GOD SAVE MUSKOGEE: Pirate War on the Apalachicola

William Augustus Bowles, pirate and
adventurer, as painted by Thomas Hardy.

William Augustus Bowles declares war on Spain!

by Dale Cox

The story of William Augustus Bowles and his "State of Muskogee" is remarkable and violent. The young adventurer waged war on Spain with furious intent in 1800-1804, seizing ships, capturing a fort, and wreaking havoc.

His life was brief but complicated. He was born in Maryland in 1763, the same year that Great Britain gained control of Florida from Spain at the end of the Seven Years (French and Indian) War. He joined the British army as a teenager and came to Pensacola only to be cast from the ranks after a conflict with an officer. Rescued by a Native American trading party as he tried to make his way across the wilderness of Northwest Florida, the charismatic young man lived for a time in the Perryman towns of Tocktoethla and Telmochesses. These important Seminole communities were near today's Parramore Landing north of Sneads, Florida.

Bowles was ambitious and soon married the daughter of Chief Thomas Perryman. He came to envision a trade empire for himself among the Creeks and Seminoles, but Spanish authorities seized and imprisoned him in 1792. He escaped and returned to Florida in 1799, however, only to suffer the loss of his supply ship when it ran aground on St. George Island.

The Apalachicola River as seen from Prospect Bluff, the site
where Bowles started building a port facility in 1799.

That is when things got very interesting. Spanish troops tried to capture Bowles, but he slipped away onto the mainland and started building a port facility at Achackweithle (Prospect Bluff) on the Apalachicola River. Spain destroyed the unfinished settlement and captured some of his followers, but Bowles slipped away and soon reestablished himself at Estiffanulga Bluff in what is now Liberty County, Florida.

The furious adventurer convened a council of his followers at Estiffanulga, producing one of the most remarkable documents in Florida history: a declaration of war against Spain:

Estifanulga, April 5, 1800

Whereas His Catholic Majesty has for many years part entertained evil intentions against this Nation and pursued measures in every way injurious and hostile against us, Wantonly violating the Rights that belong to us as a free & Independent People, Has disregarded all remonstrance made by us to obtain redress, and induce him to abandon his unfriendly intentions against us, Has treated our representative with dissimulation and falsehood, Has suffered all good faith to be violated with impunity by his Governors in our vicinity. Has formed a treaty with the United States that clearly manifest the the wickedness of his heart; that his intentions were to usurp the sovereignty of our Country and totally to distroy our name as a People: To this end he has by his emisaries endeavoured to disseminate discord amongst our people and by the force of bribary and corruption to make a party in order to support and effect his diabolical designs. Ultimately in the month of February 1800 did with an armed force attack our town of Achackwheethle laid our houses in ashes, made prisoners of our people, and otherwise distressed us, by blocking up our Ports, thus terminating all pacific negotiation by an open attack, which reduces us to the necessity of either taking up our arms to defend our sacred Rights; our Country; our every thing that is dear to us, or tamely surrender then (and ourselves) up forever to the dispotic will of his Catholic Majesty.

  

Estiffanulga Bluff, the headquarters of William Augustus
Bowles in 1800, overlooks the Apalachicola River just
south of Bristol, Florida.

We being now in special council met in order to consider of the present state of our Country, do declare that we have not given his Catholic Majesty any cause whatever to commence hostilities against us; That we view with abhorrence and detestation the wicked designs of his Catholic Majesty; That we will defend our Country and our Rights while Blood remains in our veins. That we now consider all pacific remonstrance as ineffectual.

Therefore we do determine, and are determined to take such measures as may be effectually necessary to defend our Country, to defend our most sacred Rights; to defend the Honor of this Nation, and procure reparation and satisfaction for our injured Citizens.

Historical Marker noting the presence of Bowles on
St. George Island near Apalachicola, Florida.

Therefore be known to all Men, that WE THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF MUSKOGEE In special Council met, for the reasons aforesaid do, by virtue of our authority and High office, as in duty bound declare war against his Catholic Majesty and his subjects and order that general reprisal be made both by Land and sea of the goods ships and subjects of his Catholic Majesty.

