Two and one-half miles to the east, near the confluence of Long-Swamp Creek and the Etowah River, lies the traditional site of Taliwa, scene of the fiercest and most decisive battle in the long war of the 1740's and 50's between the Cherokee and Creek Indians. There, about 1755, the great Cherokee war-chief Oconostota led 500 of his warriors to victory over a larger band of Creeks. The defeat was so complete that the Creeks retreated south of the Chattahoochee River, leaving to the Cherokee the region that later became the heart of the ill-fated Cherokee Nation.