The Rogue River Wars ended Native American resistance in southern Oregon and led to forced relocation of multiple tribes to reservations.
Key Facts
- Conflict duration
- 1855–1856
- Theater
- Rogue Valley, southern Oregon
- Prior skirmishes as early as
- 1830s
- Tribes relocated to Coast Reservation
- Tolowa and ~20 other tribes
- Modern reservation name
- Siletz Reservation, near Newport, Oregon
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Decades of tension between European American settlers and Native American tribes over territory and resources in the Rogue Valley produced numerous skirmishes from as early as the 1830s. Escalating competition for land in southern Oregon eventually triggered open armed conflict by October 1855.
The Rogue River Wars were a military conflict from 1855 to 1856 in which the U.S. Army, local militias, and volunteers fought against the Native American peoples collectively known as the Rogue River Indians across the Rogue Valley of what is now southern Oregon.
Following the conclusion of hostilities, the United States forcibly removed the Tolowa and numerous other tribes to reservations. The Tillamook, Siletz, and roughly 20 other tribes were placed at the Coast Indian Reservation, now known as the Siletz Reservation along the Siletz River in the Central Coastal Range of Oregon.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent