Negro Fort

Jackson dispatched General Gaines to destroy the fort. His orders to Gaines made it clear: this was a mission to return stolen property. Jackson was sending the army on a slave-catching expedition, without regard to national consensus or Spanish sovereignty:

"I have little doubt of the fact, that this fort has been established by some villains for rapine and plunder, and that it ought to be blown up, regardless of the land on which it stands; and if your mind shall have formed the same conclusion, destroy it and return the stolen Negroes and property to their rightful owners."