The Second Spanish Period
1784-1821
Part six
William Augustus Bowles – Part Five
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| Flag of Muskogee |
The Retaking of FortSan
Marcos de Apalache
It
would be weeks before the Spanish commanders at Pensacola made a move to retake
San Marcos from William Augustus Bowles and his allies. Once the ships San Marcos de Apalache
and the Aquiles reached Pensacola with the evacuees from Fort San Marcos,
Lieutenant Governor Vincente Folch questioned the men on what had happened and
was convinced that Tomas Portell was a cowardice fool who let a handful of
Indians with no artillery take a well-fortified Spanish fort. The fact is that
the fort was never that well-fortified, the troops were beginning to run out of
supplies and were nearly starving, and Bowles did have his hands on some
artillery. Folch demanded that Portell report to Fort San Carlos and turn
himself in as a prisoner. Folch then sent Governor Caso-Calvo a letter blaming
Fort San Marco’s surrender on Portell and his officers, but promised a quick
recovery.
Surprisingly,
on June 10 a canoe arrived in Pensacola bearing men with valuable information. The men had escaped from Bowles, and were mostly Panton’s Wakulla employees. They told Folch
that Fort San Marcos was currently only manned by Bowles and a few of
his hired mercenaries, and that the majority of his Indian allies had abandoned the
fort and returned to their respective villages. Their count was twenty
Indians, eighteen blacks and twenty-one whites. They also informed Folch that
Bowles was planning on using the captured Sheerwater
as a pirate ship to terrorize the Spanish. With this news, Folch told his officers
that he was going to lead a mission to recover the fort. He set up a council of
war in the Pensacola Government House to discuss their next move. Once the fort
was reconquered, Captain Pedro Olivier was to be the next Commandant of San
Marcos. Folch requested forty days of rations, and ordered the Treasury
Official to prepare his ships for the voyage to San Marcos. Folch and his men,
on nine ships, left Pensacola on June 18, 1800. Aboard the Hawk, Folch used a map of San Marcos to draw up his plan to retake
the fort. Meanwhile at San Marcos, Bowles knew the Spanish would come back, and
he relied on their procrastination while he wrote letters to Georgia, New
Providence, and Jamaica for assistance against the Spanish, but he never
received any.[1]
As
Folch was readying for his unauthorized expedition to recover San Marcos, the
Governor of Louisiana and West Florida, Marques de Caso-Calvo, was preparing a
mission of his own. He was unaware that Folch had took it upon himself to lead
an expedition to San Marcos, and called for 250 troops to take the fort. The
governor instructed Lieutenant Colonel Zenon Trudeau to be the overall
commander of the expedition, and Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Rousseau to be in
command of the ships and their crew. Trudeau and the fleet of thirteen vessels
with nearly 400 men sailed for San Marcos on June 24. About a week later,
Caso-Calvo found out that Folch was leading his own expedition to San Marcos.
Caso-Calvo was angered by Folch’s audacity, but did not recall Trudeau and Rousseau.
The Trudeau-Rousseau fleet reached Mobile Bay and spotted a British pirate
ship, which sent out two launches to investigate the Spaniards. The fleet moved
closer into Mobile Bay, and the launches returned to their ship, but not before
firing off a few shots in the Spaniard's direction. This event frightened
Trudeau, as his fleet only had one gunboat, so he anchored in Mobile Bay and
requested an escort from Pensacola to help them. The acting commandant of
Pensacola while Folch was gone was Francisco de Paula Gelabert, and as soon as
Trudeau’s request reached him he sent the Havanero
to assist. With help from the Havanero,
the Trudeau-Rousseau expedition reached Pensacola on July 14.
While
Caso-Calvo was still organizing the Trudeau-Rousseau expedition, Folch and his
fleet arrived in Apalachee Bay late in the day of June 22. Folch then
distributed maps to his men, and by three o’clock in the morning of June 23,
they were ready to make their move upriver. By the time the sun rose, the
fleet had reached the mouth of the San Marcos River and continued upstream. The
heavy Hawk was forced to remain in
the bay, probably near Spanish Hole, so Folch boarded the Leal. From the Leal, he
dispatched a messenger to the fort under a white flag of parley. The messenger boarded
the ship’s launch and began rowing towards the fort, as the fleet followed
slowly behind him. As soon as someone from the fort spotted the messenger,
Bowles had a cannon fire three warning shots in his direction, causing him to
retreat back to the fleet. Not long after the messenger returned to the Leal, one of Bowles’s messengers
arrived from the fort at the ship under a white flag. Bowles’ messenger apologized for the
warning shots, and then allowed Folch’s messenger to proceed to the fort to ask
for its surrender. The fleet followed slowly behind.
