[BlueLancer]

Unless I've forgotten my American history (or gotten something mixed up) was Jefferson the Secretary of War during the time that the US and Britain were engaged in a pi$$ing contest over the exact border between Canada and the United States out in that area? Wasn't Pickett (of later Pickett's Charge fame at Gettysburg) a captain or lieutenant in the US Army at the time facing British regulars along the border, ready (almost eager) to fight the Brits in the event border talks weren't successful? Wasn't this where the old "54'40" Or Fight" motto came from?

Easy enough to see why there might be a Jefferson Davis Highway in Washington State ... some of the state would be missing if it hadn't been for him and George Pickett.

[kdw]

Wasn't Pickett (of later Pickett's Charge fame at Gettysburg) a captain or lieutenant in the US Army at the time facing British regulars along the border, ready (almost eager) to fight the Brits in the event border talks weren't successful? Pickett was was the commander of American forces in the bloodless “pig war” on San Juan Island (the one in Washington State) There are now national parks at the site of both the American and British camps. Pickett’s camp was poorly sited and by all accounts a miserable posting. He was badly out numbered and out gun and surly would have been overwhelmed if the British had attacked. Larger geo-political concerns motivated the British to cede the islands.

[Non-Sequitur]

No. Davis was Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce who was president 1853-1857. The disagreement with Britain over the northern border of Washington was settled by James Polk in 1846 - the same year that Pickett graduated from West Point.