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What do a face an ear and a bucket all have in common?

They each started a war.

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Helen of Troy was the “Face that Launched a 1,000 Ships” that led to the 10-year Trojan War.

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The ear belonged to Capt. Robert Jenkins, a British sea captain.

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In 1731 the Spanish boarded his ship and accused him of smuggling. The penalty – they cut off his ear. Five years later, the British parliament heard his story and considered it an insult to Britain’s honor and a cause for war. Most of the conflict centered in the Caribbean.

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The war of the oaken bucket took place in Italy in 1325 between the city states of Bologna, who owned the bucket, and Modena. There was a conflict between the Ghibellines in Modena who supported the Holy Roman Emperor and the Guelfs in Bologna who supported the Pope. The soldiers from Modera raided Bologna and filled up the town center bucket with their booty and left. This was just one episode in their 300-year extended conflict.

Lest we Americans feel superior to the Greeks, the British and the Italians, we should remember that the United States almost went to war in 1859 over a pig!

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My friend and Vietnam Veteran who I served with in Saigon, Bill Bates, sent me a photo of the Historical marker concerning the Pig War that involved the people of San Juan Island.

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That island is located between Washington State and Victoria Island in the Northwest corner of the United States, or, as some may say, in the southwest corner of Canada.

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Before you can understand why the Pig War started, you have to understand the Oregon Treaty of 1846. This treaty divided the U.S.’s Oregon Country from the British’s Columbia District along the 49th parallel of north latitude. The line also separated the future state of Washington from Vancouver Island by drawing a line down the middle of the ---channel. However, there are actually two straits – one each on either side of the San Juan Islands. The maps used to calculate the separation of the two countries weren’t that accurate. Consequently, both Britain and the U.S. claimed sovereignty over the Islands.

Enough background. This is how the Pig War Started:

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Lyman Cutlar, a US settler or squatter depending if you hail a president or bless a king, warned Charles Griffin, a Hudson Bay Company agent, to discipline the black hog that keep rooting in his potato garden. Potatoes seeds that Cutlar had rowed 20 miles across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to plant in his garden. The warning did no good. The pig was back. So, in a pique of irritation, Cutlar shot the pig.

Feeling apologetic, Cutlar offered Griffin $10 in restitution. Griffin demanded $100. Cutlar declined and Griffin threaten to have him arrested. A gunboat, the Beaver, was dispatch to the island. Cutlar hid and the British gunboat left to recruit a larger force. Americans on the island came to Cutlar’s support by raising a huge American flag at his homestead.

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If you look closely, you’ll notice that here are 33 stars on this flag.

Now General Harney, touring the Department of Oregon’s northern outpost by the steamer USS Massachusetts, spied the flag and made a stop to investigate.

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After hearing of the “pig scrape”, the general arranged for the island to be occupied by US troops to defend against the Indians, and unmentioned but understood, the British.  In charge of the American troops was Captain George E. Pickett. Yes, the same person whose name is associated with the Battle of Gettysburg and “Pickett’s Charge.”

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On 27 July 1859 Pickett along with his troops, a brass canon, guns and supplies establish a military post on the island. Picket wasted no time establishing his authority. He issued an order that no laws other than those of the United States would be recognized. The British of the Hudson Bay Company immediately challenged this order and told Pickett to leave the island or else the authorizes would be notified.

Pickett didn’t leave, and in a few days British naval ships were anchored in San Juan harbor. Then more British war ships arrived along with 450 royal marines. The Americans responded with the following ships: The Jefferson Davis, the Constitution (not that one, rather a different private ship), The Massachusetts, and the Julia.

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However, the British still outmanned the Americans: British: 2,140 men and 167 guns; Americans 461 men and 15 howitzers. Even so, General Harney (the man not the ship) and Captain Pickett were itching for a fight

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Remember this is over the death of a pig.

Finally, Lt. General Winfield Scott,

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Old Fuss and Feathers himself, the army commander, stepped in. He replaced General Harney and moved Capt. Pickett off the island. The tensions were reduced, but both countries still had a military presence on the island. There would be a peaceful standoff for the next twelve years.

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While the troops on both sides waited for the boundary dispute to be arbitrated, they held athletic contests and horse races with one another, and entertained with dining and dancing.

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At long last in 1872, the arbitor, Kaiser Wilhelm, Emperor of Germany, signed off on the Treaty of Washington placing the line of demarcation between Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands. The San Juan Island were American.

Today we traveled from the East Coast to the West Cost is search of a pig. I hope you enjoyed your transcontinental journey.