All Information From: Oversimplified(The Pig War) and The National Park Service
By now, most of us have either realized or are starting to realize that school doesn’t teach you everything. From the proper way to do taxes, names and events left out of the history books, and other life skills that aren’t always taught at home, school can leave a couple of holes. One such hole is the story of the Pig War.
By this point, everyone knows what the Civil War was and those currently in American History I should be very familiar with the first half of the 19th century. Throughout that time period numerous border issues, due to America’s rapid expansion, arose. This is what led to the Pig War.
At the end of the Revolutionary War, borders between the U.S. and Canada had to be established. The majority of these borders followed natural landmarks like rivers and lakes. The problem was at the Lake of Woods in modern day Minnesota and the location of the Mississippi River. The Lake of Woods was originally thought to be oval-shaped and that the Mississippi River was west of that lake. So a straight line was drawn to the Mississippi River from the northwestern most point of the lake. The maps used to determine the new borders were wrong. The Lake of Woods is not perfectly oval and the Mississippi River is actually south of the lake. Unfortunately, that wasn’t discovered until after the War of 1812.
Nine years before the War of 1812, the vast territory of Louisiana was bought from France. The delegates of the time had to create new boundaries with accurate maps. The new line went from the new northwestern most point of the Lake of Woods all the way down to the forty-ninth parallel, straight to the Rocky Mountains. Past the Rockies was the Oregon Territory, which was claimed by both Britain and America. Americans wanted the area because they believed it was God's will for them to spread across the entire continent or their “manifest destiny.” The Hudson’s Bay Company wanted the resources gained from the Columbia River. It was actually suggested that they follow the Columbia River and split the land that way. The U.S. wouldn’t agree, so they settled on a joint occupation.
Before the settlement of the Oregon Territory, the Hudson’s Bay Company had already established a fur trade. The thousands of Americans that poured in disrupted that trade. James Douglas, who had been in charge of the area, was moved to Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island. The British were outnumbered six to one and America pulled out of the joint occupation. President Polk is best known for his slogan “Fifty-four Forty or Fight” and the threats of war with Great Britain.
Neither was truly fond of a war. England wanted to keep good economic relations and the U.S. had just entered into the Mexican-American War. The states finally got the straight line that they wanted, which continued along the forty-ninth parallel till the strait of Georgia. It then went “‘to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island’ then south through the channel to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and west to the Pacific Ocean” (National Park Service). This agreement would have worked out great if it wasn’t for one small problem. There were three channels instead of one. The makers of the treaty weren’t even sure which channel they meant.
America said it should be the Haro Strait, making the islands U.S. territory. Britain said it was the Rosario Strait, making the islands British. It was suggested that the middle channel was picked instead but no agreement could be reached. The islands also weren’t a major concern since the U.S. was on the brink of Civil War. For now it was agreed to do other joint occupations.
James Douglas sent Charles Griffin, along with several Hawaiian shepherds, to San Juan Island. There they set up the Belle Vue Sheep Run, which contained 1,369 sheep and several Berkshire pigs. The run flourished and word spread of the island's rich soil. This drew the attention of an American customs collector. He saw the sheep as being illegally imported since to him the islands were American. He demanded the British pay taxes, and if they refused, sheep would be seized. In response, the British threatened to arrest the customs collector. Griffin was made a judge by Douglas. Griffin then made one of the shepherds a sheriff and they went to arrest the customs collector. He emerged from his camp heavily armed, forcing Griffin to retreat. He was later chased off the island by native tribal raids.
Whatcom county in Washington thought that the British still owed them money. When Griffin again refused to pay them, the county seized 34 rams. England complained to the U.S. and both governments sent officials to get the people in the area to stand down.
In 1858, the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in Canada saw more Americans pour into the area. A few got lucky and the ones that didn’t stayed in the area. A man named Lyman Cutler was one of those settlers. His cabin was built in the middle of the British sheep run on San Juan Island. Around his crops, Cutler built a three sided fence, which did a horrible job at keeping animals out of the crops. Specifically Griffin’s prized Berkshire pig, that is known for rooting. The pig was chased out of the area until on June 15,1859 Cutler shot the pig.
When Griffin heard the news he demanded one hundred dollars for the loss, considered to be an excessive amount at the time. Cutler refused and threatened to shoot any more animals that entered his property. British officers were sent and threatened to arrest Lyman and try him under British law. The American settlers ask for help from the head of the department of Oregon, General William S. Harney.
Harney had a reputation for ignoring orders leading to wasted resources in the Mexican-American War, and had been court-martialed four times. Harney hated the British and had a plan to start a war.
The first step was to get the Americans to sign a petition for military protection. Next, he would send George E. Pickett commanding captain of Company D, 9th U.S. Infantry, to occupy the island. The hope was that British troops would fire on the camp, creating the grounds for war.
Since any communication took twelve weeks to get to D.C. and back, Harney hoped to have defeated the British and even potentially invade Canada. Historians have multiple guesses on what Harney’s and Pickett’s motivates are. It could have been a distraction to help the South secede, a chance to expand territory and gain glory so that Harney could one day be president, or they were just hotheads.
Pickett set up his camp in a very exposed location with a sign saying the only American laws applied on the islands. British officials demanded they leave and Douglas saw this landing of troops as an invasion. Harney had sent word to D.C. but for the next three months the island’s fate was solely in the hands of the officials there.
Douglas sent the Royal Navy under the command of Captain Hornby to stop the landing of more American soldiers and arrest Pickett. Hornby realized that there were more troops than originally thought and convinced Douglas to cancel his orders. Feeling trapped and not knowing that the British weren’t going to fire, Pickett moved to another equally exposed location.
All of the high tensions and brewing hostilities attracted the attention of tourists. Tourists whose frontier lives were so uneventful that watching a standoff, which could result in war if one wrong move was made, thought this was great entertainment for the whole family.
Douglas grew impatient and ordered British troops to land on San Juan. Before landing the troops, Hornby went to talk to Pickett. He threatened to open fire if any of the troops landed. Hornby made the decision to ignore orders and was rewarded for the action by Rear Admiral Baynes. Baynes had just arrived to the islands and outranked Douglas. After hearing about the situation, he canceled all of Douglas’s previous orders. He chose to leave the American troops alone until contact with Great Britain could be made.
Word finally reached both D.C. and London and President Buchanan sent General Winfield Scott, who was the command general of the whole army and known for his negotiation skills. Being a veteran of the Mexican-American War, Scott had previously worked with Harney.
After Scott’s arrival at San Juan it was agreed that there would be a joint military occupation and Pickett was replaced by Captain Hunt. Harney replaced Hunt with Pickett and said he didn’t recognize the joint occupation. Scott had him removed from command.
The issue was finally resolved twelve years after the problem intentionally occurred due to more pressing matters like two separate wars. Relations between the U.S. and Britain were tense to England's support of the South during the Civil War. The matter was finally solved by the German Empire who awarded the islands to the United States.
History itself is a vast and ever growing topic. It’s impossible to teach everything in class and cuts have to be made. Whether you believe certain things should or shouldn’t have been cut from the textbooks is up to you. The best way to learn and get what you want out of history is to do your own research. You’re not going to be taught it all in school so take a little time to teach yourself. You’ll be amazed by what you find.
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