William Augustus Bowles (1763 - 1805)

Born 22 Oct 1763 in Frederick, Maryland

Died 21 Dec 1805 at age 42 in Havana, Cuba

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Biography

William is the eldest son of Thomas Bowles.

"He was born in Maryland in 1764 and served as ensign with a Loyalist regiment which was sent to Pensacola early in the Revolution. dismissed from the service in 1779 for insubordination, he took to the woods and lived with the Florida Indians for two years at a most impressionable period of his life. ^[1].

On 9 May 1781, while living with the Creek Tribe, Spanish naval forces with soldiers embarked upon their ships, and began to attack British forts along the Gulf Coast. Bowles convinced the Creeks to support the British garrison of Pensacola against the Spaniards, but the garrison fell when the powder magazine at the fortress was hit by artillery fire from the Spanish ships. The survivors of the garrison were captured, but Bowles escaped into the wilderness with his Creek allies.

After this battle, he was reinstated in the British Army, and went to the Bahamas. After a few months in the Bahamas, the British governor Lord Dunmore, sent Bowles back among the Creeks with a charge to establish a trading house among them. Bowles established a trading post along the Chattahoochee River. He would marry two wives, one Cherokee and the other a daughter of the Hitchiti Muscogee chieftain, William Perryman, and used this union as the basis for his claim to exert political influence among the Creeks, later styling himself "Director General of the Muskogee Nation". He was also known far and wide as Billy Bowlegs.

In 1795, along with the Seminoles, he formed a short-lived state in northern Florida called the State of Muskogee, with himself as its "Director General." After designing a flag and constitution for his state, Bowles raised an army to carry out raids of Spanish territories in Florida. In 1800, he declared war on the whole of Spain.

In 1803, not long after having declared himself 'Chief of all Indians present' at a tribal council, he was betrayed and turned over to the Spanish. William died in 1805, at Castillo Morro, in Havana, Cuba, after refusing to eat.

Sources

1. ↑ Whitaker, Arthur Preston. "The Mississippi Question, 1795-1803: A Study in Trade, Politics, and Diplomacy." New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1934. p. 163.

• Whitaker, Arthur Preston. "The Mississippi Question, 1795-1803: A Study in Trade, Politics, and Diplomacy." New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1934.

• Jasanoff, Maya: 'Liberty's Exiles, American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World', 2011.

• http://porterbriggs.com/painter-pirate-and-president-the-artful-william-augustus-bowles/

RESEARCH NOTES AND CONTRIBUTORS

RE: "The History of the Bowles Family Containing an Accurate Historical Lineage of the Bowles Family ". On the cover page is a handwritten note stating that "Farquhar is a known falsifier of records. Verify everything." Please do not use this publication as a source without collaborating with me. This project is for a descendant of WA Bowles and I am seeking accurate historical accounts.

RE: Trusted List, just ask, It's not a problem but I need to collaborate first. Scholarly sources only. Thanks, fellow Wikitreers!