Before the Civil War, Confederate General George E. Pickett, who graduated last in his class at West Point, was sent to the Washington Territory to command Fort Bellingham and build the “Military Road” (what is now a winding Highway 9) a few miles east of the Farm, far enough away to be out of range of British warship guns. He became distracted 40 miles to the west, seemingly working to provoke a war between the United States and Britain. In
1859 Pickett moved his forces (66 men) to San Juan Island in response to a dead American pig that had repeatedly broken into an English garden. In response to this U.S. mobilization, the British sent a force of 5 warships and 2,100 men. Pickett set up camp on San Juan Island with his battery of cannons directly under the cannons of the British ships. Having this error pointed out to him by a brash Lieutenant Henry Robert, an Army engineer (who later published his Robert’s Rules of Order), he moved the cannon to higher ground where British naval guns could not sight. Why is Pickett important to Exit 215? He did not finish his portion of Highway 9 as surveyed, while McClellan’s (later, 2 times fired by President Lincoln) duty station to the South sees a straight highway all the way to Bryant Corner from south Tacoma. Our area remained an enclave for the next 120 years. Shown is our Little Red Preschool House patio’s Viking Vegvisir, not everyone lost their way (preschool has started wonderfully, new classes ongoing) at Exit 215.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/pig-war
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-Pig-War/
http://www.plc215.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/A-Virginians-Military-Road.pdf
https://legionmagazine.com/the-pig-that-nearly-caused-a-war/
https://burkeherbarium.org/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Rhododendron%20menziesii
With 5 British warships anchored off San Juan Island, it is said Pickett and his officers enjoyed dinner in the Admiral Baynes’ wardroom each evening. Pickett would go onto gather future fame and glory in which War?
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