Colonel Buckner H. Payne (1799- June 1, 1883) was an American clergyman, publisher and racist pamphleteer. Under the pseudonym of Ariel, Payne authored a racist pamphlet, offering a counter-argument to the Curse of Ham, suggesting instead that blacks did not descend from Ham (and thus not from Adam and Eve), and that blacks had no soul. Payne was "at one time considered the greatest logician in the South." After his death, Payne's work continued to influence racist authors.