 Frontier fighters. Breath-taking moments in the heroic lives of men who dared and won. Men who fought and triumphed in their fight for the West. Long-remembered will be the names of Lyman A. Cutler and Captain George E. Pickett, whose Yankee pluck kept the stars and stripes flying over San Juan Island in the Harrow Straits when danger threatened the sovereign rights of the United States. In the summer of 1859, among those who dwelled on San Juan Island in the Harrow Straits was one Lyman A. Cutler, an American farmer. He planted some potatoes from which he hoped to realize a good profit. Charles A. Griffin, representative of Hudson's Bay Company, had a pig who developed an appetite for Cutler's potatoes. Mr. Griffin! Mr. Griffin, I want to talk to you! Well, Mr. Cutler, what is it? I've asked you a dozen times to keep your pig out of my potato patch. Why don't you try keeping the potatoes out of the pig? That's a small laughing matter. I've got a fence around my property which that pig doesn't seem to respect. Oh, you have him, respect. Besides, this property is American soil. Oh, is it? And I consider that marauding pig of yours a trespasser. No more a trespasser than all you American farmers. This is really a British soil you're all poaching on. That's a lie. Now get that pig of yours out of my garden and get him out quick. And if I don't? I'm going to throw him out this time. Here you go, Porker. Quite a temper, Mr. Cutler. I know my rights. I intend to protect him. The next time I find your pig in my garden... Yes, Mr. Cutler? There may be potatoes in his stomach, but he'll have an apple in his mouth. That's all. I'll be right there. I want to get something from the house. He showed you all the right good job and ruined his heart's content. They say every dog has his day. I suppose every pig's entitled to the same. Why, Lyman, you ain't going to shoot that pig. We'll have Hudson's Bay on our legs. I've worn Griffin. Now let him take the consequences. What are you going to do now? Going over to the Hudson's Bay Company Post and offering Griffin some money for his dead pig. Such high-handed business. I'm offering you some good American dollars for that pig. If you don't want them, Lynette closes the issue. That's what you think you hot-blooded Yankee have stopped. I'm going to send to Vancouver Island for a gunboat. Have you arrested and carried away for trial at a British court? And if I refuse to submit to such treatment... You'll be taken away by force. Mr. Griffin, I did some damage against some of your property. That property was a pig. I'm offering you a fair amount for the damage done. I'm through squabbling with you, Cutler. I repeat, you can tell your story to a magistrate in a British court of law. And do you know how the Americans will meet your kind of British justice, Mr. Griffin? I should be very interested to know, Mr. Cutler. They'll meet it with guns. Suddenly, there was created a situation which demanded immediate consideration. Cutler prepared his gun and ammunition for resistance. The other Americans felt it their duty to stand by their compatriot. The British officers and the posse arrived, argued, threatened, but made no attempt to lay hands on the Americans who faced them coolly, with loaded and cocked rifles. In this year of the pig, the Americans reared a flagstaff and let all glory fly in the breeze during their 4th of July celebration. General W. S. Horney, visiting Puget Sound and seeing the flag on farms he knew were in dispute, landed to investigate. Mr. Cutler, I've heard of the pig incident. Also, the attempt to arrest you, even though you'd offered to pay for the dead porker. Do you feel I'm in the right, sir? Definitely. I've already had an interview with Governor Stevens of Washington on the question of American ownership of these islands. And here's what I propose to do. Yes, General. I'm sending orders to Lieutenant Colonel Casey, commanding at 4th Tilikum, but the United States team of Massachusetts should be used for immediate transfer of Captain Pickett's company from Fort Bellingham to the southeastern end of San Juan Island. To protect the farmers on San Juan Island? To protect the farmers on San Juan Island from incursion of Northern Indians. Captain Pickett acted with enthusiastic zeal and promptness. By July 27, he had moved his command of 68 men and landed them on San Juan Island. On the same day the troops landed, the British warship Satellite arrived from Vancouver, bringing a British magistrate for San Juan. Captain Pickett, do you see what's taking place? I see a Cutter heading this way with British naval officers and British magistrates. Well, what are we going to do, Captain Pickett? I shall post a proclamation notifying the gentlemen that this is United States territory and no laws other than those of the United States, nor courts except such as are held by virtue of said laws, will be recognized or allowed on this island. But what if they bring more warships and land soldiers, bring up field pieces? The authority of the United States government is sovereign as long as the stars and stripes fly over San Juan. Therefore, whether they land five men or five thousands, it will be my duty to defy them. On July 30, Charles John Griffin, agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, sent