Geoffrey Phipps Hornby
His patience nearly exhausted, Hornby stated that, as the United States had occupied a disputed island with a military force, it was incumbent on Britain to take similar action. "I am under orders from my government," Pickett answered. "I cannot allow any joint occupation of the island before I communicate with, and hear from, General Harney."
With that, the meeting concluded, and Pickett requested that Hornby compose a letter covering the main points of their conversation, which the British naval officer agreed to do. When the letter arrived that afternoon, Pickett wrote a careful acknowledgment, reiterating that he was on the island at the orders of his government and urging that no further action be taken until he had the opportunity to communicate with General Harney. In response to a statement in Hornby's letter that put the blame for any future confrontation on the Americans, Pickett artfully replied: "Should you see fit to act otherwise, you will then be the person who will bring on a most unfortunate and disastrous difficulty, and not the United States' officials."
R. Lambert Baynes
Remaining with his ship in the harbor for several more weeks, Captain Hornby made no attempt to land a party of marines. On his return to Vancouver's Island, he endured the wrath of Governor Douglas, whose temper worsened when Rear Admiral Robert L. Baynes, commander of British naval forces in the Pacific, arrived and informed the impatient and bellicose civilian functionary that he had no intention of precipitating a war with the United States in the absence of express instructions from the British Admiralty and the government in London. Baynes suggested that both he and the governor write to their superiors and await their responses before proceeding further. He did agree, however, to keep at least one ship of war stationed in the bay at San Juan Island below the American camp until further orders had been received.
Pickett's report of his encounter with the commander of the Tribune pleased General Harney, who was, however, concerned by the captain's assessment that his forces were too weak to repel any full-scale attack by the British. Harney, therefore, dispatched reinforcements to San Juan Island, over the continued protests of Governor Douglas, until the American garrison there numbered 461. By the end of August, the British contingent assigned to the San Juan Islands included five warships, mounting 167 guns and carrying complements of more than two thousand, including Royal Marines and engineers.
Sailors pose on the deck of H.M.S. Satellite around the period of the The Pig War. This image is one of several taken of the ship's main deck by Lieutenant Richard Roche, R.N., an enthusiastic amateur photographer.
When President James Buchanan learned on September 3, 1859, of the confrontation with the British through newspapers in the American capital, he was shocked. After receiving General Harney's July 19 report on that same day, the president took swift action. He directed the acting secretary of war, W. R. Drinkard, to send an urgent message to General Harney stating that "the President was not prepared to learn that you had ordered military possession to be taken of the Island of San Juan or Bellevue. Although he believes the Straits of Haro to be the true boundary between Great Britain and the United States, under the Treaty of June 15, 1846, . . . he had not anticipated that so decided a step would have been resorted to without instructions." Secretary of State Lewis Cass assured the British ambassador, Lord Lyons, that General Harney was not acting on the instructions of his government, and Buchanan dispatched the general in chief of the army, 73-year-old Winfield Scott, to the Pacific Northwest to order Harney to desist.
In spite of his poor health, Scott left New York City on September 20 on the steamer Star of the West for the long sea voyage to the west coast, arriving in San Francisco on October 17. Scott immediately continued on to Fort Vancouver, where he met with General Harney on October 21 and with Captain Pickett the following day. Scott concluded from these meetings that both men were quite proud of their actions, and he set about at once to defuse the situation they had created.
H.M.S. Satellite on Bellingham Bay just before the crisis.
In negotiating with Governor Douglas, Scott resurrected the offer of joint military occupation of San Juan Island, which Britain's Captain Hornby had made to Captain Pickett at their meeting in August. Scott also unilaterally reduced the American garrison stationed there to a single company under the command of Captain Lewis C. Hunt. Governor Douglas accepted the arrangement, on the condition that Pickett not be reinstated at that post. This being agreed to, General Scott thought the matter resolved and began to plan his return to the District of Columbia. Before leaving, however, he attempted to persuade General Harney to relinquish his command in Oregon and transfer to the Department of the West, whose headquarters was in St. Louis, but the troublesome general flatly refused.
Returning to the nation's capital, General Scott reported on the matter to Secretary of War John B. Floyd and expressed grave doubts about the wisdom of leaving Harney in command. "The highest obligation of my station," Scott stated, "compels me to suggest a doubt whether it be safe in respect to our foreign relations, or just to the gallant officers and men of the Oregon Department, to leave them longer, at so great a distance, subject to the ignorance, passion, and caprice, of the present headquarters of that Department."
Additional Sources:
www.pickettsociety.com
www.historylink.org
www.paracompusa.com
homepage.mac.com
www.washington.edu
www.nps.gov
