Was A Pig Really Responsible For Starting The War Of 1812?

 

By Steve Yankee, “The Best of the Old Farmer’s Almanac”

 

 

One of the most intriguing tales of animals in history is an undocumented story circulated during the early 1800s. It seems that a certain pig in Providence, Rhode Island, was constantly breaking through fences and eating the contents of a neighbor's garden. Now the neighbor in this case was a Federalist candidate for Congress who became so enraged one day at the sight of the pig eating his garden that he killed the pig on the spot - with a three-tined pitchfork!

 

This, in turn, enraged the late pig's owner who, on Election Day shortly thereafter, naturally cast his vote for his neighbor's opponent - who, as it turns out, won the election by one vote.

So the winner went to Congress, and presumably the loser stayed home tending his garden - and no doubt spent some time wishing he'd delayed his revenge upon the pig at least until after all the votes had been cast.

 

Some time later, when the question of war with England came to a vote before the U.S. Senate, the measure passed by only one vote - that of the senator who had defeated the Federalist gardener. The outcome, of course, was the War of 1812 and our eventual economic liberation from England. \

 

This story might be a lot of hogwash - but then again, it might not!