Bastones Rojos
Internal Creek tensions resulted in the Creek War (1813-1814), when tensions between the Lower Creeks and the traditional Red Sticks of the Upper Towns erupted into open conflict. McIntosh and other Lower Creeks allied with United States forces against the Red Sticks after 1813, during the War of 1812. The Red Sticks were allied with the British, as both wanted to limit American expansion in the Southeast. McIntosh fought in support of General Andrew Jackson and state militias in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, marking the defeat in 1814 of the Red Sticks and the end of the Creek War. McIntosh was made a brigadier general of the United States Volunteers, although he was never commissioned by the President of the United States he enjoyed the full emoluments, such as pay and allowances for subsistence, forage and servants, as officers of the same rank in the United States Army.