In 1859 Great Britain and the United States almost went to war over the Northwest boundary when an American farmer shot a British pig. That July, U.S. Army Captain George E. Pickett looked down the gun ports of two British warships from his camp on San Juan Island. He knew he needed help, and the sooner the better. The future Confederate general had been ordered there to protect the rights of U.S. settlers from the might of the British Empire.First published in 1999, Mike Vouri's lively account of the Pig War crisis has been revised and expanded into a definitive new edition. Additional photographs, maps, and drawings are combined with new material providing fresh insights into the boundary dispute that confounded diplomats of three nations, but never quite descended into a shooting war.
Mike Vouri was the Chief of Interpretation and Historian for San Juan Island National Historical Park. He resides on San Juan Island.
PrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroductionDramatis Personae1. Pickett Has Landed2. The Quest for Wealth: Sources of Trouble3. Manifest Destiny and Joint Occupation4. The Treaty of Oregon5. The San Juan Sheep War6. The Pig Incident7. Wiliam Shelby Harney8. The Petition9. George Pickett and the Frontier Army10. Governor Douglas Responds11. "Tut, tut, no, no, the damn fools."12. Reinforcements13. Washington and London14. Stand Down15. Pickett lands again16. Joint Occupation and SettlementNotesAddendaBibliographyIndex