How the States Got Their Shapes Too_ The People Behind the Borderlines - Mark Stein [114]
Militarily, if the United States possessed the San Juan Islands, it could control the shipping channels between Vancouver Island and the mainland of Canada. With that control, commerce in western Canada would be at the mercy of the United States. Should the United States seek to acquire Canada, taking possession of the San Juan Island would provide an excellent military wedge.
Harney may have sought to drive that wedge of conquest at that point in time for political reasons as well. Historians have speculated that he hoped to divert Southern secessionist passions into American expansionist passions.5 This view is buttressed by his selection of Captain Pickett to lead the landing force on San Juan Island. George E. Pickett came from a long-prominent Virginia family. His buoyant personality added popularity to prominence. In the years ahead, Pickett would become a Confederate general most known to posterity for Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg, that charge being the high-water mark of the Confederacy. If this wild idea of invading Canada was Harney’s intention, he would not have been the only high-ranking government official to entertain it. Secretary of State William Seward would soon propose it to President Lincoln as a last-ditch effort to avoid the Civil War.
Once Harney’s reports arrived in Washington, cooler heads prevailed. President James Buchanan dispatched Adjutant General Winfield Scott to assess the situation firsthand, with the aim of preventing war. “Harney considers San Juan Island as part of the Washington Territory,” General Scott reported to his superiors. “If this does not lead to a collision of arms, it will again be due to the forbearance of the British authorities, for I found both Brigadier General Harney and Captain Pickett proud of their ‘conquest’ of the island.” In response, the secretary of war sent General Scott a one-sentence message: “The Adjutant General will order Brigadier General Harney to repair to Washington city without delay.”
The War Department officially censured General Harney. The Washington Territory, on the other hand, nominated him for president of the United States. General Scott, meanwhile, working with British governor Douglas, stabilized the military situation by agreeing to a troop presence by both nations on the island.
With the military standoff carefully managed, diplomats were able to take control of the dispute. As they did so, the number of British and American troops was steadily reduced to a token presence. Those remaining came to exchange pleasantries, play cards, share adult beverages, and even celebrate Christmas together at a large dinner while waiting for the diplomats to complete their task.6
The wait lasted twelve years. In 1872, under arbitration headed by Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm, the San Juan Islands were deemed to lie within the boundaries of the United States. The decision was based on the records of the original 1846 boundary negotiations, during which England had sought to have the boundary along 49th parallel turn south through the channel only to keep Vancouver Island in British possession, never mentioning any possession of the San Juan Islands.
Today this segment of Washington State’s boundary remains on the map, an artifact of Lyman Cutler’s triggering the Pig War, the only casualty of which was the pig.
COLORADO
ROBERT W. STEELE
Rocky Mountain Rogue?
Gov. Steele informs his constituents … that “the eyes of the Union are upon them.” … The eyes of the Union, we venture to say, have not even discovered the Territory.… Not one man in five hundred, we presume, in the country at large, is aware of the existence of any such political community as the Territory of Jefferson. In point of fact, it has as yet no legal existence.
—NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 26, 1859
In the winter of 1859, a group of gold prospectors and miners in the Pikes Peak region of the Rocky