Americans had suffered about 60 casualties. The British decamped from New Orleans at the end of January, but they still remained a threat. Jackson refused to lift martial law and kept the militia under arms. He approved the execution of six militiamen for desertion. Some Creoles registered as French citizens with the French consul and demanded to be discharged from the militia due to their foreign nationality. Jackson then ordered all French citizens to leave the city within three days, and had a member of the Louisiana legislature, Louis Louaillier, arrested when he wrote a newspaper article criticizing Jackson's continuation of martial law. U.S. District Court Judge Dominic A. Hall signed a writ of habeas corpus for Louailler's release. Jackson had Hall arrested too. A military court ordered Louiallier's release, but Jackson kept him in prison and evicted Hall from the city. Although Jackson lifted martial law when he received official word that the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war with the British, had been signed, his previous behavior tainted his reputation in New Orleans. Jackson's victory made him a national hero, and on February 27, 1815, he was given the Thanks of Congress and awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. Though the Treaty of Ghent had been signed in December 1814 before the Battle of New Orleans was fought, Jackson's victory assured that the United States control of the region between Mobile and New Orleans would not be effectively contested by European powers. This control allowed the American government to ignore one of the articles in the treaty, which would have returned the Creek lands taken in the Treaty of Fort Jackson. First Seminole War Following the war, Jackson remained in command of troops in the southern half of the United States and was permitted to make his headquarters at the Hermitage. Jackson continued to displace the Native Americans in areas under his command. Despite resistance from the Secretary of the Treasury William Crawford, who tried to help the Native Americans retain their land, Jackson signed five treaties between 1816 and 1820, including the Treaty of Tuscaloosa and the Treaty of Doak's Stand, in which the Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee and Chickasaw ceded tens of millions of acres of land to the United States. Jackson would soon find himself embroiled in conflict in the Floridas. The former British post at Prospect Bluff, which became known to Americans as “the Negro