1790 newspaper CHEROKEE INDIANS w CHIEF WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BOWLES visit to ENGLAND

1790 newspaper CHEROKEE INDIAN DELEGATION with their CHIEF WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BOWLES visit to ENGLAND & meet with King George III - inv # 6H-342

Please visit our EBAY STORE for THOUSANDS MORE HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS for SALE or at auction

SEE PHOTO(s) - COMPLETE ORIGINAL NEWSPAPER, the Northampton Mercury (ENGLAND) dated Nov 27, 1790.  This original newspaper contains a back page headline; "PARTICULARS OF THE CHEROKEE EMBASSY" with a 1/3 column report of the CHEROKEE INDIAN delegation led by chief WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BOWLES visit to meet King George III in England.   

William Augustus Bowles (1763–1805), also known as Estajoca, was a Maryland soldier and adventurer. Seeing action as a Loyalist during the Revolutionary War, Bowles later formed an alliance with the Muscogee people and attempted to establish an independent indigenous American state with British support.

Some sources give his date of birth as 1764. Bowles was born in Frederick County, Maryland, 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. Upon arrival, Bowles resigned his commission, and left the fortification, where he was captured by Muscogee raiders and brought back to one of their settlements.

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. 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.

After this battle, he was reinstated in the British Army and went to the Bahamas. After a few months there, the Governor of the Bahamas, Lord Dunmore, sent Bowles back among the Muscogee with a mission to establish a trading house among them. Bowles established a trading post along the Chattahoochee River. He would marry two wives, one Cherokee and the other a daughter of the Hitchiti Muscogee chieftain, William Perryman, and used this union as the basis for his claim to exert political influence among the Muscogee, later styling himself "Director General of the Muskogee Nation". Interracial marriages were common among the Seminoles and Muscogee according to historian James Leitch Wright, but historian Kevin Mulroy disagrees strongly with Wright's contention.

Pursuing his idea of an indigenous American state after the end of the Revolutionary War, he was received by King George III as "Chief of the Embassy for Creek and Cherokee Nations" and it was with British backing that he returned to Florida.

In 1795, along with the Seminoles, he formed a short-lived state in northern Florida (part of Spanish East Florida) known as the State of Muskogee, with himself as its "Director General." After designing a flag and constitution for his state, Bowles raised an army and began to carry out raids of Spanish territories in Florida. In 1800, he declared war on Spain. Bowles operated two schooners and boasted of a force of 400 frontiersmen, former slaves, and warriors.

A furious Spain offered $6,000 and 1,500 kegs of rum for his capture. When he was finally captured, he was transported to Madrid where he was unmoved by King Charles IV's attempts to make him change sides. He then escaped, commandeering a ship and returning to the Gulf of Mexico. One of the main victims of his piratical attacks was the Scottish trading firm of Panton, Leslie & Company.

In 1803, not long after having declared himself "Chief of all Indians present" at a tribal council, he was betrayed and turned over to the Spanish. William Augustus Bowles died in 1805, at Castillo Morro, in Havana, Cuba, having deliberately starved himself to death in defiance.

Very good condition. This listing includes the complete entire original newspaper, NOT just a clipping or a page of it. STEPHEN A. GOLDMAN HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS stands behind all of the items that we sell with a no questions asked, money back guarantee. Every item we sell is an original newspaper printed on the date indicated at the beginning of its description. U.S. buyers pay priority mail postage which includes waterproof plastic and a heavy cardboard flat to protect the purchased item from damage in the mail. Upon request by the buyer, we can ship by USPS Media Mail to reduce postage cost; however, please be aware that USPS Media Mail can be very slow in its time of transit to the buyer. International postage is quoted when we are informed as to where the package is to be sent. We do combine postage (to reduce postage costs) for multiple purchases sent in the same package. We list thousands of rare newspapers with dates from 1570 through 2004 on Ebay each week. This is truly SIX CENTURIES OF HISTORY that YOU CAN OWN!

 Stephen A. Goldman Historical Newspapers has been in the business of buying and selling historical newspapers for over 50 years. Dr. Goldman is a consultant to the Freedom Forum Newseum and a member of the American Antiquarian Society. You can buy with confidence from us, knowing that we stand behind all of our historical items with a 100% money back guarantee. Let our 50+ years of experience work for YOU ! We have hundreds of thousands of historical newspapers (and their very early precursors) for sale.



Stephen A. Goldman Historical Newspapers has been in the business of buying and selling historical newspapers for over 50 years. We are located in the charming Maryland Eastern Shore town of OXFORD, Maryland.

Dr. Goldman is a consultant to the Freedom Forum Newseum and a member of the American Antiquarian Society. You can buy with confidence from us, knowing that we stand behind all of our historical items with a 100% money back guarantee. Let our 50+ years of experience work for YOU ! We have hundreds of thousands of historical newspapers (and their very early precursors) for sale.

We invite customer requests for historical newspapers that are not yet located in our extensive Ebay listing of items. With an inventory of nearly a million historical newspapers (and their early precursors) we are likely have just the one YOU are searching for.

WE ARE ALSO ACTIVE BUYERS OF HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS, including large and small personal collections, bound volumes, significant individual issues, or deaccessions from libraries and historical societies. IF YOU WANT TO SELL, WE WANT TO BUY !!!

Powered by SixBit
Powered by SixBit's eCommerce Solution