Battle of Hungry Hill

Last updated
Battle of Hungry Hill
Part of American Indian Wars and Rogue River Wars
DateOctober 31, 1855
Location
Result Native American Victory
Belligerents
Rogue River Indians Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Commanders and leaders
Chief George
Strength
200 Native Americans (including non-combatants) 100 US Army dragoons
200 Militia
Casualties and losses
less than 20 killed or woundedArmy:
4 killed
7 wounded

Militia:
7 killed
20 wounded

The Battle of Hungry Hill, also known as the Battle of Grave Creek Hills [1] or Battle of Bloody Springs, [2] was the largest battle of the Rogue River Wars. [3] It occurred on October 31, 1855. The Native Americans (men, women and children) [4] were camped on the top of a hill, with the soldiers located across a narrow ravine about 1,500 feet deep. [4] Two hundred of the Native Americans were in the mountains southwest of present-day Roseburg [4] armed with muzzleloaders, bows, and arrows and managed to hold off a group of "more than 300 ... dragoons, militiamen and volunteers". [4]

Contents

Battle

The U.S. troops had planned a surprise attack, but their position was given away by a warming fire. Seeing that they had been discovered, the soldiers attempted to charge down the ravine and up the other side, but were thwarted, as the Native Americans had good cover in the high ground, and many proved to be good marksmen. "U.S. troops and militiamen retreated out of the mountains ... As many as 36 were dead, missing or severely wounded. Native casualties numbered fewer than 20." [4]

Location

In 2012, the location of the Battle of Hungry Hill was discovered by archeologists from Southern Oregon University's Laboratory of Anthropology. [3] Mark Tveskov, who discovered the site using metal detectors, states that although this battle involving 500 people was a "major defeat" for U.S. troops, it is not well known. He attributes this in part to "the disappointment and blame among militiamen and Army regulars over the defeat. Back then, Oregon telegraph cables were in their infancy, and photographers who would document the Civil War several years later were not on hand. If Hungry Hill had happened after the Civil War, it would have been front-page news in the New York Times." [4]

Sources

  1. "Rogue River War of 1855-1856". oregonencyclopedia.org.
  2. Project, Federal Writers' (31 October 2013). The WPA Guide to Oregon: The Beaver State. Trinity University Press. ISBN   9781595342355 via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 ICTMN Staff, "Lost Oregon Indian Battlefield Discovery Attributable to ‘Detective Work'", Indian Country Today Media Network, 7 Nov. 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 https://news.sou.edu/2012/09/sou-archaeologists-discover-lost-indian-war-battlefield/ "SOU Archaeologists Discover Lost Indian War Battlefield"], SOU News, Sept, 2012.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Little Bighorn</span> 1876 battle of the Great Sioux War

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which resulted in the defeat of U.S. forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876. It took place on June 25–26, 1876, along the Little Bighorn River in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Hawk War</span> 1832 conflict between the United States and Native Americans

The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crossed the Mississippi River, to the U.S. state of Illinois, from Iowa Indian Territory in April 1832. Black Hawk's motives were ambiguous, but he was apparently hoping to reclaim land that was taken over by the United States in the disputed 1804 Treaty of St. Louis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Crook</span> 19th-century U.S. Army officer

George R. Crook was a career United States Army officer who served in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. He is best known for commanding U.S. forces in the 1886 campaign that led to the defeat of the Apache leader Geronimo. As a result, the Apache nicknamed Crook Nantan Lupan, which means "Grey Wolf."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Indian Wars</span> Frontier conflicts in North America, 1609–1890s

The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were initially fought by European governments and also by the colonists in North America, and then later on by the United States government and American settlers, against various American Indian tribes. These conflicts occurred in the United States from the time of the earliest colonial settlements in the 17th century until the end of the 19th century. The various wars resulted from a wide variety of factors, the most common being the desire of settlers and governments for Indian tribes' lands. The European powers and their colonies also enlisted allied Indian tribes to help them conduct warfare against each other's colonial settlements. After the American Revolution, many conflicts were local to specific states or regions and frequently involved disputes over land use; some entailed cycles of violent reprisal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modoc War</span> 1872–73 conflict between the Native American Modoc people and the U.S. Army

The Modoc War, or the Modoc Campaign, was an armed conflict between the Native American Modoc people and the United States Army in northeastern California and southeastern Oregon from 1872 to 1873. Eadweard Muybridge photographed the early part of the US Army's campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Lane</span> American politician and soldier

Joseph Lane was an American politician and soldier. He was a state legislator representing Evansville, Indiana, and then served in the Mexican–American War, becoming a general. President James K. Polk appointed Lane as the first Governor of Oregon Territory. When Oregon was admitted as a state in 1859, Lane was elected one of Oregon's first two U.S. Senators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Cowpens</span> 1781 battle during the American Revolutionary War

The Battle of Cowpens was an engagement during the American Revolutionary War fought on January 17, 1781 near the town of Cowpens, South Carolina, between American Patriot forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and British forces, nearly half American Loyalists, under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, as part of the campaign in the Carolinas. The battle was a turning point in the American reconquest of South Carolina from the British.

