The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the US 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.
Following conclusion of the war, the United States removed the Tolowa people and other tribes to reservations in Oregon and California.
In central coastal Oregon, the Tillamook, Siletz and about 20 other tribes were placed with Tolowa people at the Coast Indian Reservation. It is now known as the Siletz Reservation, located on land along the Siletz River in the Central Coastal Range, about 15 miles northeast of Newport, Oregon. While the tribes originally spoke 10 distinct languages here, the surviving native language in the 21st century is Siletz Deen-ni, an Athabaskan language related to Tolowa.
The interaction of the Rogue River Indians and the first European-American settlers traveling through the area was relatively peaceful. However, the situation changed drastically with the opening of the Oregon Trail and the gold rushes in northern California and later in eastern Oregon. Larger groups of settlers and miners entered the area, consuming without restrictions the natural resources upon which the Indians relied on for survival, competing for game and fish, and chopping down entire forests of oak trees.