The State of Muskogee was a proclaimed sovereign nation located in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, founded in 1799 and led by William Augustus Bowles

William Augustus Bowles

William Augustus Bowles , also known as Estajoca, was a Maryland-born English adventurer and organizer of Native American attempts to create their own state outside of Euro-American control. He is also affectionately called Billy Bowlegs, although there is no evidence that he ever used that name...

, a Loyalist

Loyalist (American Revolution)

Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...

 veteran of the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 who lived among the Muscogee, and envisioned uniting the American Indians of the Southeast into a single nation that could resist the expansion of the United States. Bowles enjoyed the support of the Miccosukee

Miccosukee

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida are a federally recognized Native American tribe in the U.S. state of Florida. They were part of the Seminole nation until the mid-20th century, when they organized as an independent tribe, receiving federal recognition in 1962...

 (Seminole) and several bands of Muscogee, and envisioned his state as eventually growing to encompass the Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

, Upper and Lower Creeks, Choctaw

Choctaw

The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...

 and Chickasaw

Chickasaw

The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

.

History

Born into a Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 Loyalist

Loyalist (American Revolution)

Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...

 family, William Bowles enlisted in Maryland Loyalist Battalion at age 14 and became an ensign in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 at 15, sailing to Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

, then Pensacola

Pensacola, Florida

Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...

, where he was stripped of his rank for insubordination. He fled north, living among the Muscogee of the Tallapoosa

Tallapoosa River

The Tallapoosa River runs from the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia, in the United States, southward and westward into Alabama. It is formed by the confluence of McClendon Creek and Mud Creek in Paulding County, Georgia. Lake Martin at Alexander City, Alabama is a large and...

 and Appalachicola, becoming fluent in the language, taking Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

 and Hitchiti Muscogee wives and becoming heir to a Muscogee chiefdom. He a led band of Lower Creek warriors at the Battle of Pensacola

Battle of Pensacola (1781)

The Siege of Pensacola was fought in 1781, the culmination of Spain's conquest of the British province West Florida during the American War of Independence.-Background:...

 in 1781, a period when he developed a lifelong enmity with the Upper Creek chief Alexander McGillivray

Alexander McGillivray

Alexander McGillivray, also known as Hoboi-Hili-Miko , was a principal chief of the Upper Creek towns from 1782. Before that he had created an alliance between the Creek and the British during the American Revolution...

. After the war, he relocated to the Bahamas, where he was courted by Governor Lord Dunmore

John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore

John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore was a British peer and colonial governor. He was the son of William Murray, 3rd Earl of Dunmore, and his wife Catherine . He is best remembered as the last royal governor of the Colony of Virginia.John was the eldest son of William and Catherine Murray, and nephew...

, who sought to break the monopoly of Panton, Leslie & Co.

Panton, Leslie & Company

Panton, Leslie & Company was a company of Scottish merchants active in trading in the Bahamas and with the Indians of what is now the Southeastern United States during the late 18th century and early 19th century....

 over the Indian fur-trade, and allowed him to return to the Muscogee as an agent of a rival company. During this period, he developed his idea of an American Indian state. He failed to capture Panton's St. Johns

St. Johns River

The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...

 store, and became a fugitive from Spanish authorities, spending the next few years between Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, the Bahamas

The Bahamas

The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...

, England, and the villages along the lower Chattahoochee River

Chattahoochee River

The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of...

 basin, where he gained support for a free state of Muskogee, assuring the Lower Creeks and Seminoles of British support.

On 16 January 1792, Bowles led a large band of Muscogee warriors who captured and looted the Panton, Leslie, and Co. store in the presidio of San Marcos de Apalache. He tried to negotiate with the Spanish for the establishment of a Muskogee state, but the Spaniards captured him instead. The Spanish wanted to remove him as far away from Florida as they could, and he was a prisoner in Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, and Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

 in the Philippines. While being returned to Spain, Bowles escaped and took charge of a ship to Africa, and eventually made his way back to Florida after stopovers in England and Nassau

Nassau, Bahamas

Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...

 to regather his British supporters.

