William Augustus Bowles. Origin: Other

A colorful character, William Augustus Bowles was born in Maryland in 1763 and fought with the Maryland Loyalists during the American Revolution. Bowles resigned from the British military and for a time took refuge with a group of Creek Indians in West Florida, marrying a daughter of one of the chiefs.

He was a controversial figure in international politics, as the self-proclaimed “Director General of the Muskogee Nation” and would often be seen in Indian dress. He was described as a soldier, a portrait painter, an amateur chemist, a flutist, and an actor. He aligned himself politically with Lord Dunmore, and commercially with prominent merchant John Miller, as he carried out raids against the Spanish in an attempt to establish an independent Indian nation in Northern Florida.

William Bowles received one large land grant of 357 acres in the Bowers area of Long Island in 1788. On the circa 1792 Tatnall Map, this 357-acre area is listed as vacant. Bowles died in a Havanna prison in 1805.

References: Homeward Bound, Parrish, Wikipedia