Battle of Pensacola (1814)

Battle of Pensacola
Part of the War of 1812
Jackson and his troops entering Pensacola on November 6, 1814
Date 7–9 November 1814 Location Pensacola, Spanish Florida Result American victory Territorial changes United States occupation of Pensacola
Belligerents
United States	United Kingdom Creek Native Americans Spanish Florida
Commanders and leaders
Andrew Jackson	Mateo Manrique  Edward Nicolls James Alexander Gordon[1][2]
Strength
4,000 infantry 5 artillery pieces	British: 200 infantry from Royal Marines, Red Sticks and Royal Marine Artillery[3][4] Unknown artillery and black slaves 1 fort 1 coastal battery Creek: Unknown warriors Spanish: 500 infantry unknown artillery pieces 1 fort
Casualties and losses
American: 7 killed and 11 wounded[5]	Spanish: 14 killed and 6 wounded[6]

The Battle of Pensacola (7–9 November 1814) took place during the Creek War, part of the War of 1812, in which American forces fought against forces from Great Britain and Spanish Florida who were aided by the Creek Indians and African-American slaves allied with the British.^[7] General Andrew Jackson led his infantry against British and Spanish forces controlling the city of Pensacola in Spanish Florida. Allied forces abandoned the city, and the remaining Spanish forces surrendered to Jackson.

The battle was the only engagement of the war to take place within the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Spain, which was angered by the rapid withdrawal of British forces. Britain's naval squadron of five warships also withdrew from the city.^[8][9]

Many refugees fled to Spanish West Florida after the Red Stick Creeks were defeated at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The presence of the Creek refugees had motivated British Brevet Captain George Woodbine of the Royal Marines to travel to Pensacola in July 1814.^[10] Woodbine's liaisons with the refugees and the Spanish governor in Pensacola enabled the British to maintain a military presence at Pensacola from August 23, 1814,^[11] initially occupying Fort San Miguel^[12] and the town itself. British relations deteriorated with Mateo González Manrique, the Spanish governor,^[13] so the British force left the town and consolidated in the outlying Fort San Carlos and at the Santa Rosa Punta de Siguenza battery (later rebuilt as Fort Pickens).^[14]

Upon receiving reports that Manrique had allowed the British to land on Spanish soil to arm natives at war with the United States, and had not intervened, Jackson's letter to Manrique dated July 12 warned of "disagreeable consequences" if this intelligence was true.^[15][16] Manrique's response dated July 26 referred to the site of the landing as being in the territory of the Indians, not the Spanish. Regarding the surrender of two chiefs to the Americans, their presence being denied, he deplored the hypocrisy with which Spanish fugitives had been allowed to roam free by the Americans. He was critical that Baratarian pirates led by Jean Lafitte were undertaking their operations from American soil, and had not been apprehended by the authorities, resulting in losses to Spanish citizens.^[17]

It became apparent that Jackson would be prepared to attack Pensacola. Jackson would force the issue, being well aware of Manrique's position of weakness.^[18] In his letter dated August 24, Jackson criticized Manrique for allowing British agents to operate in Pensacola and warned him that he would consider him personally responsible for any depredations suffered by American citizens.^[19]

Manrique was in a precarious situation. He appealed for assistance to his superior in Havana, Juan Ruiz de Apodaca the Captain General of Cuba and Florida, but none was forthcoming.^[20] He reported to Apodaca that he would not be able to prevent the British from landing. He took the initiative, and in August 1814 approached the British, inviting them to Pensacola.^[21] This was a radical change from the existing policy of holding small populated enclaves with the meager garrison, and avoiding confrontation with either the Americans or the British.^[22] The British were observed docking the 25th and unloading the 26th.^[23] It has been theorized that Manrique was anticipating a substantial British force would be deployed to the Gulf Coast, to which Woodbine and Nicolls were a prelude. The evidence indicates this was promised to him by Nicolls. Rumors were circulating in Pensacola that this would be taking place.^[24] In a letter to Manrique dated September 9, Jackson expressed his consternation that the British flag was flown at Pensacola when Florida was 'under the most strict plea of neutrality'.^[25]

Jackson hinted in his letter to James Monroe dated September 5 that the seizure of Pensacola, and its subsequent occupation by an American garrison, in concert with Fort Bowyer at Mobile and a fort on Appalachicola would secure the area.^[25] In response, Monroe's letter to Jackson dated October 21 requests that the matter of Pensacola is not to be addressed by an attack by Jackson, but by diplomatic means, and that instead he is to prepare for the anticipated arrival of a British task force in Louisiana.^[a][26] Before this instruction arrived, Jackson wrote a letter to Monroe, dated October 26, explaining he was going to make an attack, and his rationale for so doing.^[27][28]

General Jackson planned to drive the British from Pensacola in Spanish Florida, then march to New Orleans to defend the city against any British attack.^[29] His forces had been diminished due to desertions,^[3] so he was forced to wait for Brigadier General John Coffee and his volunteers before moving against the city. Jackson and Coffee met at Pierce's Stockade in Alabama.^[30] Jackson assembled a force of up to 4,000 men;^[5] he moved out towards Pensacola on November 2 and reached it on November 6.^[31] The forces in the Anglo-Spanish fort totaled 700 men. It consisted of about 500 Spanish infantry,^[5] with some Spanish artillery pieces, with around 200 British infantry and Creek warriors. Jackson first sent Major Henri Piere as a messenger under a white flag of truce to Spanish Governor Mateo González Manrique. However, the messenger approached the city and was fired upon by the garrison in Fort San Miguel. Jackson then sent a second messenger, this time a Spaniard,^[32] and offered to garrison the forts with Americans, who would hold them until relieved by Spanish troops; this would ensure Spain's neutrality in the conflict. Manrique rejected the offer.^[13]