Arriving on the Apalachicola Bay

Apalachicola Bay

Apalachicola Bay is an estuary and lagoon located on Florida's northwest coast renowned for its oysters. The Apalachicola Bay system also includes St. Georges Sound, St. Vincent Sound and East Bay, covering an area of about . Four islands St. Vincent Island to the west, Cape St. George Island and St...

 in 1799, Bowles made himself "Director General and Commander-In-Chief of the Muskogee Nation", and, on October 31, he issued a proclamation declaring the 1796 treaty between Spain and the United States void because it ignored the Indians' sovereignty over Florida. (The Treaty of San Ildefonso

Second Treaty of San Ildefonso

The Second Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed on August 19, 1796 between the Spanish Empire and the First French Republic. Based on the terms of the agreement, France and Spain would become allies and combine their forces against the British Empire.-See also:...

 ceded all of West Florida

West Florida

West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...

 above the 31st parallel to the United States.) He denounced the treaties Alexander McGillivray

Alexander McGillivray

Alexander McGillivray, also known as Hoboi-Hili-Miko , was a principal chief of the Upper Creek towns from 1782. Before that he had created an alliance between the Creek and the British during the American Revolution...

 had negotiated with Spain and the U.S., threatened to declare war against the U.S. unless it returned Muscogee lands that he claimed it had taken illegally, and issued a death sentence against George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

's Indian agent

Indian agent

In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with Native American tribes on behalf of the U.S. government.-Indian agents:*Leander Clark was agent for the Sac and Fox in Iowa beginning in 1866....

 Benjamin Hawkins

Benjamin Hawkins

Benjamin Hawkins was an American planter, statesman, and United States Indian agent . He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States Senator from North Carolina, having grown up among the planter elite...

. He defied American planters by welcoming runaway slaves, and enjoyed great support among the Black Seminole. Bowles had the support of the Seminoles and lower Chattahoochee Creeks because of his generous supply of gunpowder, and of his promises to get more when he captured the Panton-Leslie store at the presidio of San Marcos de Apalache.

Spanish attacks forced him to relocate the capital to a village on Lake Miccosukee

Lake Miccosukee

Lake Miccosukee is a large swampy prairie lake in northern Jefferson County, Florida, USA, located east of the settlement of Miccosukee. A small portion of the lake, its northwest corner, is located in Leon County.-Characteristics:...

, northeast of present-day Tallahassee

Tallahassee, Florida

Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...

, ruled by Mico Kinache, his father-in-law and most powerful ally. Several English adventurers from the Bahamas served as the government administrators. Bowles built a three-ship navy and attacked Spanish ships off the coast of Florida. In August 1800, a Spanish armed force set out to destroy Miccosuke, but was lost in the swamps. On 5 January 1802, Bowles led a large force of Seminoles (Miccosukee

Miccosukee

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida are a federally recognized Native American tribe in the U.S. state of Florida. They were part of the Seminole nation until the mid-20th century, when they organized as an independent tribe, receiving federal recognition in 1962...

s), Black Seminoles

Black Seminoles

The Black Seminoles is a term used by modern historians for the descendants of free blacks and some runaway slaves , mostly Gullahs who escaped from coastal South Carolina and Georgia rice plantations into the Spanish Florida wilderness beginning as early as the late 17th century...

, fugitive slaves, white pirates, and Spanish deserters from Pensacola, and laid siege to San Marcos, but was forced to retreat after the arrival of several Spanish ships. The Treaty of Amiens

Treaty of Amiens

The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the French Republic and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was signed in the city of Amiens on 25 March 1802 , by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace"...

 in March 1802 briefly ended hostilities between Britain and France and Spain, and news of this ceasefire left Bowles discredited, the Seminoles (including Kinache) signing a treaty with Spain in August. By 1803, the U.S. and Spain were conspiring against Bowles, who no longer enjoyed British support. Benjamin Hawkins

Benjamin Hawkins

Benjamin Hawkins was an American planter, statesman, and United States Indian agent . He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States Senator from North Carolina, having grown up among the planter elite...

 laid a trap for him at a tribal council at the town of Tuckabatchee, where Bowles was captured and delivered to the Spanish governor in Pensacola. He was imprisoned in Morro Castle

Morro Castle (fortress)

Morro Castle is a picturesque fortress guarding the entrance to Havana bay in Havana, Euta. Juan Bautista Antonelli, an Italian engineer, was commissioned to design the structure. When it was built in 1589, Euta was under the control of Germany...

 in Havana, where he died in 1805. The State of Muscokgee demonstrated Spain's inability to control the interior of Florida, General Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

 to lead a campaign to invade Florida. In 1818, the town of Miccosuke was destroyed by Jackson's army during the First Seminole War.