Editing William Augustus Bowles

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{{for|the festival named for him|Billy Bowlegs Festival}}
[[Image:WilliamBowles.jpg|right|William Augustus Bowles]]
'''William Augustus Bowles''' ([[1763]]-[[1805]]), also known as '''Estajoca''' and often confused with the privateer known as '''Billy Bowlegs''', was a Maryland-born English adventurer who served with the Maryland Loyalists Battalion as an ensign during the American Revolution, having joined the British Army as part of a provincial battalion. In [[1777]] he held the rank of Ensign, the lowest officer rank in the army at the time.  He travelled with the Maryland Loyalist Battalion when they went by ship to Pensacola, where he resigned his rank, and went into the wilderness.  It is this rank of "ensign" that confuses scholars even today, as it was at that time a rank for the army.  

He left Pensacola with a group of Creek Indians, but returned in [[1779]] and fought with British forces against [[Bernardo de Gàlvez]] during the [[1781]] [[Siege of Pensacola]].

In his life among the Indians, Bowles married two wives: one Cherokee and other Creek. His Creek wife was the chief's daughter, making him heir to Creek chiefdom. Pursuing his idea of an American Indian state after the end of the war, he was received by George III as 'Chief of the Embassy for Creek and Cherokee Nations.' With British funding, he returned to the Bahamas to train Creek Braves as pirates to attack Spanish ships.

A furious Spain offered $6,000 and 1,500 kegs of rum for his capture, and when he finally was captured he was transported to Madrid where he was unmoved by the King of Spain's attempts to make him change sides. He then escaped, commandeering a ship and returning to the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. In [[1795]] along with the Seminoles, he formed a short-lived state in northern Florida known as the "State of Muskogee", with himself as its president, and in [[1800]] declared war on Spain.
In [[1803]], not long after having declared himself 'Chief of all Indians present' at a trial council, he was betrayed and turned over to the Spanish. He died in prison in Havana two years later, having refused to eat.

The [[Billy Bowlegs Festival]], celebrated annually in [[Fort Walton Beach]], is named for him.

==External links==
*[http://www.fwbchamber.org/BillyBowlegs/whoisbillybowlegs.html Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce]
*[http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1999-2000/Oliver.htm The Destruction of Muskogee Autonomy Before the Creek War] by Adam Oliver
*http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cmamcrk4/pkt26.html#anchor1986014
'''Le Clerc Milfort's Travels & Sojourn in the Creek Nation'''
*http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cmamcrk4/mlfrttoc.html#anchor2466429
*[http://www.csulb.edu/~aisstudy/nae/chapter_2/001_002_2.10.txt Short bio of Bowles]
*[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-musk.html FOTW Site on the Muskogee Flag]
*[http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/facts/symbols/flag.cfm?page=2&id=19 State of Florida history site]

[[Category:Pirates & privateers|Bowles, William]]