12/12/2025
The Pig-triggered war that almost destroyed Europe (1859)�In the misty San Juan Islands between Canada and the United States, an American farmer named Lyman Cutlar found a black pig rooting up his potatoes. He shot the pig. The pig belonged to an Irishman named Charles Griffin, who worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Words were exchanged. British authorities threatened to arrest Cutlar. American settlers called for military protection. Within weeks, 461 American soldiers with 14 cannons faced five British warships carrying 2,140 troops and 70 cannons, all because of one dead pig. Diplomats on both sides of the Atlantic panicked that this absurd standoff could reignite war between Britain and the United States. For months the two forces stared at each other across the water, exchanging nothing more deadly than polite invitations to dinner and dances. Eventually cooler heads prevailed and the “Pig War” ended with exactly one casualty: the pig.
