One Dead Pig Put 5 Warships Against 461 Soldiers. Only the Pig Died (1859)

On June 15, 1859, on San Juan Island between Vancouver Island and the Washington coast, an American farmer named Lyman Cutlar found a Hudson's Bay Company pig eating his potatoes, and shot it. He offered $10. The company wanted $100. Within weeks, 461 American soldiers were dug in on the island, facing British warships carrying around 2,000 men. This is the story of the Pig War: the 1846 treaty that forgot there were two channels, Captain George Pickett before Gettysburg, the admiral who reportedly refused to start a war "over a squabble about a pig", the twelve-year joint occupation full of feasts and sports days, the lieutenant who went on to write Robert's Rules of Order, and the German Kaiser who finally drew the border. Where the sources disagree (troop numbers, dates, famous quotes), we tell you. Illustrations, not footage: every image in this video is a hand-drawn-style illustration made for this channel. Sources: US National Park Service, San Juan Island National Historical Park, "The Pig War" (nps.gov/sajh/learn/historyculture/the-pig-war.htm), "Lyman Cutlar Homestead" (nps.gov/places/lyman-cutlar-homestead.htm), "Royal Marines Cemetery" (nps.gov/places/royal-marines-cemetery.htm) and "Encampment 2015"; HistoryLink.org essays 5724, 5725 and 5037; Wikipedia, "Pig War (1859)" and "Oregon Treaty". #history #pigwar #weirdhistory