The
courier reached the fort and awaited Bowles’s reply. Meanwhile, Folch had his
fleet anchor just out of range of the fort’s artillery. When the messenger
finally returned to Folch with Bowles’s refusal to surrender, he lowered the
white flags of parley and raised the Spanish banners and commenced to shelling
the fort. The fort’s cannons on the southern side facing the river fired back.
This continued for hours until a cannon ball from the Venganza managed to strike one of the fort’s cannons, destroying
it. Another shot, this time from the Tetis,
struck the fort itself destroying a merlon and a small portion of the stone
wall. These explosions scared off the rest of Bowles’s Creek and Seminole
followers from the fort, and his white mercenaries followed them. Their
departure from the fort assured a Spanish victory.[2]
Bowles
knew this would eventually happen, that is why he kept a saddled horse inside the fort at
all times. He also kept a few small sailing vessels on the San Marcos River on
the east side of the fort. Bowles boarded one of these vessels and departed up the San Marcos River towards
Lake Miccosukee as the Spanish fleet was nearing the fort. By the time they
reached the wharf, Bowles was gone. Folch had Lieutenant Colonel Jacobo
DuBreuil inspect the fort, and by five o’clock in the afternoon, the flag of
Muskogee was lowered and the Spanish banner was once again raised over Fort San
Marcos de Apalache. The Spanish did manage to capture a few of Bowles’s men,
but Bowles himself had gotten away from Spanish authorities yet again. By the
next morning, Folch sent the Venganza
and the Tetis up the San Marcos River
in pursuit of Bowles. After roughly a ten-and-a-half mile trip up the San
Marcos River, just a few miles from Natural Bridge, the ships spotted four
small crafts along the river’s edge. Bowles and his men were sleeping, and some
were eating, when they spotted the Spanish vessels, at which point they fled
into the woods, leaving everything behind. The captured vessels were towed to
the fort, but unfortunately, Bowles escaped once again, and took refuge with Seminoles
living along the northern reaches of the San Marcos River, and Lake Miccosukee,
a mere thirty miles from the fort.
Folch
remained at San Marcos until July 11, to make sure everything was in order
before he left. He named Olivier the new Commandant of San Marcos, and ordered
him to rebuild the fort’s lime kiln, replace the destroyed limestone blocks,
repair the wooden stockade, and fix the parapet of the bombproof. Folch also
recommended a retractable staircase be built to the bombproof’s roof, in the
case of an enemy entering the fort they could continue resistance from up top.
Olivier was a great choice, because the fort was under constant alarm from
possible Indian assaults, and Olivier was good friends with the Creeks, so the
Spanish government hoped his appointment would ease the tense situation.
Before he left to return to Pensacola, Folch ordered
the stone watchtower on the other side of the Wakulla River to be dismantled.
While still at San Marcos, Folch received a letter from Bowles stating he was just
trying to establish neutral ground between his State of Muskogee and the
Spanish. He also requested the return of this Muskogee flag. Folch thought
about how to reply to Bowles for days. He finally sent a letter back to Bowles,
apologizing for not answering sooner, and stating that he had been sick for
days, which was a lie. Folch invited Bowles to the fort for a talk. But,
learning from his past mistake after being captured this way before, Bowles
declined.
Before
finally returning to Pensacola, Folch had the area’s Indians gather at the
fort, where he planned on giving them a stern talking to. He told them to quit
following the deceiver Bowles and if they did not, Folch promised to destroy their
villages. The Spanish found out that at a meeting the Upper Creeks held nearly
a year before, they denied ever having a white man as their chief, or even
having a “director general.” The Upper Creeks claimed they would have killed
William Augustus Bowles, had it not been for his Seminole protectors around Lake Miccosukee.[3]
With this new information, the Spanish now had proof that Bowles was just a
fraud, who did not deserve any honorable treatment.
The Continued Search for
William Augustus Bowles
After
Folch retook San Marcos from Bowles, the Spanish set out to locate him, but
also to repair relations between the Creeks/Seminoles and themselves.
