In 1863, the Union gunboat USS Conestoga cut the levee, causing significant flooding to the town and surrounding area.

During the Civil War, the island was used by the Union Army as a woodyard, and a group of freed slaves lived there, cutting and stacking wood.

Previous cutoffs had been constructed along the river, and were of commercial benefit because they allowed ships to bypass lengthy U-shaped bends.

Typically, cutoffs were created by digging a channel across a peninsula, leaving the bypassed bend to form an oxbow lake.

This channel permits spawning fish to enter Lake Whittington, and provides recreational boaters with access to the river.