Vol 3, No 4
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THE PIG WAR
As Americans spilled into Oregon Territory, a crisis developed. The United States claimed a boundary near the southern tip of Alaska, while Britain called the Columbia River the dividing line. The political cry of "Fifty-four forty or fight." swept James K. Polk into the White House in the 1844 election, and both nations sent warships to the Columbia River. Was was averted when the conflicting claims were compromised at the 49th parallel, where the border stands today. But, an ambiguity left San Juan a two-nation island.
Feelings were running high on July 9, 1859 when U. S. Brigadier General William Harney visited San Juan. Americans urged him to dispatch troops. Harney sent a company of 50 men under Captain George Pickett.
Consider the potential effect of a shooting war between the Americans and British on the outcome of the Civil War. In 1872, Emperor William I of Germany, as arbiter, awarded the islands to the United States. The "Pig War" lasted for over a decade and produced total casualties of ... one pig. The gun that Lyman Cutler used to kill Charles Griffin's pig rests in the Washington State Historical Society Museum in Tacoma.
(Pickett was later to win fame as the Confederate General who lead
the famous Picket charge at The Battle of Gettysburg.
This disastrous bloody charge is considered by many as the turning point of
the American Civil War.)
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Charles Griffin's pig was an ordinary pig that has the distinction,
on July 15, 1859, of leading Great Britain and the United States to the brink of war.
Griffin, an Englishman, operated a fishing station and
sheep farm for the Hudson's Bay Company on
San Juan Island, one of a group of islands off the coast of Washington State.
At that time, no one knew which country ruled the islands.
The two nations had long disagreed over boundaries in the Pacific Northwest.
After the withdrawal of Spanish and Russion claims, they had agreed to a joint
occupancy of the area.
The question came to a head when Griffin's pig wandered into Lyman Cutler's
potato patch and began rooting.
Cutler (also spelled Cutlar), one of 29 Americans living on the island,
shot it dead.
He proceeded to Griffin's home and
offered him $10 for the pig. Griffin refused, saying the pig was a prize
breeder and demanded $100, which Cutler consider outrageous.
Griffin appealed to British authorities on Vancouver Island.
They tried to arrest Cutler and bring him to Victoria, but he refused to surrender.
The British sent a fleet of five warships with over 2,000 men.
In the meantime, Pickett's forces had increased to about 400 men.
Pickett warned that whether they
"landed fifty or fifty thousand men," he would open fire.
Cooler heads prevailed because British Rear Admiral Robert L. Baynes
decided that neither a pig nor a tiny island was worth going to war,
and the two forces settled into camps on opposite ends of
the island to await a political settlement.
In the meantime, the Civil War intervened and postponed the settlement.