The Pig War

Back in 1859, on the island of San Juan off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, there live citizens of both Britain and the US. The ownership of the island is not clear. One morning a pig owned by a British citizen eats the potatoes of a neighbor who is an American citizen, and the American rashly shoots and kills the pig. Letters to important people in both countries are quickly dashed off, and before you know it armed British ships are facing armed American ships, and war almost breaks out.

But war doesn't break out.

This is the true story of how war was averted, a story that offers an example for us all today of alternate ways of solving conflict.