Ninth U.S. Infantry troops under Captain George Picket occupy San Juan Island as the "Pig War" escalates

The San Juan Islands, between Vancouver Island and the mainland, were in an area the Anglo-American Treaty of 1846 had not clearly demarcated.  They had attracted both British and American settlers and an altercation over a pig saw a sixty man U.S. Army occupation of the main island commanded by Captain George Picket. In response, a Royal Naval task force landed Royal Marines on another part of the island. Tensions were reduced as cooler heads prevailed. The islands settled down to several decades of shared sovereignty and token military garrisons. Eventually Britain ceded the San Juan Islands to the United States and retained the neighboring Gulf Islands. (By John Osborne)