The Snake War (1864–1868) was an irregular war fought by the United States of America against the "Snake Indians," the settlers' term for Northern Paiute, Bannock and Western Shoshone bands who lived along the Snake River. Fighting took place in the states of Oregon, Nevada, and California, and in Idaho Territory. Total casualties from both sides of the conflict numbered 1,762 dead, wounded, or captured.

The Cayuse War was an armed conflict that took place in the Northwestern United States from 1847 to 1855 between the Cayuse people of the region and the United States Government and local American settlers. Caused in part by the influx of disease and settlers to the region, the immediate start of the conflict occurred in 1847 when the Whitman massacre took place at the Whitman Mission near present-day Walla Walla, Washington when thirteen people were killed in and around the mission. Over the next few years the Provisional Government of Oregon and later the United States Army battled the Native Americans east of the Cascades. This was the first of several wars between the Native Americans and American settlers in that region that would lead to the negotiations between the United States and Native Americans of the Columbia Plateau, creating a number of Indian reservations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yakima War</span> 19th-century conflict between the United States and the Yakama people

The Yakima War (1855–1858), also referred to as the Plateau War or Yakima Indian War, was a conflict between the United States and the Yakama, a Sahaptian-speaking people of the Northwest Plateau, then part of Washington Territory, and the tribal allies of each. It primarily took place in the southern interior of present-day Washington. Isolated battles in western Washington and the northern Inland Empire are sometimes separately referred to as the Puget Sound War and the Coeur d'Alene War, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1st Cavalry Regiment (United States)</span> Military unit

The 1st Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army regiment that has its antecedents in the early 19th century in the formation of the United States Regiment of Dragoons. To this day, the unit's special designation is "First Regiment of Dragoons". While they were the First Regiment of Dragoons another unit designated the 1st Cavalry Regiment was formed in 1855 and in 1861 was re-designated as the 4th Cavalry Regiment. The First Dragoons became the 1st Cavalry Regiment since they were the oldest mounted regiment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rogue River Wars</span> 1855-56 conflict between Native American tribes and U.S. soldiers and settlers in Oregon

The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the U.S. Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue River Valley area of what today is southern Oregon. The conflict designation usually includes only the hostilities that took place during 1855–1856, but there had been numerous previous skirmishes, as early as the 1830s, between European American settlers and the Native Americans, over territory and resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Wood Lake</span> Final battle in U.S.–Dakota War of 1862

The Battle of Wood Lake occurred on September 23, 1862, and was the final battle in the Dakota War of 1862. The two-hour battle, which actually took place at nearby Lone Tree Lake, was a decisive victory for the U.S. forces led by Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley. With heavy casualties inflicted on the Dakota forces led by Chief Little Crow, the "hostile" Dakota warriors dispersed. Little Crow and 150 followers fled for the northern plains, while other Mdewakantons quietly joined the "friendly" Dakota camp started by the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands, which would soon become known as Camp Release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Table Rock Indian Reservation</span>

Table Rock Reservation was a short-lived Indian reservation north of the Rogue River in Oregon, United States. It was established by treaty with the Rogue River Indians in 1853. Following the conclusion of the Rogue River Wars in 1856, the Native American inhabitants were moved to other reservations. The reservation was in Southern Oregon, between Upper Table Rock and Evans Creek.

Latgawa are Native American people who lived in the Rogue Valley of interior southwest Oregon. In their own language "Latgawa" /latʰka:wàʔ/ means "those living in the uplands," though they were also known as the Walumskni by the neighboring Klamath tribe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Umpqua</span>

Fort Umpqua was a trading post built by the Hudson's Bay Company in the company's Columbia District, in what is now the U.S. state of Oregon. It was first established in 1832 and moved and rebuilt in 1836.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudbury Fight</span> Battle during King Philips War

The Sudbury Fight was a battle of King Philip's War, fought in what is today Sudbury and Wayland, Massachusetts, when approximately five hundred Wampanoag, Nipmuc, and Narragansett Native Americans raided the frontier settlement of Sudbury in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Disparate companies of English militiamen from nearby settlements marched to the town's defense, two of which were drawn into Native ambushes and suffered heavy losses. The battle was the last major Native American victory in King Philip's War before their final defeat in southern New England in August 1676.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native American peoples of Oregon</span> Indigenous people of the area now known as Oregon

The Native American peoples of Oregon are the set of Indigenous peoples who have inhabited or who still inhabit the area delineated in today's state of Oregon in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. While the state of Oregon currently maintains relations with nine federally recognized tribal groups, the state was previously home to a much larger number of autonomous tribal groups, which today either no longer exist or have been absorbed into these larger confederated entities. Six of the nine tribes gained federal recognition in the late 20th century, after undergoing the termination and restoration of their treaty rights starting in the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John E. Ross</span> American politician

John England Ross was an American politician born in Madison County, Ohio. He led volunteer forces from Oregon in the Cayuse War and the Modoc War, prospected for gold in the California Gold Rush, and represented Jackson County, Oregon in the Oregon Territorial Legislature and Oregon State Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tecumtum</span> American Indian chief (died 1864)

Chief Tecumtum, was the chief of the Etch-ka-taw-wah band of Athabaskan Indians and a leader in the Rogue River Wars. He signed three treaties with the United States between 1851 and 1854.