User:HeatherSchimming/William Augustus Bowles: Difference between revisions
Added more information and accompanying citations |
added image |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
[[File:William Augustus Bowles by Joseph Grozer after Thomas Hardy, 1791, mezzotint on paper, from the National Portrait Gallery - NPG-NPG 72 52Bowles-000002.jpg|thumb|'''William Augustus Bowles by Joseph Grozer after Thomas Hardy, 1791''']] |
|||
'''William Augustus Bowles''' ({{circa|1763}} – {{circa|1805}}) was an American-born military officer and adventurer. Born in [[Frederick County, Maryland]], Bowles was commissioned into the [[Maryland Loyalists Battalion]] at the rank of [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]], seeing action during the [[American Revolutionary War]], including the 1781 [[siege of Pensacola]]. He subsequently established an alliance with the [[Muscogee]] and founded the [[State of Muskogee]]. In 1803, Bowles was betrayed and handed over to the Spanish, who imprisoned him in [[Morro Castle (Havana)|Morro Castle]], where he died two years later. |
'''William Augustus Bowles''' ({{circa|1763}} – {{circa|1805}}) was an American-born military officer and adventurer. Born in [[Frederick County, Maryland]], Bowles was commissioned into the [[Maryland Loyalists Battalion]] at the rank of [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]], seeing action during the [[American Revolutionary War]], including the 1781 [[siege of Pensacola]]. He subsequently established an alliance with the [[Muscogee]] and founded the [[State of Muskogee]]. In 1803, Bowles was betrayed and handed over to the Spanish, who imprisoned him in [[Morro Castle (Havana)|Morro Castle]], where he died two years later. |
||
Revision as of 14:34, 3 November 2023
William Augustus Bowles (c. 1763 – c. 1805) was an American-born military officer and adventurer. Born in Frederick County, Maryland, Bowles was commissioned into the Maryland Loyalists Battalion at the rank of ensign, seeing action during the American Revolutionary War, including the 1781 siege of Pensacola. He subsequently established an alliance with the Muscogee and founded the State of Muskogee. In 1803, Bowles was betrayed and handed over to the Spanish, who imprisoned him in Morro Castle, where he died two years later.
Early life
Bowles was born on November 2, 1763 in Frederick County, Maryland[1], and joined the Maryland Loyalist Battalion at the age of thirteen with the junior officer rank of ensign, travelling with the battalion when it was ordered to form part of the garrison of Pensacola, Florida.[2] Well-known in his ties to the British Army, Bowles motivations for establishing a native nation, whether for economic reasons or principles, is heavily debated among scholars. He is described as "colorful"[1], "adventurer"[3], "Director General"[3], "thorn in Spain's side"[4], "trouble-maker"[3], etc. Described as possessing "machinating talents"[1], Bowles proved to be a cunning adversary to both Spain and the United States, both often debating to what end they persecute Bowles' attempts at disrupting each nation's campaigns to expand political and military power. Much of Bowles' accomplishments are found in his relations with the Creek natives and the establishment of the Muskogee Nation.
Military Involvement and Introduction to the Creeks
After enlisting in a British Regiment after he ran from home in 1765[1], Bowles was sent to Pensacola, Florida in 1778[1] to aid other British militarists in West Florida against an expected attack from Spain.[1] During this, he was dismissed from military duty, and as some historians postulate, for insubordination against the British army. [1] It was at this point he was introduced and formed a bond with the native Creek Nation[1] where he would later endow himself as the "Director General of the State of Muskogee."[1]
Soon after his arrival in Pensacola, Bowles left with a group of Lower Creeks to an area by the Chattahoochee River[5], where he married a Creek woman[5], a daughter to Chief Perryman[1], and a Cherokee women[5]. This gave Bowles further ties to the natives living on the land in West Florida and the Georgia Frontier[5].
Under the influence of Alexander McGillivray and Lord Dunmore during Spain's almost complete monopoly of the trading markets in the region[1], Bowles wanted to bring together Creeks while expanding British interests[5]. In doing so, this endeavor would give him greater control of the trade ports and markets[5]. Further accounts discovered from the Creeks reveal that many saw him as an "imposter"[4] as he exhibited "little interest"[4] in Creek's definitions of nationality and pursuits[4]. The focus Bowles put on establishing the Muskogee Nation as an independent entity viable for trade and political relations highlights the potential weaknesses within expansion enterprises by both the United States and Spain during this period. Many people in the United States worried that if Bowles were to successfully establish this nation, "he would turn Florida into a British dependency"[4].
Spain viewed Bowles as a constant threat to the monopoly they operated in Florida[1]. Often debating upon Bowles several imprisonments to either killing him outright or giving him a salary of a military officer[1].
1791 Arrest and Deportation
In 1791, Bowles wrote a letter to the Conde de Floridablanca[6] asking for greater Spanish protection for the Creeks and Cherokees[6]. Within the letter, he continues to request greater alliance between "Choctaws, Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Creeks"[6] and for Spain to remove the Panton trade monopoly in place for a Muskogee-preferential free trading market[6].
- New Orleans capture
-Sent to Spain and then Philippines for "safe keeping"
- escapes and goes back to Pensacola
Bowles' Proclamation of War
- ultimatum given to Spain
- Spain decides they want to officially take away problem
San Marcos Fort
While he was living with the Creek Tribe, a Spanish expeditionary force mustered and began to lay siege to British forts along the Gulf Coast.[5] Bowles convinced the Creeks to support the British garrison stationed in Pensacola against the invading Spanish force, but the garrison surrendered when the powder magazine at the fortress was hit by artillery fire from a Spanish warship. The survivors of the garrison were taken as prisoners of war, but Bowles escaped into the wilderness with his Creek allies. This occurred May 9, 1781, when Bowles was either 16 or 17 years old.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corbitt, Duvon C.; Lanning, John Tate (1945). "A Letter of Marque Issued by William Augustus Bowles as Director General of the State of Muskogee". The Journal of Southern History. 11 (2): 246–261. doi:10.2307/2198175. ISSN 0022-4642.
- ^ McAlister, Lyle N. (April 1962). "William Augustus Bowles and the State of Muskogee". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 40 (4): 318. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ a b c Mcalister, Lyle N. (1953). "The Marine Forces of William Augustus Bowles and His "State of Muskogee" Illustrative documents". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 32 (1): 3–27. ISSN 0015-4113.
- ^ a b c d e Gould, Eliga (2017). "Independence and Interdependence: The American Revolution and the Problem of Postcolonial Nationhood, circa 1802". The William and Mary Quarterly. 74 (4): 729–752. doi:10.5309/willmaryquar.74.4.0729. ISSN 0043-5597.
- ^ a b c d e f g Din, Gilbert C. (2004). "William Augustus Bowles on the Georgia Frontier: A Reexamination of the Spanish Surrender of Fort San Marcos de Apalache in 1800". Georgia Historical Quarterly. 88 (3): 305–337. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d Holmes, Jack D. L.; Wright, J. Leitch (1970). "Luis Bertucat and William Augustus Bowles: West Florida Adversaries in 1791". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 49 (1): 49–62. ISSN 0015-4113.