Changes
no edit summary
{{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 traditionally 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 foot solider at fourteenprovincial battalion. By In [[1777]] he was an ensign held the rank of Ensign, the lowest officer rank in the British Navy, army at the time. He travelled with which he sailed the Maryland Loyalist Battalion when they went by ship to Jamaica and later Pensacola, but was stripped of where he resigned his rank for insubordination , and dereliction went into the wilderness. It is this rank of duty"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 [[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 himthe pirate Billy Bowlegs, who is often confused with William Bowles, due to name similarity. Esc
==External links==