George Mayfield
American spy
George Mayfield (1779−1848) was an interpreter and spy for General Andrew Jackson during the Creek War of 1813–1814. He is most notable for his dual existence between the white and Native American peoples of North America at a pivotal moment in the history of the United States.
Early life and capture by the Creek
Mayfield's father, Southerland Mayfield, lived on a Washington District (modern-day Tennessee) homestead on the frontier between the United States and the Creek Indian nation. On March 10, 1789, the Mayfield farm was attacked by a party of 10−12 Creek. The attack left all of the males of the Mayfield family dead except for 10-year-old George and his younger brother, who were held captive by the Creek.
For the next 11 years, Mayfield lived among the Creek and became accustomed to their ways. He lost the ability to speak English and purportedly contracted a fondness for their mode of life.
Reintroduction into American society
The attack at his father's homestead had left much of Mayfield's family dead, but his mother and sister had survived and resettled in Nashville. Although Mayfield lived contentedly among the Creek, he retained memories and affections for his mother and sister. In 1800, at the age of 21, Mayfield left his adopted people to search out his mother and sister.
“George Mayfield” enters the record as american spy. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what George, Mayfield and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5542266. VIAF identifies the subject as 17169130. The Library of Congress control number is n98880852. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1779, 1848, 1813 and 1814.
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This entry incorporates text from “George Mayfield” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.