The Battle of Island Flats was yet another step in the Chickamauga War, or the Cherokee-American War (call it what you like).

We first talked about this on July 1, when the first attacks began in earnest. And then again just under a week ago at the Battle of Fort Lindley. The thing about these conflicts is that they tended to come in bunches, and then there would be long periods in which nothing happened. So it was never easy to determine whether the battles were over. Island Flats was also the farthest west battle of the war, thus far, so this was probably not viewed right away as an extension of the previous two.

Unfortunately, the battles went on (and off) for over fifteen years before the Army came in with a major offensive, and the Cherokees were forced to seek a peace treaty. It didn’t end tensions between the Native Americans and the US government, to be sure, but some peace is better than none, I guess.

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