In November of 1851, Col. Silas Casey led some troops from the newly established Fort Orford on a retaliatory raid on the Coquille Indians who had attacked the T'Vault exploring party three months earlier. After briefly engaging the Coquilles near the river’s mouth, Casey pursued them all the way up the Coquille Valley as far as present-day Myrtle Point, where they attacked the Indian camp, killing 15 and losing two soldiers to fatal injuries.