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Although the United States and Great Britain had signed the Oregon Treaty in 1846, which established America’s northwest boundary as the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains west to the channel separating Vancouver’s Island from the mainland, in reality it did not settle their ongoing dispute. Specifically, there were differences in interpretation of the treaty regarding ownership of the San Juan Islands, which lay in the middle of the aforementioned channel.

The Hudson’s Bay Company had a fishing station and a sheep ranch on the largest of the islands, which itself was called San Juan (although the HBC referred to it as Bellevue Island). The United States, however, considered the islands to be part of the newly created Washington Territory, and an early provocation occurred in 1855 when an American sheriff from Washington seized 35 Hudson’s Bay Company sheep as payment for “back taxes.†A Joint Boundary Commission met during 1857, but the boundary was not settled. The gold rush in the northwest had brought more settlers to the area, along with an increased military presence to protect them from Indian uprisings. The British, needless to say, considered the Americans on San Juan to be squatters.

Into this already tense situation stepped one American settler, Lyman A. Cutler (sometimes also spelled “Cutlarâ€), who was originally from Ohio. On June 15, 1859, a frustrated and annoyed Cutler shot and killed a black pig that had repeatedly “trespassed†and eaten from his potato patch. He then went to the house of the pig’s owner, Charles Griffin, the Hudson company agent on San Juan, and offered to pay $10 for the pig. Griffin informed Cutler that the pig was a prize breeder, rejected his offer, and demanded $100, which Cutler thought outrageous and refused to pay. The British wanted Cutler to be arrested and brought to Victoria for trial, but he refused to surrender. Thus began the so-called “San Juan Pig War.â€*

Acting on his own authority and responding to pleas from American settlers, Brigadier General William S. Harney, the commanding officer of the Pacific Coast forces, sent Captain George E. Pickett from the mainland along with a company of 50 men to establish a post on San Juan, while Vancouver’s governor, Sir James Douglas, sent the frigate Tribune to Griffin Bay, where the American soldiers had made camp. (Pickett would later become a General in the Confederate army and lead the famous charge at Gettysburg.) By mid-August, the U.S. had 9 companies there (over 400 men), along with 8 cannon and over 100 civilians, while the British had eventually increased their forces to over 1,000 men, including 5 warships.

On the brink of a shooting war, however, cooler heads prevailed. Captain Hornby, commander of the Tribune, resisted Douglas’ pressure to land troops and attack Pickett, and was backed-up by Rear Admiral Baynes, commander of the British fleet in the Pacific. President James Buchanan, who had been surprised to learn of Harney’s actions, sent Lt. General Winfield Scott, the Army Chief of Staff, to defuse the situation. After arriving in mid-October, Scott (who had clashed with Harney during the Mexican War) met with both sides and negotiated a reduction in forces, leaving only one U.S. company there. Harney attempted to interfere with the agreed-upon joint occupation of 100 men for each side and was relieved of his command and reprimanded. The Civil War, of course, occupied America’s attention for the next half-decade, and when the U.S. and Britain negotiated the Treaty of Washington in 1871 to settle outstanding claims between the two countries, they agreed to refer the San Juan issue to Kaiser Wilhelm I for arbitration. On Oct. 21, 1872, the German Emperor’s decision placed the US boundary to the west of the archipelago, giving the San Juan Islands to America, and the British withdrew their troops a month later. Although the Pig War had lasted for over a decade, the total casualties consisted of ... one pig.

But suppose...on August 20, 1859, an argument between rival picket lines leads to shots being fired, which escalates into a pitched battle. Pickett and his outnumbered command are defeated and retreat to a defensible positition, where they fortify themselves and are besieged. News of this reaches San Francisco the next month, and by September 20 has reached Washington, D.C. Public opinion is outraged. Meanwhile, Pickett and his command are forced to surrender on September 16 unconditionally. The American troops are not given the honors of war, and are forced to march out and lay down their arms and colours in humiliation. Word of this reaches the east while President Buchanan is trying desperately to defuse the situation, and public outrage explodes anew. President Buchanan, unable to resist public pressure, asks Congress for a Declaration of War, which is given on October 30.

So...what happens? Who finally wins the war? How long does it last? Does the fact that America is at war with a foreign power affect the impending crisis leading up to the Civil War? Does John Brown still find the support he needs to launch his fateful raid on October 10, 1859?
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