In June 1859, Lyman Cutlar, an American farmer living on San Juan Island, found a large black Berkshire hog rooting in his potato patch. The island was co-occupied by American settlers and the British Hudson's Bay Company, both claiming sovereignty due to ambiguous treaty language regarding the Oregon boundary. Outraged after repeatedly catching the animal, Cutlar shot the pig dead.
When British authorities threatened to arrest Cutlar, American settlers requested military protection. Captain George Pickett arrived with 66 US soldiers, establishing a military camp. In response, the British dispatched three warships carrying over 2,000 men and heavy naval artillery.
What followed was a tense, months-long logistics stalemate. British Admiral Robert L. Baynes refused orders from the local governor to land troops, famously declaring that engaging two great nations in a war over a pig was foolish.
Both sides entrenched themselves, engaging in daily military drills, polite exchanges, and mutual entertainment while waiting for diplomatic resolution. The standoff ended without a single bullet fired at another human, leaving the pig as the sole casualty of a war that reshaped Anglo-American border politics.