Throughout the summer of 1800, sickness swept through San Marcos, causing
thirty soldiers to fall ill in one month, and the fort’s hospital was not
prepared for it. On top of that, Olivier had gotten word from a friendly Creek
that Bowles and the Seminoles of Miccosukee planned a new attack on San Marcos
for late July. By the time Governor Caso-Calvo’s Trudeau-Rousseau fleet made it
to Pensacola, Folch had already returned victorious from San Marcos. After
Folch in Pensacola got word of Bowles’s new planned attack on the fort, he sent
Rousseau to San Marcos to help put down any attack Bowles and the Indians may
attempt. Folch then sent a message to the Seminoles stating that Bowles was
just a con-man who took five weeks to take San Marcos, and only an
hour-and-a-half to lose it. Folch told the Seminoles to leave Bowles and to not
fight against Spain “because it will end in your total ruin. Remember, you are
but a handful of poor ignorant people who are to be feared only when hidden in
the thickness of the forest, from where we shall drive you out with our
artillery and other weapons unknown to you.”[4]
As
the Spanish were trying to get chief Kinache of Miccosukee to submit to them,
Bowles was trying to acquire a ride back to the Bahamas to gather more supplies
and reinforcements to recapture the fort. During this time, the Seminoles
rejected the Spanish and remained loyal to Bowles. Even U.S. Indian Agent
Benjamin Hawkins tried to persuade them away from Bowles, but to no avail. The
Upper Creeks even sent emissaries to Miccosukee to scold the Seminoles, but
they just turned a deaf ear to them. Bowles had severely brain washed the
Seminoles in believing in him.
When
Folch learned that Nassau merchant John Miller was again readying ships and
supplies for Bowles, he told Rousseau to keep an eye out for such vessels
during his voyage to San Marcos. Rousseau’s fleet left Pensacola on August 2,
and after some wind delays, reached San Marcos on August 6. On August 15, several
Seminoles fired on boats heading up the San Marcos River to gather fresh water
for the fort. A sailor was killed, and soldiers were immediately dispatched
from the fort to aid the boats that were under attack. The soldiers managed to
chase off the warriors, but the fighting would not end there. Trudeau had no
doubt that the hostile Seminoles came from Miccosukee, about thirty miles
north, and decided to gather a large force for an attack on that village.
On
August 17, 1800, Trudeau, and a force of 272 men, began their march from San
Marcos to Lake Miccosukee. However, they did not make very good progress. They
halted and set up camp after marching less than three miles. Around four
o’clock in the morning, they resumed the march. But, by eleven o’clock in the
morning, the men were drenched in sweat, exhausted, and thirsty. By noon, a few
men became ill so they decided to stop and camp for the rest of the day.
Trudeau called off the expedition when he realized he was moving to slow for a
surprise attack on the Seminoles. The climate and terrain had defeated them.
They turned around and returned to San Marcos on August 19.
In late August, Olivier was ordered to be
replaced by Captain Jacobo DuBreuil, and with the departure of Lieutenant
Colonel Trudeau, the fort begun to deteriorate. DuBreuil took command of the
fort on September 22, and soon after complained about his soldiers in a letter
to the new Governor Manuel de Salcedo, stating that they were “the most useless
soldiers, the most vicious, and the most persistent in their object of avoiding
duty”.[5] At
this time, the fort was protecting two Mississippi River galleys, the Luisiana, and the Felipa, and soldiers were ordered not to venture to far outside the
wall of the north side of the fort, where the Seminoles were most likely to
attack.
On September 2, 1800 Captain DuBreuil ordered
twenty-five soldiers to go clear some palmetto bushes not far from the fort.
When they reached the bushes they were suddenly ambushed by the Seminoles. They
managed to kidnap one of the workers, but shrapnel from one of the fort’s
cannon balls succeeded in taking down several Seminoles. The Seminoles now knew
that they really did not have to fear Spanish military operations, as they were
mostly ineffective. The Spanish found out that Bowles was no longer at
Miccosukee, and that he had gone to East Florida to plunder for supplies. He
was nearly caught by some Spanish dragoons, but dove into the St. Marys River
to save himself once again from capture. For the next few days, Bowles was
hungry and on the run, until he reached the home of a friend on the Flint
River. His failure in East Florida had made some of the Seminoles weary of
Bowles. The Seminole chief Kinache no longer allowed Bowles to enter his house,
and he was forced to stay with the black Seminoles, or maroons.
By
October, the threat from Bowles and the Seminoles began to die down. During the
week of October 21 – October 29, several groups of Indians congregated in the
woods north of the fort and presented a white flag of truce. Chief Timayolt of
the Tallahassee Seminoles spoke on behalf of the group. They wanted to atone
for their offences, realizing now that Bowles was just an insane man that
fooled the Seminoles in believing he could provide them with cheaper goods.
