The late 1850s were a period of unprecedented western expansion. Under U.S. president James Buchanan pioneers traveled from coast to coast by the thousands settling in newly acquired lands. In the 1818 treaty, it extended the border westward along the forty-ninth parallel from Lake of the Woods at what is now the tip of Ontario to the Rocky Mountains. Everything past that was a little explored and disputed land located above the Spanish California and the Russian Alaska known as the Oregon and Washington Territories. This was good for the economy but overseeing it was no easy feat.
On Septemeber 3, 1859, Buchanan receives word that the British Navy is about to invade San Juan Island in Puget Sound which is between Washington Territory and Britsh Columbia. Only twenty-five or thirty Americans citizens live on this island which is contained the Hudson Bay Fishing Company and Bellevue Farm, a 4,500 head sheep ranch. Two groups, Americans, and Britsh citizens have lived in harmony for years until 1854 when tensions began to heighten when a U.S. customs agent arrived to collect duties on the farm and the Brish deputy swore out a warrant for his arrest. Nothing came of the incident, however. Then in 1855, American Sherrif Ellis Barnes of Whatcom County with ten armed men rounded up thirty-five sheep belonging to the Hudson Bay Company intending to use them as payment for back taxes. Governor Douglas protested to his counterpart Governor Issac I. Stephens of Washington and to the British Colonial Office and the Hudson Bay Company demanded $15,000 in damages. Washington D.C. was worried enough to have Secretary of State William L. Marcy to write to do their best to not provoke the British and He also stated that neither Americans nor Britians should attempt to claim exclusive sovereign rights until ownership of the island could be determined. He asked that the British Colonial Office send the message to Governor Douglas, which they did. An attempt to settle this was made in 1857, but nothing came of it.
Five warships have surrounded the island and claimed it along with hundreds of soldiers and sailors and three armed British vessels with dozens of cannons. The American had only sixty-six soldiers and a single six powder gun and two mountain howitzers. Captain George Edward Pickett (yes that one of Civil War fame) was the commanding officer.
It turns out that on June 15, 1859, Lyman Cutler, an American, was tending to his potato farm when he noticed a pig eating his crop. This wasn't the first time and he was sick and tired of this pig eating his crops so he took his shotgun and killed the pig. The pig belonged to a member of the Britsh trading company and he demanded to be compensated for the pig. Cutler agreed until he was told that the amount was $100, a ridiculous sum for a pig. It escalated and the British wanted to arrest Cutler for trespassing on British soil if he did not pay the amount. The situation really began to escalate with the arrival of Brigadier General William Selby Harney the recently appointed Military Department of Oregan. Harney was known for his bravery in battle, his foul temper, his insubordination, his wanton disregard for the military chain of command and the prerogatives of other government departments in order to get what he wanted. He urged the Americans to draft a petition requesting a military force on the island. Without consulting the Territorial Authorities or the War Department Harney ordered Captain Pickett and Company D of the Ninth Division to come to San Juan Island and establish a post and stop the British from interfering. He issued the order on July 11 but did not send it off until July 19. It did not arrive in Washinton D.C. until September.
When James Douglas heard of Harvey's actions he had the man of war ship the Tribune, commanded by Captain Geoffrey Phipps Hornby sent from Hong Kong and had to be talked out of sending marines onto land. Instead, Hornby called upon Pickett to parlay with him on August 3. They met at Pickett's camp. Hornby produced the letter that Secretary of State Marcy had written four years earlier and Pickett countered back the age of the letter. When Hornby asked on what terms Pickett occupied the island he told him he was under orders from General Harney to protect the American citizens and that these orders came from Washington D.C. This, however, was not true as Harney's letter informing Washington D.C. of what he had done had not reached them yet. Hornby then showed him a letter of protest from Governor Douglas, but Pickett, of course, said that as a U.S. officer he would follow the dictates of his general over those of a foreign governor. Exacerbated, Hornby stated that since the U.S. military occupied a disputed island that they should too, Pickett reminded them that he was under orders from his government to be there and that he could do nothing until he heard again from General Harney. He also told Hornby that if he did otherwise that he would be the one to bring about a disastrous result.
Governor Douglas was livid. He wanted Hornby to send soldiers onto the island and get something done. But Hornby refused to act unless instructed to by his superiors back in London. He was not eager to go to war with the United States. Harney trying to piss everyone off decided to send for more reinforcements and now there were 461 soldiers on the island. On September 3 President Buchanan was shocked to learn through the newspapers and Harney's report what was going on in San Juan. He immediately directed the acting Secretary of War W.R. Drinkard to send a message to General Harney informing him that he was not happy steps had been taken to take over San Juan without his express permission. Secretary of State Lewis Cass assured the British Ambassador that General Harney had acted alone and without their backing and President Buchananon sent Chief of the Army Winfield Scott to get Harney to cut it out.
During negotiations with Governor Douglas, Scott agreed to joint occupation of the island to reduce the American soldiers to one company under the command of Lewis C. Hunt. Hurney was told to relinquish his position as head of the Military Department of Oregan and take a position in Missouri. He blatantly refused. When Hurney heard about the joint agreement and his man Pickett being sent away he became furious and in the last bit of insubordination, he ordered Pickett to return to San Juan. This time Hurney was sent back to Washington D.C. and barely escaped a court Marshall. He was then sent to St. Louis but encountered difficulties there and was kicked out of there too in 1861. He was never given another command and retired in 1863. Hurney's departure mollified the British enough that Pickett was able to return to San Juan until he left to join the Confederacy in 1861. The United States and Great Britain sent the border matter to Germany's Kaiser Wilem I to figure out and on October 21, 1872, he determined that San Juan belonged to the United States.
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