The Alaska daily empire., 1913-10-20
NEW LIGHT ON AN HISTORIC IN
 CIDENT.
O O

IN the first of a series of articles
 i'm Cosmopolitan magazine on the
 life of her husband, the widow of Gen. Pickett, who earned undying re- nown as the leader of the famous but disasterous charge at Gettysburg, has thrown a new light on the famous San Juan island controversy of 1S5S-9, an incident that stands out as one of the conspicuous events of American Paci- tic Coast history.
 It will be remembered that Capt Pickett. of the United States army, was sent from Fort Bellingham with depleted company of 64 men to Oc- cupy san Juan island at a time when the island was claimed by both the United States and Great Britain. The question of jurisdiction over the island had been raised by the settlers. A British naval force of many hundreds was sent to occupy the island, but
 
 British were about to land he sent word Co their commander that he would regard their landing as an act of war which he would be compelled to resist with his force. He drew his thin line of blue-coated soldiers up and instructed them to die fighting as became American soldiers. The Brit ish did not land until after an agree ment had been entered into for the joint occupation of the island pending a solution of the international dispute through diplomacy. This agreement was made by those higher in author fly than the young Virginia captain who had firmly expected to leave his f,,ess body on the then far Pacific shore as a mark of his devotion to the flag that he tried to strenuously to overthrow a few short seasons after ward
 The widow of the young captain who afterWard became a famous Con- federate general says that Capt Pick ett. and others who were in his con- tdence. where greatly disappointed by the caution and discretion of the Brit ish naval officers who prevented a third American British war by refus- ing to accept Pickett's challenge, and she attributes to Pickett another mo- tive than that of a daring and fool hardy bravery such as has been char acteristic of young army officers of all nations and all generations. She says he longed for the opportunity to sacrifice himself and his men. believ- ing that it would be a means of avert in- the storm of civil war among the States that lowering clouds already toreshadowed
 Pickett was connected by ties of blood, association and friendship with many of the great men of his State and of the Nation He had lately come from the National capital. and from prolonged visiting in Virginia homes. His sensitive nature was stir .r.d to inc quick by the open talk of secession. His loyalty to the flag that his kindred and State had done so much to make glorious and the duty which he felt that he owed as a citi- zen to the Old Dominion that had stood for twO-and-a-half centuries as a bulwark of Anglo-Saxon liberty was being put 10 a gruelling test. He prayed as prayed many other patrio- tic men North and South that Provi- dence would intervene in some way to prevent armed conflict between Americans When the quarrel be- tween the United States and Great Britain over the ownership of San Juan island arose and threatened the eXitsing peace between the Nations. his alert mind seized the occasion as dv- Ing men grasp for straws. If the two great countries could be forced into war, he thought, the love for the Stars and Stripes that so often had been exhibited by the South-by the followers of Marion in the Carolina s"amps. by the sturdy yeomen at Flu