With a plot to grace any comic opera, the 1859–72 ‘Pig War’ broke out when an American living on a quietly disputed island in the Gulf of Georgia shot a British pig that was rooting up his garden produce. The authorities on nearby Vancouver Island and the military leadership of adjacent Washington Territory both felt they had good reasons to escalate this trivial incident into a full-blown war. Soon, American soldiers found themselves looking down the barrels of Royal Navy cannon. Meanwhile Royal Marines and US soldiers settled down on the island to a round of social events, including sports days, combined dinners and even summer balls.Despite the outbreak of the American Civil War and British intervention on the Confederate side, the hot-heads were restrained and, eventually, it was decided that the problem should become one of the earliest examples of international arbitration. Set against the framework of US attempts to gain control of the whole North American continent, The Pig War is a highly readable account of a little-known episode in Anglo-American history.
