Jackson was the last man to suppose that warfare in the southern half of the United States was a thing of the past.  He knew that the late contest had left the southern Indians restless and that the existing treaties were likely to be repudiated at any moment.  Florida was still in the hands of the Spaniards, and he had never a doubt that some day this territory would have to be conquered and annexed.  Moreover Jackson believed for some years after 1815, according to General Eaton, that Great Britain would again make war on the United States, using Florida as a base.  At all events, it can have caused the General no surprise—­or regret—­to be called again into active service on the Florida border before the close of 1817.

The hold of the Spaniards upon Florida had been so far weakened by the War of 1812 that after the restoration of peace they occupied only three important points—­Pensacola, St. Marks, and St. Augustine.  The rest of the territory became a No Man’s Land, an ideal resort for desperate adventurers of every race and description.  There was a considerable Indian population, consisting mainly of Seminoles, a tribe belonging to the Creek Confederacy, together with other Creeks who had fled across the border to escape the vengeance of Jackson at Tohopeka.  All were bitterly hostile to the United States.  There were Spanish freebooters, Irish roustabouts, Scotch free lances, and runaway slaves—­a nondescript lot, and all ready for any undertaking that promised excitement, revenge, or booty.  Furthermore there were some British soldiers who had remained on their own responsibility after the troops were withdrawn.  The leading spirit among these was Colonel Edward Nicholls, who had already made himself obnoxious to the United States by his conduct at Pensacola.

At the close of the war Nicholls and his men built a fort on the Apalachicola, fifteen miles from the Gulf, and began again to collect and organize fugitive slaves, Indians, and adventurers of every sort, whom they employed on raids into the territory of the United States and in attacks upon its inhabitants.  The Creeks were falsely informed that in the Treaty of Ghent the United States had promised to give up all lands taken from them during the late war, and they were thus incited to rise in vindication of their alleged rights.  What Nicholls was aiming at came out when, in company with several chieftains, he returned to England to ask for an alliance between the “mother country” and his buccaneer state.  He met no encouragement, however, and in reply to an American protest the British Government repudiated his arts.  His role was nevertheless promptly taken up by a misguided Scotch trader, Alexander Arbuthnot, and the reign of lawlessness continued.