British traders and Spanish colonial officials in Florida supplied the Red Sticks with weapons and equipment due to their shared interest in preventing the expansion of the United States into regions under their control.

Major engagements of the war involved the United States military and the Red Sticks (or Upper Creeks), a Muscogee tribal faction who resisted U.S. territorial expansion.

[5] The provinces of East and West Florida, governed by Spanish and British firms like Panton, Leslie, and Co., provided most of the European trading goods into Creek country.

In 1810, following the occupation of Baton Rouge during the West Florida Rebellion, the United States sent an expeditionary force to occupy Mobile.

As a result, Mobile was jointly occupied by weak detachments of American and Spanish soldiers until Secretary of War John Armstrong ordered General James Wilkinson to force the Spaniards to turn over control of the city in February 1813.

[7] The Spaniards decided to support the Creeks in an attack on the United States and in defense of their homeland, but were greatly hindered by their weak position in the Floridas and lack of supplies even for their own army.

[10] The Red Sticks particularly resisted the "civilization" programs administered by the U.S. Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins, who had stronger alliances among the towns of the Lower Creek.

[11] Leaders of the Lower Creek towns in present-day Georgia included Bird Tail King (Fushatchie Mico) of Cusseta, Little Prince (Tustunnuggee Hopoi) of Broken Arrow, and William McIntosh (Tunstunuggee Hutkee, White Warrior) of Coweta.

Although the Americans dismissed Tecumseh as non-threatening, his message of resistance to Anglo encroachment was well received among Creek and Seminole, especially among more conservative and traditional elders and young men.

[18] The first major offensive of the civil war was the Red Stick attack on the Upper Creek town, and seat of the council, at Tuckabatchee on July 22, 1813.

[19] Although there were a few limited attacks on whites in 1812 and early 1813, Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins did not believe that the disruption in the Creek Nation or the increasing war dances were a cause for concern.

But in February 1813, a small war party of Red Sticks, led by Little Warrior, were returning from Detroit when they killed two families of settlers along the Ohio River.

Federal forces were busy fighting the British and Northern Woodland tribes, led by the Shawnee chief Tecumseh in the Northwest.

After the Battle of Burnt Corn, U.S. Secretary of War John Armstrong notified General Thomas Pinckney, Commander of the 6th Military District, that the U.S. was prepared to take action against the Creek Confederacy.

Blount called out a force of 2,500 West Tennessee men under Colonel Andrew Jackson to "repel an approaching invasion ... and to afford aid and relief to ... Mississippi Territory".

At the request of Chief Federal Agent Return J. Meigs (called "White Eagle" by the Indians for the color of his hair), the Cherokee Nation voted to join the Americans in their fight against the Red Sticks.

[31] In addition, Benjamin Hawkins wrote to Brigadier General John Floyd on September 30 that the Red Stick war party had "received 25 small guns" at Pensacola.

The proximity of Jasper and Jones counties to hostile Creek towns resulted in a regiment of Georgia volunteer militia under Major General David Adams.

[33] Due to the state's failure to secure supplies early enough in the year, Floyd gained a few months to train and drill the men at Fort Hawkins.

On November 24, General Floyd crossed the Chattahoochee and established Fort Mitchell, where he was joined by 300-400 Creek from Coweta, organized under McIntosh.

[c] In October, General Thomas Flournoy organized a force of about 1,000—consisting of the Third United States Infantry, militia, volunteers, and Choctaw Indians—at Fort Stoddert.

General Claiborne, ordered to lay waste to Creek property near the junction of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers, advanced from Fort St. Stephen.

Jackson's plan was to move south, build roads, destroy Upper Creek towns, and then later proceed to Mobile to stage an attack on Spanish-held Pensacola.

On November 3, his top cavalry officer, Brigadier General John Coffee, defeated a band of Red Sticks at the Battle of Tallushatchee.

It was a long march through difficult terrain against a numerically superior force, the men were inexperienced, undisciplined, and insubordinate, and a defeat would have prolonged the war.

[47] The arrival of the 39th United States Infantry on February 6, 1814, provided Jackson a disciplined core for his force, which ultimately grew to about 5,000 men.

After Governor Blount ordered the second draft of Tennessee militia, Cocke, with a force of 2,000 six-month men, once again marched from Knoxville to Fort Strother.

Leaving another garrison there, he then moved on Tohopeka with a force of about 3,000 effective fighting men augmented by 600 Cherokee and Lower Creek allies.

[51] Pensacola had been a supply point for Red Sticks (see Battle of Burnt Corn Creek) and the Corps of Colonial Marines at Prospect Bluff.

On-going issues during 1816-1817 between residents along the border of the United States and Spanish Florida resulted in several incidents such as the battles of the Negro Fort, and Fowltown as well as the Scott massacare.