In 1814, Britain was still at war with the United States, and many British commanders started recruiting Indian allies. In May 1814, a British force entered the mouth of the Apalachicola River, and distributed arms to the Seminole and Creek warriors, and fugitive slaves. The British moved upriver and began building a fort at Prospect Bluff. A company of Royal Marines, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nicolls, was to subsequently arrive, but was invited to relocate to Pensacola in late August 1814. It was estimated, by Captain Lockyer of , that in August 1814 there were 1,000 Indians at Pensacola, of whom 700 were warriors. Two months after the British and their Indian allies were beaten back from an attack on Fort Bowyer near Mobile, a US force led by General Jackson drove the British out of Pensacola, and back to the Apalachicola River. They managed to continue work on the fort at Prospect Bluff.