Fort Clark

Tensions broke into violence on May 19 in one of the closest scrapes of John Horse’s long and perilous life. Riding from a local saloon near the end of the day, John Horse and scout Titus Payne were crossing near the Fort Clark cemetery when shots rang out. Titus Payne fell dead. John Horse was hit four times. His horse, American, was badly wounded. But somehow both horse and rider escaped, riding to safety in the Seminole camp. It was at least the fourth failed assassination attempt on John Horse.

The would-be assassins were never caught, but suspicion fell quickly on the outlaw John “King” Fisher, a notorious borderland gang leader who had fought with Black Seminoles in the past. The assassination was perceived as a clear attempt to push the maroons from their land around the fort.