American Camp lies on the island’s southernmost level, six miles south of Friday Harbor, on a clean and gently undulating street by blended farmland lined with bushy hedgerows.
Farming was first established on San Juan Island in 1853 when the British-run Hudson’s Bay Firm based the Belle Vue Sheep Farm with the goal of gaining a foothold within the area and thwarting rival American claims within the San Juan archipelago. When the enterprise grew to become worthwhile, the People determined they too wished a slice of the pie and, inside 5 years, greater than a dozen US settlers had sailed over from the mainland to assert grazing rights – purposes the British deemed unlawful.
Tensions simmered beneath the floor till 15 June 1859, when an American settler named Lyman Cutlar angrily shot a pig he discovered foraging in his backyard. Fatefully, the offending animal belonged to the British, who have been so incensed by the incident they threatened to evict American settlers en masse.
Undaunted, the People requested for navy safety. Answering the decision, Captain George Pickett (who later fought for the confederacy within the US Civil Battle) was dispatched to the island, touchdown with a 64-man pressure close to present-day American Camp on 27 July.
The British responded by sending three warships to the world, as Pickett ratcheted up his troops to 450. Elevating the stakes additional, the British began conducting reside drills on San Juan Island as ships, area weapons and marines confronted one another in a tense navy stand-off.
Again within the peaceable current, I freewheeled into American Camp and paused to admire the plush new wood-and-glass customer centre. Exterior, graphic panels displayed maps and indigenous motifs, whereas indoors, footage and tales defined the trajectory of the disaster from Cutlar’s deadly capturing to the brink of battle. So how shut have been the 2 nice powers to warfare?