At the end of the Napoleonic Wars many members of the Bonaparte family and other loyalists to Napoleon sought to emigrate to America. It was rumored in fact that after defeat at Waterloo, the Emperor Napoleon himself was on the run looking for passage to America.

After the French capture of Southern Italy, Napoleon put his brother-in-law Murat on the throne of the Kingdom of Naples (or the Kingdom of Two Sicilies as it was previously known) where he reigned until the French Emperor was exiled to Elba in 1814. During that exile, Murat made a deal with the allies to keep his throne, but once Napoleon escaped and returned to France nine months later, Murat sided with his brother-in-law and after Waterloo he was arrested and executed. Rumors were abound at the time that some of Napoleon’s loyalists who had been executed, including Marshall Ney, had in fact escaped and were living in the United States.

The eldest son of the executed King of Naples, Prince Achille Murat was taken with his mother to Vienna. Eventually he was able to gain passage to the United States in 1821, landing in New York, eventually ending up in Washington where he became friendly with Florida Territorial Governor Richard Keith Call.

Prince Murat eventually settled in St. Augustine after becoming friendly with Call. He became a leading member of the town, creating his own plantation and joining the local militia. Murat then started a plantation just east of  the new town of Tallahassee. He continued to visit St. Augustine regularly, married George Washington’s grandniece and ultimately became Mayor of Tallahassee. He also befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson and penned extensive writings about American democracy.

1830 was a year of revolution in Europe and Bonapartisists thought they could perhaps regain the throne in France or elsewhere. Much of Napoleon’s exiled family took part in the various uprisings, but no relative of Napoleon would return to power anywhere until after the 1848 revolutions.  From 1830 to 1834, Murat traveled Europe trying to regain his fortune and perhaps a throne.  France was governed by the “Citizen King” Louis Philippe from 1830 to 1848, ending Bourbon rule forever in the country.

Murat returned to Florida in 1834. After a brief period in New Orleans, he returned to the Tallahassee area and died in 1847. His wife lived on and when Louis Napoleon (Emperor Napoleon III) took over France, he provided Murat’s widow with a nice income which she invested in the Bellevue Plantation that is now part of the Tallahassee Museum.