From Washington To You
Open prairie and water beyond, looking out from American Camp on San Juan Island.
Photograph by the National Park Service, from NPGallery. Public domain.

From Washington to you

The Pig War

American Camp · San Juan County · 1859–1874

The United States and Great Britain nearly went to war over San Juan Island. The only casualty was a pig.

In the mid-1800s the United States and Great Britain both claimed San Juan Island. The crisis came on June 15, 1859, when an American settler, Lyman Cutlar, shot and killed a Hudson's Bay Company pig rooting in his garden. British authorities threatened to arrest Cutlar and evict the Americans. Brig. Gen. William S. Harney ordered Company D, 9th U.S. Infantry, under Capt. George E. Pickett, to the island. Pickett's 64-man unit landed on July 27 and camped near the company wharf on Griffin Bay.

No shots were exchanged between the two nations. The standoff on Griffin Bay lasted from July 27 to October 31, 1859. Royal Marines established English Camp in March 1860. Joint military occupation then held for twelve years.

The Treaty of Washington in 1871 sent the San Juan question to Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany. On October 21, 1872, an arbitration commission ruled for the United States and set the boundary through Haro Strait. The Royal Marines left English Camp on November 25, 1872. The last U.S. troops left American Camp by July 1874. San Juan Island National Historical Park now preserves both camps. The sources below are the National Park Service history of the site.

  • History

Sources (3)

Last reviewed: September 20, 2026

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