Captain George Pickett of Company D, Ninth Infantry, spent 3 August 1859 waiting for the British to wipe out his company on San Juan Island. In total, he commanded some 60 men with three brass field pieces. Before him in Griffin Bay, the British stood ready aboard HMS Tribune, Plumper and Satellite, with some 755 men and 61 heavy naval guns — more than one for every American. Both sides held their breath and waited for the bloodbath to begin.
A territorial dispute had brought these two otherwise friendly countries to the brink of war. San Juan Island was the largest of a group of islands of the same name that lay between the British colony of Vancouver Island and the American mainland. Both Britain and the United States claimed the islands. The home governments were keen to avoid conflict over the issue, but all measures they took to settle the matter were ineffectual and, locally, feelings ran much higher than either London or Washington had bargained for.
The immediate flash point of the San Juan crisis was a pig or, more precisely, a British pig that wandered on to an American potato patch. Lyman Cutler, a native of Ohio, shot the pig after several encounters with the animal. Local legend has it that on a previous occasion, Cutler told its owner, Charles Griffin, to keep the pig out of his newly dug potatoes. Griffin told Cutler to keep the potatoes out of his pig. When the American shot the pig on 15 June, the owner was outraged. By chance, two officials from Fort Victoria arrived on the Hudson's Bay Company steamer The Beaver, heard the argument, and joined Griffin in loudly protesting the loss of the animal. Then, according to American accounts, they threatened to take Cutler back to Victoria to be tried under British law.
Cutler was a United States citizen on what he considered American soil, and was not about to surrender himself to British justice. Charles Griffin saw him as a typical gold rush squatter in need of a good lesson. Both Cutler and Griffin appealed to their respective authorities for help. These officials confronted each other, neither side prepared to give an inch. Into this delicate situation roared US General William Selby Harney and any opportunity for a diplomatic solution instantly disappeared.
The Origins of the Dispute
The San Juan problem went back to the early settlement of the area. European exploration of the coast in the 1770s, immediately revealed its rich fur trade potential. The Hudson's Bay Company, The North West Company and the Russian American Company all played an important role in opening up the North West. By the early-19th century, the British and the Americans were the main players left in the fur game. Both countries set up a thriving system of forts and trade routes in the region that is now Oregon, Washington State and British Columbia. Significantly, however, the Americans harboured interests beyond trade. During the 1820s, they encouraged civilian settlement of the region, whereas the British presence was confined to fur trade posts. The area quickly became Americanised.
The Troublesome Treaty
The 1846 Treaty of Washington established a boundary between the American and British territories west of the Rocky Mountains. The British hoped that the frontier would be drawn along the Columbia River, thereby giving them the land north of the river where the Hudson's Bay Company had its most important forts. Much to their disappointment, however, the treaty established the line along the 49th parallel. The United States now got the coveted Washington Territory, and the British were forced to move northwards, to Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island.
The ownership issue in the San Juans grew out of the wording of this treaty, since it failed to pinpoint exactly where the territorial line lay beyond the mainland. The boundary was to continue 'to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island'. The problem was that the channel branched into two straits, with the San Juan Islands between them. The British interpreted the treaty to mean the Rosario Strait to the east, which clearly gave them ownership of the San Juans. Meanwhile the Americans favoured the Haro Strait to the west, which just as clearly gave them possession. Neither side would settle for a compromise middle passage that wound through the islands.
'Old Square Toes'
The 1846 boundary treaty was a blow to the British, and especially to the Hudson's Bay Company. At that time, the HBC Chief Factor for the district was James Douglas, who, in 1851, became Governor of Vancouver Island. Douglas was a highly capable, if hot-tempered character, known locally as 'Old Square Toes' because of his stubbornness. Originally from British Guyana, Douglas had spent forty years in the fur trade, and was still a company man at heart.
The Governor had no doubts as to who owned the San Juan Islands. In 1853, he set up a Hudson's Bay sheep station on the largest island to solidify the British claim. In 1854, the Americans retaliated by officially claiming the islands as part of Whatcom County. Not long after this, the Whatcom Co. customs officials tried to collect duties on the HBC livestock, saying they had come from a 'foreign country'. The British sheep farmers refused to pay. The officials organised a dawn customs raid, and, much to the fury of the British, seized thirty sheep.
