The Battle of Hungry Hill, also known as the Battle of Grave Creek Hills or Battle of Bloody Springs,
[{{cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ObHpCAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Bloody+springs%22+oregon&pg=PT326, title=The WPA Guide to Oregon: The Beaver State, first=Federal Writers', last=Project, date=31 October 2013, publisher=Trinity University Press, isbn=9781595342355, via=Google Books] was the largest battle of the
Rogue River Wars
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 o ...
.
It occurred on October 31, 1855. The Native Americans (men, women and children)
were camped on the top of a hill, with the soldiers located across a narrow ravine about 1,500 feet deep.
Two hundred of the Native Americans were in the mountains southwest of present-day
Roseburg armed with
muzzleloader
A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern (higher tech and harder to make) design ...
s, bows, and arrows and managed to hold off a group of "more than 300 ... dragoons, militiamen and volunteers".
[Kimberly A.C. Wilson]
"Hungry Hill, the Lost Site of Historic Indian Battle in Southern Oregon, is Found"
''The Oregonian,'' Oct. 12, 2012.
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."
Location
In 2012, the location of the Battle of Hungry Hill was discovered by archeologists from
Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997.Kre ...
's Laboratory of Anthropology.
[ICTMN Staff]
"Lost Oregon Indian Battlefield Discovery Attributable to ‘Detective Work'"
''Indian Country Today'' Media Network, 7 Nov. 2012. 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.''"
Sources
1855 in Oregon Territory
Rogue River Wars