Pickett in order to leave the islands. Captain Pickett refused. On August 3rd, three British warships, the Tribune, the Plumper and the Satellite, were in front of his camp. Bolts are coming closer to shore. Be ready, men. The three captains from the battleships Tribune, Plumper and Satellite. Here's Griffin, too. Be ready to resist the landing party. Captain Pickett? Captain George E. Pickett, USA, it's your servicer. You are ordered to appear before magistrate to Corsay for an invasion with armed troops on British territory. Any territory the stars and stripes fly over is American territory. I must ask you to withdraw at once. You can't bluff your way out of this, Pickett. I'll speak for Great Britain, Griffin. Very well, Captain Hornby. Captain Pickett, I'm prepared to land a very large force from the three battleships anchored off this island. You wouldn't care to have that happen, would you? I shouldn't hate to have to resist your landing parties. Such an act would be followed by bloodshed and might lead to war. A handful of badly armed and I'm sure badly disciplined men resist the force of three battleships. Whether you land fifty or five thousand men, sir, will not affect my conduct one way or the other. The moment you land an armed force in San Juan Island, I'll open fire. Well, you wouldn't dare. We have hundreds of men on those battleships. Your force would be wiped out in less than an hour. I repeat, whether you landed fifty men or five thousand, it makes no difference. I'll open fire and, if compelled to, take to the woods. That sounds more like what you'll do. Take to the woods. Yes, Mr. Griffin, but take to the woods fighting. When the spunky American captain is prepared to resist the landing of troops, Captain Jeffrey Thipps Hornby opened negotiations for a joint military occupation of the island. To which picket replied, I can see no reason why the United States should have sent to a joint military occupancy of her territory. That's the issue. This is British territory. And unless you are sent to a joint occupancy until a court of international law can decide the point you make, I shall be forced to blockade your position. Make whatever preparation you wish. But one British soldier landed on American soil prepared to occupy this island as an act of aggression. And I must warn you, sir, that one shot fired means war. Captain Pickett, the blockade of San Juan Island begins at once. And Private Jones, Benson, Drain, come to my tent. I want you to take communications to General Harney. I must have further instructions by the looks of things, reinforcements. General Harney ordered Pickett to resist joint occupancy and also ordered Fort Townsend and Bellingham Abandon. Lieutenant Colonel Casey landed troops in a heavy fog and then boldly steamed to a landing under the British guns for he unloaded supplies and ammunition. Now there were 500 well-armed men ready for a fight. Meantime, on Vancouver Island, when the excitement had reached its peak, Rear Admiral Baines arrived on his flagship, the Ganges. He told Governor Douglas that under no circumstances was he to use force. But, but, but, but, Admiral Baines, you can't possibly mean that you intend to deal gently with these Yankee upstarts. My good Douglas, you don't suppose Her Majesty's servants should assume the responsibility for shedding blood and plunging two nations into war for the possession of an island in this remote part of the world? This makes a mess of me, sir. You certainly would have been made a fool of if you had gone through with your action. This is not just a local affair, my good Governor. His patches daily are being given to the President of the United States in Washington, D.C. and also to Her Majesty in London. One shot fired on San Juan Island may be heard around the entire civilized world. The world will accuse you of cowardice, sir. I've seen some of those Yankee jaws and I know that in this instant, discretion is the better part of valor. Arbitration went on from 1869 through 1872. The case involved not alone questions of geography but history and international law. Therefore, Rear Admiral Baines and March 1860 placed on the north end of San Juan Island a detachment of Royal Marines in command of Captain George Basilgat. Finally, Emperor William of Germany was decided upon to be the supreme arbiter and in October 21st, 1872, he rendered his decision. My decision is that the Canal de Héro is the rightful boundary and San Juan Island therefore always has been and shall continue to be a territory belonging to the United States of America. After one more year, during which the men of the British and American camps became most friendly, the legislature of Washington Territory created of the islands and thus secured the county of San Juan. On San Juan Island today, there stand two marble shafts, an immortal testimony to the courage of the men who upheld American and British sovereignty in this remote corner of the Western world. Inscribed on the shaft at the American camp are these words. First officer in charge was Captain George E. Pickett of 9th U.S. Infantry. Inscribed on the shaft of the British camp, first officer in charge was Captain George Basilgat of the Royal Marines. And so was achieved another glorious chapter in the Chronicles of Frontier Fighters.