COLD OPEN+ · HISTORY
COLD OPEN+ · Nº 04 of 40
The War Where the Only Casualty Was a Pig
In 1859, the U.S. and Britain massed troops on a tiny island for over a decade. The single death was one pig eating potatoes.
Wikimedia Commons · Bureau of Land Management · Public domain
4
THE BODY COUNT
One pig. That's the whole list.
Two of the most powerful nations on Earth mobilized soldiers and warships over a disputed island. The complete death toll of the so-called 'Pig War' was a single hungry pig.
4
SAN JUAN ISLAND, 1859
An island both countries claimed
San Juan Island sits between the U.S. mainland and British Canada. A vague treaty left ownership unclear, so both American settlers and Britain's Hudson's Bay Company were living there under an uneasy truce.
Wikimedia Commons · Chris Light (talk) · CC BY-SA 3.0
4
THE INCIDENT
June 15, 1859: a pig, some potatoes
An American settler named Lyman Cutlar, 27, found a pig rooting through his garden — again. The pig belonged to Charles Griffin of the Hudson's Bay Company. Fed up, Cutlar shot it. Griffin demanded he be arrested and tried.
4
THE ESCALATION
From potatoes to warships
A dead pig snowballed into an international standoff.
1
Cutlar offers to pay for the pig; Griffin refuses
2
Britain threatens to arrest Cutlar
3
American settlers demand military protection
4
The U.S. sends troops under Capt. George Pickett
5
Britain sends warships. Both sides keep piling on.
4
THE ANTICLIMAX
0
HUMAN CASUALTIES — IN 12+ YEARS OF STANDOFF
Then everyone chose not to shoot
Officers on both sides realized the absurdity of a war over a pig and held their fire. British and American troops jointly occupied the island — peacefully — for the next twelve years, with no shots exchanged between them.
4
THE RESOLUTION
A foreign king settled it in 1872
The two nations agreed to neutral arbitration. In 1872, Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany was asked to decide, and he awarded San Juan Island to the United States. The dispute ended with a signature — and still just one dead pig.
4
THE LESSON
The trigger and the stakes are almost never the same size.
A pig and a potato patch put two empires nose to nose. What kept it from exploding wasn't luck — it was officers on both sides choosing, repeatedly, not to swing.
4
THE RECEIPTS · THIS REALLY HAPPENED
Look it up yourself
Preserved today as a U.S. National Historical Park.
EVENT
The Pig War
THE SHOT
June 15, 1859
PEOPLE
Lyman Cutlar (U.S.) shot Charles Griffin's (HBC) pig
U.S. COMMANDER
Capt. George Pickett
RESOLVED
1872, arbitrated by Kaiser Wilhelm I → U.S.
CASUALTIES
One pig
4
DISCUSS
What do you think?
What tiny events today could spiral if nobody chose to back down?
Why do people dig in over small things when the cost of losing is huge?
4