San Juan Boundary Dispute

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When this news–and the flurry of protests from the British government that it caused–reached Washington, reaction was swift and coordinated. The departments of state and war being of one mind, Secretary of State Cass reported to the president that, on June 8, the adjutant general sent a dispatch to Harney, ordering him to turn over command to the officer next in rank and to ‘. . . repair without delay to Washington City, and report in person to the Secretaries of State and War.’

Harney avoided court-martial but received a reprimand from Secretary of War Floyd for his actions ‘. . . which might have been attended by disastrous consequences.’ Given command of the Department of the West, he traveled to St. Louis, but after reporting difficulties with his officers, he was recalled from that post in May 1861. He held no further command and was retired in 1863.

General Harney’s departure from the Northwest mollified the British, who withdrew their objection to Captain Pickett commanding on San Juan Island. Pickett, a Virginian, left that post on June 25, 1861, and soon after, he resigned his commission and traveled to Richmond, where he was appointed a colonel in the army being formed by the Confederate States of America.

For the next decade, the boundary location for the still jointly occupied San Juan Islands remained in dispute. Finally, the United States and Great Britain submitted the matter to Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany for arbitration. On October 21, 1872, he ruled that the boundary should be drawn through the Haro Strait, which made the San Juan Islands part of the United States. Britain withdrew its garrison of Royal Marines a month later.

Peaceful negotiations won out, ending a confrontation that could have escalated into war, a conflict that, as Admiral Baynes remarked, would have involved ‘two great nations in a war over a squabble about a pig.’ *

* The United States divided the Oregon Territory in 1853. The northern portion became known as the Washington Territory. The San Juan Islands were considered by the U.S. to be part of that territory’s Whatcom County. The southern section of the former Oregon Territory was admitted into the Union as the state of Oregon in 1859.

This article was written by Michael D. Haydock and originally published in the February 2001 issue of American History Magazine.

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Tags: 19th Century, American History, Foreign Affairs, Historical Conflicts, Politics

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