Potus Geeks Summer Reruns: James Buchanan and the Pig War
The Utah War and the Civil War were not the only conflicts that arose on James Buchanan's watch. In the Pacific Northwest, another arose that became infamously known as "the Pig War" though somewhat fortunately, the only casualties in this one were porcine. The Pig War was a confrontation that took place in 1859 between the United States and the United Kingdom. It involved a dispute over the British-U.S. border in the San Juan Islands, a group of islands located between Vancouver Island (part of present day British Columbia, Canada) and the State of Washington. This conflict got its name because it was caused by the shooting of a pig, but despite its being referred to as a "war" there were no casualties on either side, aside from the pig.
When James K. Polk was President and Buchanan was his Secretary of State, the United States and the UK signed the Oregon Treaty on June 15, 1846. It resolved the Oregon boundary dispute by dividing the Oregon Country (the American name) or Columbia District (the British name for the area) between the United States and Britain "along the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver Island, and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the Pacific Ocean." This didn't completely decide the issue because there were two straits which could be called the middle of the channel: Haro Strait, along the west side of the San Juan Islands; and Rosario Strait, along the east side. This problem arose because there was no such thing as Google Maps in 1846, and there was still some uncertainty about the region's geography. The best available maps were those created during the expeditions of George Vancouver. They were published in 1798. A later set of maps, by Charles Wilkes, were published in 1845. Both maps were unclear about the vicinity of the southeastern coast of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
In 1856, the US and Britain set up a Boundary Commission to resolve several issues regarding the international boundary, including where the water boundary was from the Strait of Georgia to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The British appointed a four man commision led by James Charles Prevost and the US appointed a similar commission led by Archibald Campbell. On June 27, 1857, the American and British commissioners met on board the British ship HMS Satellite, anchored in Esquimalt Harbour on Vancouver Island. The two sides met several more times in 1857 in Esquimalt Harbour and Nanaimo Harbour, and corresponded between meetings. The two could not agree on where the boundary was for the islands. The British insisted that Rosario Strait was the division contemplated by the treaty while Americans said that it was intended to be Haro Strait.
The two sides continued to argue the issue into December 1857, until it was clear that they had reached an impasse. On December 3, the British suggested a compromise line through San Juan Channel, which would give the US all the main islands except San Juan Island. This offer was rejected and the commission adjourned, to report back to their respective governments. Thus ambiguity was left undecided and both the United States and Britain claimed sovereignty over the San Juan Islands. Britain's Hudson's Bay Company established operations on San Juan and turned the island into a sheep ranch. But by mid-1859, over twenty-five American settlers had arrived on the Island.
What made this a significant issue was San Juan Island's value as a military strategic point in an age when naval power was vital. Whoever held the San Juan Islands would be able to establish naval domination over all the straits connecting the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the Strait of Georgia.
On June 15, 1859, on the 13th anniversary of the Oregon Treaty, Lyman Cutlar, an American farmer who had moved onto San Juan Island, found a pig eating tubers in his garden. This was not the first time this had happened, and Cutler was fed up, so he shot the pig, killing it. That the pig was owned by an Irishman named Charles Griffin, who was employed by the Hudson's Bay Company to run the sheep ranch on the island. He also owned several pigs that he allowed to roam freely. Cutlar offered to pay Griffin $10 (about $320 in today's money) to Griffin as compensation but Griffin was unsatisfied with this offer and demanded $100. Cutlar revoked his original offer, and said that he should not have to pay for the pig because the pig had been trespassing on his land. British authorities threatened to arrest Cutlar and American settlers called for military protection.
Brigadier General William S. Harney was commanding the Department of Oregon. He dispatched Captain George Pickett and 66 American soldiers of the 9th Infantry Regiment under Pickett's command, to San Juan Island with orders to prevent the British from landing to arrest Cutler. They sailed aboard USS Massachusetts. In response, the British sent three warships under the command of Captain Geoffrey Hornby. An indignant Pickett was quoted as saying, "We'll make a Bunker Hill of it." The incident drew national attention.
Pickett located his company and battery near the Hudson's Bay Company's Belle Vue sheep farm. This location turned out to be in the firing line of the guns of HMS Satellite, a British ship. When this tactical error was pointed out, Pickett moved his battery of cannon a few miles north to high ground and commenced to build a redoubt for his cannon. He then established the American camp near the south end of San Juan Island. One other esoteric point of interest, Pickett's camp redoubt was built under the supervision of new West Point graduate 2nd Lieutenant Henry Martyn Robert, who went on to become the author of Robert's Rules of Order.
The situation continued to escalate. By August 10, 1859, 461 Americans with 14 cannons were stationed on the island and were opposed by five British warships mounting 70 guns and carrying 2,140 men. The governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island was James Douglas. He ordered Captain Hornby to dislodge the American troops, but to do so by avoiding armed conflict if possible. Additional reinforcements sent by American General Harney had not yet arrived, and the island was occupied by only Pickett's 66 men. Hornby refused to take any action until British Rear Admiral Robert L. Baynes, who was in command of the British Navy in the Pacific, would arrive. When Baynes finally came and took stock of the situation, he wisely told Governor Douglas that he would not escalate the conflict into a war between great nations "over a squabble about a pig".
News about the crisis had reached Washington and London, and officials from both nations were shocked and were anxious to take action to calm what was a potentially explosive international incident. In September of 1859, President James Buchanan sent General Winfield Scott to negotiate with Governor Douglas to resolve the crisis. Scott arrived in the San Juans in October and began negotiations with Douglas.
As a result of the negotiations, both sides agreed to retain joint military occupation of the island until a final settlement could be reached, reducing their presence to a force of no more than 100 men. The British camp was established on the north end of the island and the American camp was set up on the south end. The two sides continued to jointly occuly the island for the next 12 years. Soldiers from the two small units got along amicably, visiting one another's camps to celebrate their respective national holidays and holding various athletic competitions.
The dispute was peacefully resolved in 1866, when the Colony of Vancouver Island was merged with the Colony of British Columbia to form an enlarged Colony of British Columbia. In 1871, the enlarged colony joined the newly formed Dominion of Canada. That year, the United Kingdom and the United States signed the Treaty of Washington, which addressed various differences between the two nations, including border issues involving the newly formed nation of Canada. In the treaty, both nations agreed to resolve the San Juan dispute by international arbitration. German Emperor Wilhelm I was chosen to act as arbitrator. Wilhelm referred the issue to a three-man arbitration commission which met in Geneva for nearly a year. On October 21, 1872, the commission decided in favor of the United States' offer and set the international boundary at the Haro Strait, to the west of the San Juan islands. On November 25, 1872, the British withdrew their Royal Marines from the British camp and the Americans followed by July 1874.
Today the Union Jack still flies above the British camp site, being raised and lowered daily by park rangers, making it one of the few places without diplomatic status where U.S. government employees regularly hoist the flag of another country.