Two Nations Nearly Went to War Over One Pig.
[!NOTE] Historical File: Two Nations Nearly Went to War Over One Pig. Location: USA | Era: Archival History | Format: Documentary & Narrative Record
The Untold Story
The United States and Britain nearly went to war over one dead pig.
In June 1859, American settler Lyman Cutlar found a pig rooting in his garden on San Juan Island, and shot it.
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The pig belonged to Britain’s Hudson’s Bay Company, and both nations claimed the island.
When British authorities threatened to arrest Cutlar, American settlers asked the army for protection. In late July, Captain George Pickett’s infantry landed.
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By August, four hundred sixty-one Americans with fourteen cannons faced British warships.
Then the British admiral refused to start a war over a squabble about a pig. No one was hurt.
Both nations shared the island until 1872, when it went to the United States. The only casualty was the pig.
Historical Discussion
💭 A British admiral refused to fight “over a squabble about a pig.” Would you have backed down?
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Verified Archival Sources & Bibliography
Every claim in this account has been fact-checked against primary archives and scholarly repositories:
- U.S. National Park Service, San Juan Island National Historical Park: The Pig War (primary)
- U.S. National Park Service: Lyman Cutlar Homestead (primary)
- Wikipedia: Pig War (1859) (reference)
- HistoryLink.org: Lyman Cutlar touches off Pig War (Essay 5037) (reference)
- HistoryLink.org: San Juan Island Pig War, Part 1 (Essay 5724) (reference)
- The Seattle Times: San Juan Island’s 1859 Pig War (news)
- Historic UK: The Pig War of 1859 (news)
- Salish Current: The Pig War - they were committed to keeping the peace (2024) (news)
- BC Studies (University of British Columbia): From Imbroglio to Pig War: The San Juan Island Dispute, 1853-71 (book)
- HistoryNet (American History magazine): The San Juan Islands’ Pig War (news)