Pig War: The war that wasn’t

In 1859, a boundary dispute on the U.S.-Canada border almost escalated into a full-scale conflict, all because of a pig. The incident took place on the San Juan Islands, a disputed territory in the Pacific Northwest, where the U.S. and British territories met. Escalation of tensions British authorities on Vancouver Island backed Griffin, seeing this as an opportunity to assert their claim to the San Juan Islands. The U.S. Army sent Captain George Pickett and a small detachment of soldiers to the San Juan Islands in July 1859 to protect American settlers and assert their claim to the region. Resolution and arbitration The standoff persisted for over a decade, with American and British forces maintaining peaceful co-occupation of the San Juan Islands.