Today is the anniversary of this obscure battle in the French-Chickasaw war of 1736 in Northeast Mississippi. Wiki here. I thought I was well-read on American history but I'd never heard of this one. An observer called Red Shoes is quoted as saying 'that our troops heavily clad marched with too slow a step and so close together that it was impossible for the Chickasaws to fire without killing some of them and wounding several.' An end to French ambitions in the southeast. There is a novel Ackia: The Battle to Save the Chickasaw Nation that looks worth getting - funds going to a good cause.
The Battle of Ackia is one of the most important events in American history because it marks the beginning of the end of French colonization in America. The French had a larger land claim than the British in America, however the Chickasaws kept them from linking French colonies in Canada to French Louisiana. The inability of the French to defeat the Chickasaws frustrated Bienville and later caused the French to give up American colonization, which in turn led the way for British colonization.
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