Sparks' memoirs state that high hills came up to the creek. I don't know of anywhere around "the horseshoe" that fits that description. Sparks could have been mistaken as his memoirs were written long after the war but were reviewed by officers and fellow soldiers. A later writer interviewed local Cherokee who were at the battle and stated they showed him where it was fought on the Lula Phillips allotment. The Lula Phillips allotment is further south and west on Delaware Creek and there are "high hills" on the southside. However, there is an allotment for Lula Brown (if I recall correctly) that is very near the horseshoe on Bird Creek and I wonder if the writer mixed up the names. I believe there is another Phillips allotment, perhaps Lula's father, that is near the horseshoe. The very pronounced horseshoe on Bird Creek doesn't look like a "horseshoe" on older maps. On the allotment maps it is a sort of lopsided V. Of course, they didn't have the benefit of aeral photography but it was based on a general land survey. I have been told that "cannon balls" have been recovered within the horseshoe but I'm not aware of any artillery being present at the battle.

Ken