Lyman Cutler (1835 - April 27, 1874) was an American settler and farmer.
Biography[]
After the Frasier Canyon's gold rush, some Americans decided not to go home and settle in San Juan Island, and one of them was Lyman Cutler. At the time, he was in his mid-20s.
He was lazy for not wanting to clear out land to settle in and instead chose to build his cabin and potato farm in the middle of a sheep run. Along, with that, he also decided to only fence in three sides of his farm, causing Charles Griffin's Brekshire pig to eat his potatoes. As a result, the American farmer shot and killed the animal causing the Pig War in British Columbia, Washington Territory and Oregon in 1859.
The conflict escalated when the American general William S. Harney ordered captain George Pickett to land troops on the disputed island causing the British to send the Royal Navy. Then The British Columbia governor, James Douglas ordered admiral Geoffrey Hornby to shoot the Americans and stop them. That almost caused a new Anglo-American War.
At the end the conflict tensions were solved by the US Army general Winfield Scott and the Royal Navy admiral Robert Lambert Baynes.