American Camp
American Camp (1859-1874) - First established as American Camp in 1859 by U.S. Army Captain George E. Pickett (Cullum 1330), and Company D, 9th U.S. Infantry, on San Juan Island, San Juan County, Washington. Renamed Camp Pickett, Post of San Juan (1863), Camp Fred Steele (1867), and finally Camp San Juan Island (1868). Abandoned in 1874.
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American Camp History
Established 27 Jul 1859 by Captain George E. Pickett and Company D, 9th U.S. Infantry, from Fort Bellingham. Captain Pickett and his troops were responding to an incident on San Juan Island that came to be known as the Pig War. The Pig War involved a territorial dispute with between Britain and the United States that was sparked by a British pig killed by an American farmer. No conflict erupted but the result was American Camp on the south end of the San Juan Island and English Camp on the North end of the Island since they both claimed the island. The stalemate lasted until Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany negotiated an agreement in 1872 that gave San Juan Island to the United States. The United States abandoned American Camp in 1874.
| Assumed | Relieved | Rank | Name | Cullum | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1859-07-27 | 1859-08-10 | Captain | Pickett, George E. | 1330 | |
| 1859-08-10 | 1859-10-19 | Lt. Colonel | Casey, Silas | 467 | |
| 1859-10-19 | 1859-11-16 | Captain | Haller, Granville O. | N/A | |
| 1859-11-16 | 1860-05 | Captain | Hunt, Lewis C. | 1363 | |
| 1860-05 | 1861-07-25 | Captain | Pickett, George E. | 1330 | |
| 1861-07-25 | 1861-11-15 | Captain | English, Thomas C. | 1442 | |
| 1861-11-15 | 1862-02-17 | 1st Lt. | Robinson, Augustus G. | 1777 | |
| 1862-02-17 | 1865-10-11 | Captain | Bissell, Lyman | N/A | |
| 1865-10-11 | 1867-06-26 | Captain | Grey, Thomas | N/A | |
| 1867-06-26 | 1868-07-22 | Major | Allen, Harvey A. | 1073 | |
| 1868-07-22 | 1868-09-30 | Captain | Grey, Thomas | N/A | |
| 1868-09-30 | 1868-11-04 | Captain | Nickerson, Azor H. | N/A | |
| 1868-11-04 | 1869-01-07 | 2nd Lt. | Peterson, John P. | N/A | |
| 1869-01-07 | 1872-01-15 | Captain | Haskell, Joseph T. | N/A | |
| 1872-01-15 | 1872-09-25 | 1st Lt. | Hubbard, E. B. | N/A | |
| 1872-09-25 | 1874-07-01 | Captain | Haughey, James A. | N/A | |
| Dates are formatted in yyyy-mm-dd to sort correctly. The Cullum Number is the graduation order from the United States Military Academy by year and class rank and links to a page for the officer on the website version of the Cullum Register. Listings without a Cullum Number indicate that the person was not a graduate of the United States Military Academy. | |||||
Current Status
Part of the San Juan Island National Historic Park administered by the National Park Service. One officers quarters, an original building moved back to the camp from town and one laundress quarters are the only remaining buildings. On a hill above the camp is the earthen outline of a protective redoubt built under the supervision of Superintending Engineer Lt. Henry M. Robert (Cullum 1763) (of Robert's Rules of Order).
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Location: San Juan Island National Historic Park, San Juan Island, San Juan County, Washington. Maps & Images Lat: 48.4643139 Long: -123.0202889 |
See Also:
Sources:
- Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 835
- Hart, Herbert M., Tour Guide to Old Western Forts, Pruett Publishing Co., Boulder CO, 1980, ISBN 0-87108-568-2, page 186
Links:
Visited: 7 May 2014
American Camp Picture Gallery
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