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] 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.

Back then, Oregon telegraph cables were in their infancy, and photographers who would document the Civil War several years later were not on hand.