Following the French abandonment of Fort Toulouse in 1763 at the end of the French and Indian War, the river valley was peaceful as first the British and then the American nations claimed the region but few white men came to the area. Relations between the white settlers and Native peoples deteriorated in the first decade of the Nineteenth Century. The United States and Great Britain were at odds during the same time and by late 1813 the Creek War and the War of 1812 were underway. Members of the Creek Nation who wanted to keep their traditional ways and not accept the white man in their country were called the Red Sticks and it was they who warred against the Americans. The members of the Creek Nation who wanted to accept the white man’s ways and live peacefully with them were called the White Sticks and these groups fought along side the Americans against the Red Sticks.
The militias of Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and the Mississippi Territory (which included what would later become Alabama) took to the field to defeat the Creeks. The British who the Americans were also fighting during the War of 1812 supported the Red Stick Creeks though there was little in the way of supplies and no troops in the Fort Jackson area.
The area of the headwaters of the Alabama River and the Hickory Ground (Wetumpka) was the goal of the American armies coming from the East, West, and North. It was believed that the great battle to end the Creek War would come near the juncture of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers.
The Armies fought battles from each direction but the battle that broke the Creek effort came at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. Indian survivors of this battle fled south toward the Hickory Ground. The army led by Andrew Jackson pushed the same direction and hoped to link with the army from Georgia also moving toward the Hickory Ground. The forces were unable to catch the fleeing Indians but they did join and soon encamped where Fort Toulouse-Fort Jackson Park is located.
The militia troops from Tennessee returned home and soldiers from North Carolina, South Carolina and the regular army began building a large earthen fort. The fort was named by General Thomas Pinckney for his subordinate Andrew Jackson.
Fort Jackson had a moat that was seven feet deep and dirt walls ranging in height from 7 ½ feet to 9 feet high. When finished the fort contained barracks space to house 200 soldiers. A garrison was kept here as the focus of these armies changed to the war with the British and activities occurring on the Gulf Coast. During this time thousands of troops passed through the site on their way south.
In August of 1814 the Treaty of Fort Jackson was signed officially ending the Creek War. The Creeks agreed to give the United States more than twenty million acres as reparations for the war. This land was the majority of what became the State of Alabama.
Soldiers continued to occupy the post until 1816. In 1817 and 1818 efforts to build a town at the site were begun and Fort Jackson Town was born. This town served as the first county seat for Montgomery County but by 1819 the town of Montgomery had become the principle place in the County and Fort Jackson Town was abandoned soon returning to forest and fields.