We order that this proclamation be duly proclaimed that all our beloved people may have due notice hereof, And we pray God the great disposer of all things who knows the wickedness of our enemies who knows the justice of our Cause to favor our exertions.

Given under our hand in council

at Estifanulga this 5^th day of april

1800

WM. A. BOWLES

GOD SAVE MUSKOGEE

The declaration was no mere threat. Bowles soon laid siege to the Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache at St. Marks and unleashed "privateers" (pirates) on Spain's shipping in the Gulf of Mexico. His piratical war continued for three years. Legends it produced of battles and treasures continue to reverberate today.

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles from historian Dale Cox on the pirate career of William Augustus Bowles. The adventurer and his crews will be commemorated at Pirate and Heritage Days at Three Rivers State Park on May 1-2, 2020. The park is located on River Road (FL-271) just north of Sneads, Florida. Please click here to learn more.

#84 The Pirate Billy Bowlegs in Jackson County (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

William Augustus Bowles

The pirate Billy Bowlegs is #84 on my list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

Please click here to see the entire list as it is unveiled.

Jackson County, of course, is inland from the Gulf of Mexico, yet it has the strongest connection of any place in Florida to the infamous pirate and adventurer William Augustus Bowles. He is the man celebrated in Fort Walton Beach today as the pirate Billy Bowlegs and is often confused with the Seminole chiefs of the same name.

How Bowles came to be called "Billy Bowlegs" is a mystery to me as there is no evidence he ever used the name during his lifetime. That point aside, however, he most definitely was a pirate.

Born in Maryland, he first came to what is now Jackson County during the American Revolution after he was thrown out of the British military. East and West Florida, divided by the Apalachicola and Chattahoochee Rivers, were then colonies of Great Britain. Spain's more than 250 year rule had ended in 1763 when it lost control of Florida in the treaty that ended the Seven Years' War (known in America as the French & Indian War).

Parramore Landing Park

Making his way east from Pensacola, Bowles likely was trying to walk home to Maryland when he became hopelessly lost in the vast wilderness of the Florida Panhandle. Rescued by Creek Indian warriors from the Perryman towns, he was brought to the Chattahoochee River.

The Perryman towns stood on opposite sides of the river near present-day Parramore Landing Park. Thomas Perryman, the half-Creek son of trader Theophilus Perryman, lived on the Georgia side of the river at what later became Fairchild State Park. His son, William, lived in what later became Jackson County at Tellmochesses, a Creek Indian town that stood on high ground back from the river just north of Parramore Landing.

Creek Indian village in Jackson County, Florida

Bowles became closely associated with both Thomas and William Perryman, both of whom had taken up arms along with their people on the side of the British in the American Revolution. By the time the future pirate reached their villages, they had fought against American Patriots in Georgia.

Bowles married into the Perryman family, becoming a son-in-law of Thomas Perryman and brother-in-law of William Perryman. He frequented their towns and was a regular fixture in the Creek Indian villages along the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers.

Flag flown by Bowles' pirate ships

In the years that followed, Bowles declared himself the "Director General" of the "State of Muskogee." In this capacity, he declared war on Spain and commissioned the "Muskogee Navy," really a flotilla of well-armed pirate ships that attacked merchant shipping in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Spanish Coast Guard sent armed ships to destroy Bowles and his nest of pirates, but the "Muskogee Navy" was too strong for them and proved victorious in a pitched battle at Apalachicola Bay. The Spanish retreated and the pirates continued their depredations.

Uniquely, the crews of the pirate vessels commissioned by William Augustus Bowles included not only white and African American sailors, but Creek and Seminole Indian sailors as well. While his "State of Muskogee" existed only on paper and in his mind, his ships sailed with diverse crews.

Bowles eventually was taken prisoner and died at El Morro Castle in Cuba. What became of his ships - except for one seized by the English in the Bahamas - is not known. His legend lives on at the Billy Bowlegs Festival in Fort Walton Beach and may soon be celebrated in a Pirate Festival being considered for Parramore Landing Park!

The little known fact that the Pirate "Billy Bowlegs" once lived in Jackson County is #84 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

If you missed the earlier post about Bowles' lost pirate treasure, please visit Lost Treasure of the Money Pond.