The overlooked, underrated, and forgotten ...

[relative autonomy]

The Hukbalahap war in the Philippines is a huge one. It should be one of the great examples of how to do COIN properly, but it's relegated to the margins because Malaya was roughly contemporaneous and made a bigger splash.

That's were Edward Lansdale earned his status COIN expert and propelled him to Vietnam.

I just read Edward Lansdale's Cold War:Culture, Politics, and the Cold War by Jonathan Nashel. It's interesting becuase it talks a bit about all the ways Lansdale is remembered and all the ways his legacy is used by different communities.

Also what about King Philip's War? I believe that was the bloodiest conflict per capita ever fought on North America.