Today (12/9/2011) is the 150th anniversary of the action at Chusto Tallasha (Caving Banks) near what is now Speery, Oklahoma. Here Opothleyahola set up an ambush in a deep bend of Bird Creek and awaited the expected attack by Cooper's and Watie's regiments. The battle raged for hours, but was a tactical victory for the "neutralists" (who were more "anti-McIntosh" than they were "pro-Union").

This was the second major blood-sheding event in the War in the Indian Territory. A doctor from Virginia, visiting Fort Gibson (about 1997), screamed at me: "There WAS no Civil War out here!!!!!!" and his face turned as red as the highlighted boxes on this page. (Actually it was a pre-stroke purplish red, but whatever.) We must do all we need to do to insure that people "back east" learn and never forget the fact that on a per-capita basis the war "out here" was more devistating than the March through Georgia.

There were 107 documented "hostilities" in the Territory or immediately adjacent thereto (participated in by IT troops). By definition there were no "battles" but there were several "engagements" and more "actions", "skirmishes", and "encounters." By the War's end 40% of the children were fatherless and 30% were complete orphans. The economy of the Territory had been set back a full generation.