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The Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between the United States and the United Kingdom over the British–U.S. border in the San Juan Islands, between Vancouver Island (present-day Canada) and the Washington Territory (present-day State of Washington).

The Pig War, so called because it was triggered by the shooting of a pig, is also called the Pig Episode, the Pig and Potato War, the San Juan Boundary Dispute, and the Northwestern Boundary Dispute. Despite being referred to as a "war", there were no human casualties on either side.

However, two straits could be called the middle of the channel: Haro Strait, along the west side of the off-shore San Juan Islands; and Rosario Strait, along the east side. The most commonly available maps were those of Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver, published in 1798, and of the United States Navy's Charles Wilkes, published in 1845. Campbell countered that the expression "southerly", in the treaty, was to be understood in a general sense, that Rosario Strait did not separate the continent from Vancouver Island, but the San Juan Islands from Lummi Island, Cypress Island, Fidalgo Island, and others, and that navigability was not germane to the issue, but even if it was, Haro Strait was the wider and more direct passage. Because of this ambiguity, both the United States and Britain claimed sovereignty over the San Juan Islands. While the British held Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island to the west, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the entry point to Haro Strait, leading to the Strait of Georgia, the nation that held the San Juan Islands would be able to dominate all the straits connecting the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the Strait of Georgia.

It turned out that the pig was owned by an Irishman, Charles Griffin, who was employed by the Hudson's Bay Company to run their sheep ranch on the island. Following this reply, Cutlar believed he should not have to pay for the pig because the pig had been trespassing on his land. One likely apocryphal account has Cutlar saying to Griffin, "It was eating my potatoes"; and Griffin replying, "It is up to you to keep your potatoes out of my pig." When British authorities threatened to arrest Cutlar, nearby American settlers called for military protection in the Washington Territory from the United States Army.

Pickett established the US military camp near the south end of San Juan Island, today one of two historical sites on the island, the other being the British camp, defended by the Royal Marines on the opposite north end of the island. Robert's Redoubt of 1859 on the island is considered the best-preserved fortification of its kind now in the United States. (To the east is Jackle's Lagoon, named for George Jackle, a soldier stationed at the American camp.) When Baynes came and took stock of the situation, he told Douglas that he would not escalate the conflict into a war between two great nations "over a squabble about a pig".

The Pig War is commemorated in San Juan Island National Historical Park.

Second Lieutenant Henry Martyn Robert, of South Carolina / Ohio, who later published the first edition of his Robert's Rules of Order in 1876 on democratic parliamentary procedure, and later became a general in the federal Army of the Potomac of the Union Army during the following Civil War was stationed on the island for much of the period. Captain George Pickett, of Virginia, and later a general in the Confederate States Army of the infamous Pickett's Charge fame at the pivotal July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in the following American Civil War, was in charge of the initial American small landing force on San Juan.

Quick Facts

• The Pig War, so called because it was triggered by the shooting of a pig, is also called the Pig Episode, the Pig and Potato War, the San Juan Boundary Dispute, and the Northwestern Boundary Dispute.
• The Pig War is commemorated in San Juan Island National Historical Park.
• However, two straits could be called the middle of the channel: Haro Strait, along the west side of the off-shore San Juan Islands; and Rosario Strait, along the east side.
• The most commonly available maps were those of Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver, published in 1798, and of the United States Navy's Charles Wilkes, published in 1845.
• Despite being referred to as a "war", there were no human casualties on either side.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Pig War (1859)". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.