At dawn, Jackson had 3,000 troops marching on the city.^[31] The Americans flanked the city from the east to avoid fire from the forts and marched along the beachfront,^[33] but the sandy beach made it difficult to move up the artillery. The attack went ahead nonetheless and was met with resistance in the center of town by a line of infantry supported by a battery. However, the Americans charged and captured the battery.^[33]

Fort San Miguel and the garrison numbering 268 troops^[34] surrendered on November 7. Under the terms of the surrender, Jackson's troops would occupy the fort until such time as a relieving force dispatched from Spain were to arrive, thereby denying the British from further violating the neutrality of the Spanish.^[35] Fort San Carlos, which lay 14 miles to the west, remained in British hands.^[36]

Jackson planned to capture the fort by storm the next day, but it was blown up and abandoned before Jackson could move on it and the remaining British withdrew from Pensacola^[35] along with the British squadron (comprising HMS Seahorse (38 guns; Capt. Gordon), HMS Carron (20 guns; Capt. Spencer), HMS Sophie (18 guns), HMS Childers (18 guns; Capt. Umfreville) and HMS Shelburne (12 guns).^[37] A number of Spanish accompanied the retreating British forces^{[38][39][40][41][42][43]} and did not return to Pensacola until 1815.^[44][b][9]

The battle had forced the British out of Pensacola and left the Spanish in control, angered by the British, who had fled in such a hurry once Jackson's force had attacked, for their destruction of the fortifications and the removal of part of the Spanish garrison.^[46] Jackson suspected the squadron which had left Pensacola harbor would return to strike at Mobile, Alabama.^[47] Jackson abandoned Pensacola to the Spanish and set out to Mobile, and upon reaching the town^[14] he received requests to hurry to the defense of New Orleans.^[37]

Admiral Cochrane remarked to General Lambert that the attack on Pensacola had a detrimentally big impact upon the momentum of the offensive against New Orleans.^[6]

American casualties were negligible; around seven dead and eleven wounded. (Two officers and nine enlisted men wounded are documented by Eaton.^[48]) The Spanish suffered fourteen dead and six wounded, according to Owsley.^[6] Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nicolls states there were no deaths among the British, and is of the opinion that the Americans suffered 15 fatalities and numerous casualties.^[c][d]

Four active infantry battalions of the Regular Army (1-1 Inf, 2-1 Inf, 2-7 Inf and 3-7 Inf) perpetuate the lineages of American units (elements of the old 3rd, 39th and 44th Infantry Regiments) that were at the Battle of Pensacola.^{[49][50][51][52]}

• First Battle of Fort Bowyer

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

• "Film reel 4, Admiralty Records, North America, 1815", Letters from Commanders-in-Chief, North America: 1815, nos. 1–126., War of 1812 Documents from the British National Archives microfilm, The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2006, ADM 1/508
• Bassett, John Spencer, ed. (1969) [1927]. Correspondence of Andrew Jackson. Vol. II: May 1, 1814 to December 31, 1819. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington. OCLC 1082121859.
• Eaton, John Henry; Reid, John (1828). The life of Major General Andrew Jackson (3rd ed.). McCarty & Davis.
• Eaton, Joseph H. (2013) [1851]. "Film reel M1832, 1 roll. ARC ID: 1184633.". Returns of Killed and Wounded in Battles or Engagements with Indians and British and Mexican Troops, 1790–1848. Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762–1984. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
• Heidler, David Stephen; Heidler, Jeanne T (2003). Old Hickory's War: Andrew Jackson and the Quest for Empire. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-2867-1.
• Hughes, Christine F.; Brodine, Charles E., eds. (2023). The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Vol. 4. Washington: Naval Historical Center (GPO). ISBN 978-1-943604-36-4.
• Hyde, Samuel C. (2004): A Fierce and Fractious Frontier: The Curious Development of Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1699–2000. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0807129232
• Mahon, John K. (1991): The War Of 1812. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306804298
• Marshall, John (1829). "Percy, William Henry" . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. sup, part 3. London: Longman and company. pp. 64–70.
• Millett, Nathaniel (2005). "Britain's 1814 Occupation of Pensacola and America's Response: An Episode of the War of 1812 in the Southeastern Borderlands". Florida Historical Quarterly. 84 (2): 229–255. JSTOR 30149989.
• Nicolas, Paul Harris (1845): Historical Record of the Royal Marine Forces. Volume 2, 1805–1842
• Owsley, Frank L. Jr. (2017) [1981]. Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands: The Creek War and the Battle of New Orleans, 1812–1815 (PDF). Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8173-1062-2.
• Patterson, Benton Rains (2008), The Generals, Andrew Jackson, Sir Edward Pakenham, and the road to New Orleans, New York: New York University Press, ISBN 978-0-8147-6717-7
• Sugden, John (January 1982). "The Southern Indians in the War of 1812: The Closing Phase". Florida Historical Quarterly. 60 (3): 300. JSTOR 30146793.
• Tucker, Spencer (ed). (2012): The Encyclopedia of the War of 1812: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1851099565

30°24′39″N 87°12′40″W / 30.4107°N 87.2112°W / 30.4107; -87.2112