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Jackson defeated the Red Stick Creeks at the [[Wikipedia:Battle of Horseshoe Bend|Battle of Horseshoe Bend]] on [[March 27]], [[1814]]. Eight hundred "Red Sticks" were killed, but Jackson spared chief [[William Weatherford]]. After the victory, Jackson imposed the [[Wikipedia:Treaty of Fort Jackson|Treaty of Fort Jackson]] upon both the Northern Creek enemies and the Southern Creek allies, wresting twenty million acres from all Creeks for white settlement. Jackson was appointed Major General after this action.
[[Image:JacksonPensacola1814.jpg|thumb|right|Jackson at the [[Battle of Pensacola]], [[November 7]], [[(1814)]]]]Knowing that British forces were using [[Third Spanish period|Spanish West Florida]] as a staging ground for their attacks, Jackson established a force at [[Mobile]] in August 1814 in preparation to march on Pensacola. They arrived at the city on [[November 6]] and initiated communication with the Spanish governor, [[Mateo Gonzáles Manrique]]. The first messenger Jackson sent, Major [[Henri Peire]], was fired upon by the garrison at [[Fort San Miguel]] despite Peire's white flag of truce. Next Jackson sent a Spanish prisoner to the fort bearing the same demand to surrender, insisting he was not making war on Spain, but Manrique refused. As Jackson's forces [[Battle of Pensacola(1814)|advanced upon the city]] the [[November 7|next morning]], Manrique surrendered within minutes — though the commanders stalled for several hours in vain hope of British reinforcement. Before Jackson could move on the remaining British forces at [[Fort San Carlos de Barrancas]], they organized a hasty retreat on [[November 8]], blowing up the harbor defenses as they evacuated.
Jackson's actions at Pensacola were precarious for American diplomacy, and Secretary of State [[Wikipedia:James Monroe|James Monroe]] wrote with instructions to "withdraw your troops from the Spanish Territory, declaring that you had entered it for the sole purpose of freeing it from the British violation."<ref>David Stephen Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. ''Old Hickory's War: Andrew Jackson and the Quest for Empire''. LSU Press, 2003.</ref> Even before receiving this correspondence, Jackson had returned the city to Manrique's control on [[November 9]], saying that the "enemy having disappeared and the hostile creeks fled to the Forest, I retire from your Town, and leave you again at liberty to occupy your Fort."<ref>Robert V. Remini. ''The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America's First Military Victory''. Penguin, 2001.</ref>
