during the Black Hawk War of 1832.
==Early life== Adam Payne was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States in 1781 and moved to Ohio in 1799. Payne remained in Ohio for about 13 years, after which he emigrated to Kentucky. In 1820 he moved to Indiana, and his fascination with Illinois eventually led him to locate his family there. In the spring of 1831 he relocated to Illinois on a claim five miles (8 km) west of Holderman's Grove near the Fox River.<ref name=matson>Matson, Nehemiah. ''Memories of Shaubena'', ([https://books.google.com/books?id=oFRy1Qj8MxMC&dq=%22Elijah+Phillips%22+Black+Hawk&pg=PA223 Google Books]), D.B. Cooke & Co.: 1878, pp. 194–204. Retrieved 4 October 2007.</ref>
==Description== Adam Payne has been described as eccentric and talented in his work as a minister. Physical descriptions of Payne remarked on his long, jet, raven or crow black hair which flowed down onto and covered his broad shoulders.<ref name=matson/><ref name=trask2/><ref name=armstrong/> He was a large man who was described as imposing.<ref name=matson/> He also wore a long beard, black like his hair, which was similar to a beard his brother, Aaron Payne, wore.<ref name=armstrong/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038582/1888-02-11/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1789&index=9&rows=20&words=Adam+Payne&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1924&proxtext=Adam+Payne&y=9&x=9&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|title=The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, February 11, 1888, Image 2|date=11 February 1888}}</ref> His voice was powerful and booming, and contributed to his success as a preacher among the Native American tribes.<ref name=trask2>Trask, '' Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America'', pp. 206</ref>
==Ministerial career== Payne was ordained an Elder in the Schwarzenau Brethren, known as the New Lights or Dunkers, but eventually dissolved his connections with any church to preach independently.<ref name=matson/><ref name=blanchard/> He traveled the United States preaching mostly to large, outdoor crowds, following the model of Lorenzo Dow.<ref name=matson/> During the summer 1830, Payne preached to several bands of Native Americans successfully.<ref name=matson/> His success preaching among the Native Americans would make him less wary to travel into the frontier when the Black Hawk War started in 1832.<ref name=blanchard/> Payne's oratory skill gained him notoriety throughout the United States.<ref name=matson/>
==Death== {{see also|Minor attacks of the Black Hawk War}} Two days after the May 21 Indian Creek massacre, the Payne was traveling by horseback on what would later become the Frank & Walker stagecoach route, from Chicago to Ottawa. Payne passed through several areas including Holderman's Grove, Lisbon and Plainfield, Illinois. At Plainfield Payne was met by a friend, Johnathan Wilson, who warned him of danger to individuals traveling the Illinois frontier alone. Payne was at first persuaded and turned back toward Chicago at Wilson's urgings.<ref name=armstrong>Armstrong, Perry A. ''The Sauks and the Black Hawk War'' ([https://books.google.com/books?id=XfkfC5mOPdoC&q=Adam+Payne&pg=PA403 Google Books]), H.W. Rokker: 1887, pp. 399–403. Retrieved 4 October 2007.</ref>
As he traveled toward Chicago, Payne changed his mind, ignored the warnings and turned back toward Ottawa.<ref name=trask2/><ref name=armstrong/> Payne's journey was uneventful until he approached Holderman's Grove. Payne approached the grove, about halfway between Plainfield and Ottawa, when he was ambushed by a waiting war party of Native Americans.<ref name=trask2/> Based on later Native American summaries of the attack on Payne it is likely that it was carried out by the same band responsible for the Indian Creek massacre.<ref name=armstrong/>
They immediately fired their weapons and Payne was wounded through the chest. He turned his horse to flee but it was also wounded in the encounter and after a chase of about {{convert|15|mi|km}} it fell dead beneath him. Unarmed, Payne was overtaken by the attackers and purportedly decapitated.<ref name=trask2/> However, one witness to the body's discovery indicated that he was only scalped and his head remained attached to his body.<ref name=blanchard>Blanchard, Rufus. ''Discovery and Conquests of the North-west, with the History of Chicago'', ([https://books.google.com/books?id=LbIwAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Adam+Payne%22+Black+Hawk&pg=PA381 Google Books]), R. Blanchard: 1881, pp. 380–81. Retrieved 6 October 2007.</ref> In the index to his 2006 book, ''Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America'', Kerry A. Trask refers to the incident as the Holderman's Grove raid.<ref name=traskindex>Trask, ''Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America'', pp. 360–61.</ref>
Another 1887 account also indicates Payne was decapitated, emphasizing that while his head was placed on a stake in the ground, his scalp remained untouched.<ref name=armstrong/> In his 1878 work, ''Memories of Shaubena'', also describes a decapitation.<ref name=matson/> Matson states that after the head was severed the band returned to their camp, head in tow. Upon returning to the camp the band placed the head on the stake, as described by Trask and others, and began dancing around the war trophy. The leader of the band, Mike Girty, was away from the camp with a group of scouts at the time, when he returned he noticed the head on the stake and first assumed it to be a woman. He examined it further, realized it was his old friend Adam Payne, and was immediately overcome with grief and anger. He tried to attack Payne's assailant with a tomahawk but was prevented from doing so by others in the group.<ref name=matson/>
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *Trask, Kerry A. ''Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America'', ([https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZIXkMBBLw0C&dq=trask+black+hawk&pg=PP1 Google Books]), Henry Holt Company, New York: 2007, ({{ISBN|0-8050-7758-8}}). Retrieved 14 August 2007. {{Black Hawk War (1832)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Adam}} Category:1781 births Category:1832 deaths Category:People from Somerset County, Pennsylvania Category:American people of the Black Hawk War Category:American members of the Church of the Brethren Category:Church of the Brethren clergy Category:Deaths by decapitation