No, Col Copper did not follow Yahola west across the creek. His men were tired, out of ammo, and night had fallen. Plus they could only cross a few at a time, and would have been easily picked off while lumbering up the other side. I think Yahola wanted a truce, but Cooper wanted to be a general, so he "cooked the books" and picked a fight. This battle was a "holding action" for Yahola since he had no way of resupplying his ammo, and he had women, children and livestock which is not a good battle scenario. His people went up Bird creeks' west side and turned onto Hominy or Shoal creek where it feeds into Bird Creek about a mile north. They followed Shoal creek northwest up toward what is now Skiatook Lake. This is where the final battle took place. Chusto Talasa took place on the east side of the creek and was passable at only one spot, the high shoals or Fonta-Hulwatche near the middle of the horseshoe. The nearest crossing was five miles north at present day Skiatook. There is a large drop-off from the site of the cabin to about a hundred yards of rough(nearly impassable even today) bottom land to the creek. Cooper called this drop-off the parapet (embankment) in his description.
Col. Cooper also hung any indian deserters who they captured from an old elm tree beside the cabin. The H U G E elm was still there in the 1970s. A Cherokee friend came to visit(having never been there) and got out of his truck, said hello and stopped in his tracks. With fear in his eyes, he backed up and said "there's bad medicine on that tree" My friend told him they hung Cherokees there in the Civil War. He again said "bad medicine, the spirits of the dead indians are in the owls" We thought that was eerie. The tree was getting dangerous from age and decay a few years later, so we had to start cutting it down piece by piece(it was huge) While cutting the first limbs, a "flock" of owls flew out of the bottom and started screaming and circling above us. I don't think owls run in flocks. But there they were. I still can't accept this or even put my head around it. I have a science background and am not religious. Oh well. P.S. I am not Cherokee, but the pronunciation of my last name always made Cherokee men laugh. It sounds just like the words for big pu**y So that is how I am known to them.