Background
He learned the cultural ways of the Seminole from his mother"s family and elders.
He learned the cultural ways of the Seminole from his mother"s family and elders.
He was a tribal historian in Florida. Fewell was also known by his Seminole name, Cofehapkee. After it was established, Bowlegs lived on the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation, near Lake Okeechobee in present day Glades County.
As an adult, he renamed himself after Billy Bowlegs (Holata Micco), the prominent Seminole chief during the Seminole Wars.
A Black Indian, Bowlegs became an elder in the tribe. He learned and taught much about its history.
Bowlegs befriended Jame Mallory and Minnie Moore Willson, who moved to Florida in the early 1880s. They became advocates for the Seminole.
The couple described him in their book, The Seminole of Florida, 1896.
He wanted to improve their understanding of the tribe"s culture. The Willsons helped gain approval in 1913 by the Florida state legislature for a 100,000-acre (400 km2) reservation for the Seminole in the Everglades. They testified on their behalf to the federal government in hearings in 1917.
In the mid-1950s, he performed traditional dances at the Florida Folk Festival in Union County, on the Suwanee River.
Bowlegs was buried in Ortona Cemetery in Ortona, Florida. note: Both the historical marker and the historical marker database record his name as Billie not Billy.