Indian Unrest
Although this minor skirmish caused a flurry of indignant protest from Governor Douglas, it did not last long. The American settlers had far greater worries. The United States had tried to enforce reservation restrictions on the local Indians. The coastal tribes refused to submit, and vowed to drive the white invaders from their land. Settlers were murdered; homes burnt and there were widespread appeals for military protection.
An important consequence of the American Indian unrest was the construction of Fort Townsend and Fort Bellingham in southern Puget Sound to protect the homesteading communities on the mainland. Military presence in the region was now substantially greater than it had been. Fort Bellingham was manned by Captain Pickett and Company D, Ninth Infantry — the same company that would eventually come nose to nose with the British on San Juan Island.
British military power in the area also increased. Governor Douglas had long requested a beefed-up military and naval presence, but the British Government was reluctant to commit ships and troops to such a distant outpost. London even refused aid during the Crimean War, when Fort Victoria feared Russian attacks from Alaska. Finally, however, it was not a Russian invasion that convinced the Government to send troops, but a shabbier invasion of some 30,000 adventurers hoping to find gold in the Fraser River.
The Gold Rush
In a matter of months, Fort Victoria's population climbed from seventy, mostly British inhabitants, to thousands of multinational gold seekers. Many of these men were American, and Douglas feared they would settle in the area, and the United States would eventually annex Vancouver Island, just as they had Washington Territory. The Governor also worried that the squatters would not respect British laws and institutions, and that he would have no military means to uphold them. London finally sent the requested forces, including a contingent of Royal Engineers and Rear Admiral Robert Lambert Baynes on HMS Ganges.
Population Increase in the San Juan Islands
Thanks to James Douglas's strict and often high-handed management of the miners, the colony came through the Gold Rush unscathed. Many of the miners returning from the Fraser River settled in the San Juan Islands. For the most part, the men were penniless, and the islands offered a welcome refuge with good fishing, rich farmland, and no taxes. With the increased population, however, the ownership dispute resurfaced. The ex-miners considered the islands American. The new settlers tipped the population balance in favour of the US, and the British islanders felt threatened by their arrival.
The 15 June pig slaying and its aftermath enraged the US settlers on San Juan. Customs officer Paul Hubbs asked the mainland officials to either resolve the ownership dispute, or arrange protection for islanders against British harassment. Governor Douglas sent a magistrate over to the island, to look into the incident and to ensure British interests on San Juan were not compromised. But before these civil authorities had a chance to settle the dispute, they came up against a diplomatic brick wall in the shape of General Harney.
Brigadier General William Selby Harney had recently taken command of the newly created Department of Oregon. Up until this point, he had enjoyed a brilliant but controversial career. Equally famous for both his bravery and his bullying, he was probably the worst character to come on the scene of a diplomatic impasse. A string of offences led him to be court-martialled and reprimanded for 'arbitrary and unmilitary conduct'. He put it all down to his 'boisterous nature.'
Harney soon put that boisterous nature into action on the West Coast. On the pretext of protecting US settlers from Indian attacks, he ordered the island to be occupied. He chose Captain George Pickett to command the troops, bypassing the more moderate Lt. Col. Casey, who was stationed nearby. Harney had fought alongside Pickett in the battle for Mexico City, and was impressed with the young soldier's daring (later amply demonstrated in the ill-fated Pickett's Charge in the 1863 battle of Gettysburg). Pickett had been restless at Fort Bellingham and jumped at the opportunity for active service.
Pickett's Occupation
The Americans landed on San Juan on 26 July 1859, and Pickett immediately proclaimed it a territory of the United States. In Victoria, the British Colonist newspaper led a strident outcry against the 'unwarrantable assumption' by the Americans. Since Rear Admiral Baynes was absent, Governor Douglas used his ex-officio rank as vice-admiral to take technical command. The home government currently maintained a policy of restraint and non-collision, but Douglas, influenced by local reaction, favoured decisive action. So in order to make it as decisive as possible, he sent three British warships to seize the island from sixty Americans.
Captain Geoffrey Phipps Hornby led the expedition. His orders were to prevent the Americans from building fortifications on the island, or landing reinforcements. On the morning of 3 August, he visited Captain Pickett and told him he had orders to land his troops by nightfall. Pickett replied that he was ordered to resist, and that in spite of superior British numbers, he would fight 'as long as I have a man'. Hornby returned to his ship, and the uneasy wait began.
