Bowler, Metcalf

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Bowler, Metcalf

BOWLER, METCALF. (1726–1789). Informer. Rhode Island. A London-born merchant and speculator, Bowler was a successful businessman during the years of Newport's commercial supremacy. A Patriot who served in the Stamp Act Congress, Continental Congress, and as Speaker of the Rhode Island assembly, Bowler was in fact one of General Henry Clinton's secret informers. This was not discovered until scholars gained access to Clinton's papers in the 1920s.

SEE ALSO Clinton, Henry.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Van Doren, Carl. Secret History of the American Revolution: An Account of the Conspiracies of Benedict Arnold and Numerous Others Drawn from the Secret Service Papers of the British Headquarters in North America. New York: Viking, 1941.

                               revised by Michael Bellesiles

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