[[File:Aj-map1812.jpg|thumb|350px|Jackson's campaigns]]
Jackson led two great victories in the [[War of 1812]]--the first against the "Red Stick" Creek Indian forces that had raided, raped and killed American settlers and assimilated Indians in what is now Alabama. Indians seldom fought pitched battles; they preferred the ambush. Jackson, aided by Cherokee allies, trapped the Creeks at Horseshoe Bend in Alabama in March 1814, and killed over 800 enemy; the rest fled to Spanish Florida.(See [[Creek War]].)
Jackson led a contingent of Tennessee and Kentucky militia who routed over 2,000 British troops in the [[Battle of New Orleans]] in Jan. 1815. The defeat ended British plans to turn the Mississippi Valley into a pro-British Indian nation. It was a great victory for Jackson and became source of enormous pride to all Americans.<ref> The battle happened after the peace treaty was signed, but before it was ratified and went into effect.</ref>