0:00 On June fifteenth, 1859, an American farmer named Lyman Cutlar shot a pig.0:05 That one pig's death would bring the United States and the British Empire—the two most powerful English-speaking nations on earth—to the absolute brink of war.0:16 Now, after we talked about that Austrian army that accidentally attacked itself back in 1788 on Episode 81, you start to realize that history is just a series of bizarre accidents and near misses.0:29 But this one...0:30 this one is different.0:32 This is the story of a war that, against all odds, did NOT happen.0:36 So here’s the setup.0:38 San Juan Island.0:39 It’s a beautiful piece of land sitting in the channel between Vancouver Island and the state of Washington.0:46 The problem was, an 1846 treaty was just vague enough that both the U.S.0:51 and Britain claimed it.0:53 So you had American settlers moving in right alongside the very British Hudson’s Bay Company, which was running a massive sheep ranch.1:02 It was a classic case of drawing a line on a map without actually looking at the ground.1:08 And on that ground was Lyman Cutlar’s potato patch.1:11 And a large black pig, owned by a Hudson's Bay employee, that had a taste for his potatoes.1:18 On that June morning, Cutlar found the pig in his garden for what he claimed was the tenth time.1:24 So he shot it.1:25 Here’s the turn.1:26 Cutlar went to the British agent, Charles Griffin, and offered to pay for the pig.1:32 He offered ten dollars.1:34 Griffin demanded one HUNDRED.1:36 Cutlar said for that price he could buy a better pig.1:39 Griffin said "It is up to you to keep your potatoes out of my pig." The authorities threatened to arrest Cutlar, and the American settlers, feeling threatened, called for U.S.1:51 military protection.1:53 And Washington sent it.1:54 They sent Captain George Pickett—yes, THAT George Pickett of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg—with sixty-six soldiers to the island.2:03 Pickett landed, declared the entire island U.S.2:07 property, and set up camp.2:08 The British response?2:10 They sent three warships, carrying over two thousand men and seventy cannons, to face Pickett’s tiny company.2:17 So in a matter of weeks, we go from one dead pig to a standoff with enough firepower to start a global conflict.2:25 Now, where have we seen this before?2:28 You see a small, localized incident—a spark—that threatens to ignite a powder keg of underlying tension.2:35 Think of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.2:38 A single event that cascaded into World War One because the alliances and tensions were already in place.2:46 The Pig War had the exact same shape.2:48 The pig wasn't the reason for the conflict, it was the EXCUSE.2:53 The real fight was over who controlled the crucial shipping lanes in the Pacific Northwest.2:59 But here’s where the analogy breaks, and where this story gets so important.3:04 In 1914, the generals and politicians let the crisis escalate until it was unstoppable.3:10 In 1859, they pulled back.3:12 The local commanders, Pickett for the Americans and Captain Geoffrey Hornby for the British, were both aggressive men.3:20 Pickett was spoiling for a fight.3:22 Hornby was ordered by the hot-headed British governor to land his marines and drive the Americans off the island.3:30 But Hornby hesitated.3:32 He knew that firing the first shot would mean war.3:35 His superior, Rear Admiral Robert Baynes, arrived on the scene, took one look at the situation, and told the governor he would NOT "involve two great nations in a war over a squabble about a pig." That one sentence, that moment of sanity from one admiral, may have saved thousands of lives.3:55 Word finally reached London and Washington D.C., where officials were horrified.4:00 President James Buchanan sent his top general, Winfield Scott, to negotiate.4:06 Scott and the British governor agreed to a temporary solution: a joint military occupation.4:12 For the next twelve years, the U.S.4:14 Army and the Royal Marines maintained two separate camps on San Juan Island, glaring at each other but never firing a shot.4:23 They even, supposedly, held parties and celebrated holidays together.4:28 The final border dispute wasn't settled until 1872.4:31 They submitted the case to international arbitration, and the arbitrator they chose was Kaiser Wilhelm the First of Germany.4:40 He studied the maps and the treaties and ruled decisively in favor of the United States.4:46 The Royal Marines packed up and left peacefully.4:49 The Pig War was over, without a single human casualty.4:53 All that was left was a quiet island, and the memory of how close two nations came to disaster over a farmer, his potatoes, and one very, very unlucky pig.