Timayolt promised that they would never again war against “their old Spanish
friends.”[6]
Bowles’s actions had made the Seminoles and Creeks poor and miserable. They had
no harvest in 1800, and because of their actions, were deprived of Spanish
goods. Since one of DuBreuil’s main goals at San Marcos was to reestablish the
Seminole-Spanish relationship, he accepted their apology, but implored them to talk
Chief Kinache of the Miccosukee Seminoles to help capture Bowles. The Indians
did not come empty handed. Timayolt brought with him several head of cattle for
the fort, which La Camarona helped him secure. In a gesture of good will
towards the Seminoles, DuBreuil handed out rations to all the Indians there,
which was nearly numbered four-hundred. The rations consisted of bread, rice,
meat, tobacco, salt, and liquor. However, DuBreuil told them that peace and trust could
not be completely reached until the Indians produced Bowles to the Spanish
authorities.
In
Decemberof 1800 , just before the new year, a chief from the Lower Creek village of
Kasihta arrived at Fort San Marcos. He wanted to find out what the Seminoles were
doing, and if Panton had any plans of re-opening the Wakulla store. The Wakulla
store’s factor was a man named William Hambly. Hambly told the chief that
without peace, neither Panton nor the Spanish government would resume trade
with the Indians. In January of 1801, William Panton himself came down with a
serious illness in Pensacola. He was now suffering financially and physically,
and on February 26, 1801, William Panton died. Soon, Panton’s company became
the John Forbes Company. Unfortunately, in March of 1801, the Seminoles of
Miccosukee again became belligerent towards San Marcos. A guard at the fort
noticed a group of Indians attempting to rustle the fort’s cattle that were
grazing in a field on the north side. The fort’s cannon did not scare them off,
so DuBreuil sent thirty soldiers to rescue the cattle. After being chased by
the Spanish for three miles, the Seminoles gave up on the cattle and left them.
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| U.S. Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins |
On
September 4, three sailors from the fort was fishing downriver on the San
Marcos, when they were suddenly attacked with musket fire. One of the soldiers
jumped into the river and swam back to the fort to get help. Sailors were
dispatched to search for the other two men, but only found one who had been
wounded in the attack. DuBreuil was furious. He stated if the Seminoles were
not punished soon, they would eventually pick off his entire garrison one by
one. In October, DuBreuil once again had a message for Miccosukee. He told them
that the punishment for murder was “a head for a head.” At this point in time,
the Indians had killed at least fifteen people since Bowles’s arrival to the
area two years earlier. DuBreuil told them he did not want fifteen Indian
heads, just Bowles’s. He told them to turn Bowles over and no Indian would be
harmed. He reminded them that Bowles had obstructed their hunts, their farming
responsibilities, and had forced the Wakulla store to close.
Back in Pensacola, the new Governor Salcedo wrote to U.S. Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins expressing an intense desire to capture or kill Bowles. Salcedo told Hawkins that their two nations ought to combine strength to bring the pirate down. Also in October, the engineer Juan Maria Perchet finally made it to San Marcos to inspect the fort. He concluded all wooded structures, as well as the stone wall be repaired. Approval from the governor to do so would not arrive until March 1802.
Back on March 21, 1801 DuBreuil received some news about Bowles’s
whereabouts. He had heard that a merchant ship from New Providence was spotted
near the Steinhatchee River, where Bowles apparently established a new trading
post. DuBreuil sent a detachment to the Steinhatchee, where they spotted
Bowles’s boat, and pursued it. Once his boat reached land, Bowles and his
cohorts fled into the wilderness. However, DuBreuil learned that Bowles
returned to Steinhatchee in May, where he and Kinache, the chief of Miccosukee,
had a poorly constructed fort built. DuBreuil decided to send a couple of
Indians to spy on them. A few days later, after destroying the small fort, the
spies returned to San Marcos and divulged to DuBreuil that Bowles was now back
at Miccosukee, and he had received supplies from a cargo ship at Steinhatchee.
Back in Pensacola, the new Governor Salcedo wrote to U.S. Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins expressing an intense desire to capture or kill Bowles. Salcedo told Hawkins that their two nations ought to combine strength to bring the pirate down. Also in October, the engineer Juan Maria Perchet finally made it to San Marcos to inspect the fort. He concluded all wooded structures, as well as the stone wall be repaired. Approval from the governor to do so would not arrive until March 1802.
To be concluded in William Augustus Bowles Part Six (of Six)...
Sources used:
Din, G. C. (2012). War on the Gulf Coast: The Spanish Fight Against William Augustus Bowles. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
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