The Pig War

###The Pig War

San Juan Island, 1859 — A hungry farm animal rooting for potatoes accidentally triggered a massive, weeks-long military standoff between two world superpowers.

In 1859, the United States and Great Britain both claimed ownership of San Juan Island. Tensions between American settlers and British residents were already boiling when an American named Lyman Cutlar spotted a British-owned pig rooting through his potato garden. Cutlar shot the pig.

When British authorities threatened to arrest Cutlar, the U.S. military dispatched Captain George Pickett and a group of soldiers to protect the Americans. Refusing to back down, the British military immediately retaliated by sending heavily armed warships to the island's coast.

The situation rapidly escalated into a massive standoff. Fortunately, commanders on both sides eventually decided that starting an international war over a dead farm animal was a terrible idea. They refused to open fire, and diplomats peacefully settled the dispute. The pig was the only casualty.

How It Went Down
Pig ruins thepotatoesJune 15, 1859Britishthreaten an arrestU.S. soldiersdeployBritishwarships arriveDiplomatssettle the standoffWeeks later
Crazy-o-Meter
Hard to believe
No.5
A hyper-tense military standoff over a tiny garden. On a grassy hill, an American army captain furiously points his sword toward the ocean while a line of nervous soldiers crouches behind a massive field cannon. In the water facing them, a towering British warship bristles with giant naval guns, its commander glaring angrily through a brass telescope. Between these two heavily armed military forces lies a tiny patch of chewed-up potatoes and one muddy pig lying on its back with comical Xs for eyes. The soldiers and sailors all look incredibly stressed, completely overreacting to the ruined vegetables.

The Pig War — San Juan Island, 1859