Later that day, Hornby received modified orders from Governor Douglas. He was to land troops, but avoid a collision. Hornby knew that if he landed troops, a collision was inevitable. Furthermore, because of the wording of the Governor's order, he knew that blame for any resulting bloodshed would fall on his own shoulders. Admiral Baynes was still away, but expected back very soon. The young captain, therefore, staked his career on what he thought Admiral Baynes would wish, and he delayed carrying out Douglas's orders.
The following morning, US Lt. Col. Casey landed reinforcements, and still Hornby held his fire. Back in Victoria, Governor Douglas was furious, the young captain had ruined his plan for a swift reprisal. Naval officers in Victoria backed Hornby, as news had just arrived of the Austrian defeat at Magenta and the indecisive battle of Solferino. With Europe so unsettled, London was on highest alert, and would not welcome a conflict in this distant part of the Empire. The officers urged James Douglas to try milder measures, but the Governor remained doggedly unconvinced. Fortunately, at this point, Admiral Baynes arrived back at Fort Victoria's port of Esquimalt, and the matter passed into his hands.
Cooler Heads
Admiral Baynes was a clear-sighted man. He saw that all the Navy's supplies and mail came along American routes, and that the colony would be geographically isolated in the event of a collision. He pointed out that the population of Vancouver Island was overwhelmingly American due to the Gold Rush, and any military clash with the United States might lead to an uprising. Furthermore, Baynes stated the one opinion that neither the bellicose Harney nor the stubborn Douglas had expressed: that it was ridiculous to go to war over the shooting of a pig. Together, Lt. Col. Casey and Admiral Baynes brought about a tentative truce until the home governments could be reached.
Washington's Reaction
The US Government in Washington first read of the San Juan occupation in the newspapers, six weeks after the event. By mistake, Harney's report had gone to Army Headquarters in New York and not Washington. President Buchanan was horrified. He assured the British Ambassador that the general had been acting on his own authority, and not on that of the US Government. To sort out the situation, Buchanan then sent out the one man Harney would obey, his superior and nemesis during the Mexican war: General Winfield Scott.
Both London and Washington were angry that a diplomatic incident had ballooned into an international crisis. Douglas received some criticism for his intractability, but it was Harney's impulsive occupation of the island that drew most of the criticism. His behaviour was so inexplicable that over the years several theories emerged to account for it. In 1869, Viscount Wilson wrote that Harney was part of an American plot to neutralise the port of Esquimalt and to annex British Columbia and Alaska. Some years later, other historians alleged that Harney had tried to force war with Britain out of patriotism, to unite all the conflicting American factions, and therefore avoid civil war. In total contrast, a less patriotic theory suggested that Harney and Pickett, both being southerners, had tried to involve the US government in a disastrous war to weaken the North, and leave it at the Secessionists' mercy. General Scott, now on his way to clear up the mess, was much more realistic, he simply thought Harney impetuous and unmanageable, and was quick to warn Washington of the General's 'ignorance, passion and caprice'.
Once in Puget Sound, General Scott quickly devised a settlement. Joint British and American detachments of 100 men each would occupy the island concurrently. In March 1860, the British landed their contingent, and the twelve-year joint occupancy began.
The Kaiser's Settlement
By themselves, the two countries were never able to reach an agreement over the ownership, and were eventually obliged to ask for outside help. Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany acted as arbitrator. In November 1872, the Kaiser's panel of experts voted two to one in favour of the American claim.
The Pig War was the war that never happened. The two sides came within a whisker of real carnage, but no shot was ever fired. Although sparked by the pig, responsibility for the incident lay with the humans involved. Both London and Washington had inadvertently placed men in charge who were more suited to frontier-style decision-making than sensitive negotiations. The great distance from both governments and slow methods of communication gave Harney and Douglas enough time to cause damage before they could be reined in. But if the incident was ridiculous, the tensions behind it were real; both sides wanted those islands. The miracle was that after so many years of heated ownership dispute, the two sides quietly accepted the Kaiser's ruling and parted as friends.
by Elizabeth von Aderkas
About the Author
Elizabeth von Aderkas is a writer who lives with her family on Cadboro Point (see map), just across from San Juan Island.
Further Reading
Woodcock, George, British Columbia, A History of the Province (Douglas and McIntyre, 1990)
Hutchinson, Bruce, The Struggle for the Border (Longmans, Green & Co.Inc, 1955)
Dawson, Will, The War That Was Never Fought (Auerbach Publishers, 1971)
Murray, Keith, The Pig War (Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, Washington, 1068)
Chartrand, René, Canadian Military Heritage, Vol. 2, 1755–1871 (Art Global Inc., 1995)