Editing George Pickett (section)

==Early career==
July 1, 1846,<ref>LaSalle Corbell Pickett (Mrs. Gen. George E. Pickett), "Pickett and his men", The Foote and Davies Company, Atlanta, Ga., Second Edition, 1900, p. 129.</ref> Pickett was commissioned a [[brevet (military)|brevet]] second lieutenant in the [[8th Infantry Regiment (United States)|8th Infantry Regiment]]. He soon gained national recognition in the [[Mexican–American War]] when he carried the American colors over the parapet during the [[Battle of Chapultepec]] in September 1847. Wounded at the base of the wall, Pickett's friend and colleague Lieutenant [[James Longstreet]] handed him the colors. Pickett carried the flag over the wall and fought his way to the roof of the palace, unfurling it over the fortress and announcing its surrender.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vko.va.ngb.army.mil/fortpickett/mtc/Garrison/History/pickett.htm |title=Who is General George Edward Pickett? |publisher=United States Army |access-date=June 28, 2016 |archive-date=November 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104070159/http://vko.va.ngb.army.mil/fortpickett/mtc/Garrison/History/pickett.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> He received a second brevet promotion, to captain, following this action.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historynet.com/george-pickett |title=George Pickett (History Net) |publisher=History Net |access-date=June 28, 2016}}</ref> His record of service, compiled by the Adjutant-General's Office in March 1887 at the request of his widow, states: Brevetted first lieutenant August 20, 1847, "for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras, and Churubusco, Mexico"; and captain September 13, 1847, "for gallant and meritorious conduct at Chapultepec, Mexico."<ref>LaSalle Corbell Pickett (Mrs. Gen. George E. Pickett), "Pickett and his men", The Foote and Davies Company, Atlanta, Ga., Second Edition, 1900, p. 129.</ref>

June 28, 1849,<ref>LaSalle Corbell Pickett (Mrs. Gen. George E. Pickett), "Pickett and his men", The Foote and Davies Company, Atlanta, Ga., Second Edition, 1900, p. 129.</ref> while serving on the Texas frontier after the war, he was promoted to [[First Lieutenant#United States|first lieutenant]] and then to [[Captain (U.S. Army)|captain]] in the [[9th Infantry Regiment (United States)|9th Infantry Regiment]] March 3, 1855.<ref>LaSalle Corbell Pickett (Mrs. Gen. George E. Pickett), "Pickett and his men", The Foote and Davies Company, Atlanta, Ga., Second Edition, 1900, p. 129.</ref><ref name="Eicher428"/> In 1853, Pickett challenged a fellow junior officer, future Union general [[Winfield Scott Hancock]], to a duel; (they had met only briefly when Hancock was passing through Texas). Hancock declined the duel, a response not unlikely as dueling had fallen out of favor at the time.<ref name="Tagg112">Tagg, p. 112.</ref>

In January 1851, Pickett married Sally Harrison Minge, the daughter of Dr. John Minge of Virginia, the great-great-grandniece of [[President of the United States|President]] [[William Henry Harrison]], and the great-great-granddaughter of [[Benjamin Harrison V]], a signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]]. Sally died during childbirth that November, at [[Fort Gates]], Texas.<ref name=Gordon>Gordon, ''Encyclopedia of the American Civil War'', pp. 1518–19.</ref>

Pickett next served in the [[Washington Territory]]. In 1856 he commanded the construction of [[Fort Bellingham]] on Bellingham Bay, in what is today the city of [[Bellingham, Washington]]. He also built a frame home that year which still stands; [[Pickett House (Bellingham, Washington)|Pickett House]] is the oldest house in Bellingham and the oldest house on its original foundation in the Pacific Northwest.<ref name="COB.org Pickett">{{cite web |title=George E. Pickett House |publisher=City of Bellingham |url=http://www.cob.org/services/neighborhoods/historic/tour/026.aspx |access-date=September 27, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414171010/http://www.cob.org/services/neighborhoods/historic/tour/026.aspx |archive-date=April 14, 2011  }}</ref> While posted to Fort Bellingham, Pickett married a Native American woman of the Haida tribe, Morning Mist, who gave birth to a son, James Tilton Pickett (1857–1889); Morning Mist died a few months later.<ref name="COB.org Pickett"/> "Jimmy" Pickett made a name for himself as a newspaper artist, before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 32 near [[Portland, Oregon]].<ref>Gordon, ''General George E. Pickett in Life and Legend'', pp. 169–70; Boltz, np.</ref>

In 1859 Pickett was dispatched in command of Company D, 9th US Infantry, to garrison [[San Juan Island]] in response to discord that had arisen there between American farmers and the [[Hudson's Bay Company]].<ref name=pigwar>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/sajh/historyculture/the-pig-war.htm |title=The San Juan Island National Historical Park – The Pig War  |website =National Park Service |access-date =February 24, 2016}}</ref> The confrontation, known as the [[Pig War (1859)|Pig War]], was instigated when American farmer Lyman Cutler shot and killed a pig that had repeatedly broken into his garden. The pig belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company, and though Cutler was prepared to pay a fair price for the pig, the Company was not satisfied, insisting he be brought before the British magistrate, thus initiating the territorial dispute. In response to the U.S. forces, the British sent a force of three warships and 1000 men. The British commander, Captain Geoffrey Phipps Hornby (H.M.S. 'Tribune', 30 guns),<ref>LaSalle Corbell Pickett (Mrs. Gen. George E. Pickett), "Pickett and his men", The Foote and Davies Company, Atlanta, Ga., Second Edition, 1900, p. 117.</ref> demanded that Pickett and his men leave. Pickett declined, and the British officer returned to his frigate, threatening to land his own men. Pickett with his 68 men appeared to be fully prepared to oppose a British landing, ordering them into a line of battle near the beach. "Don't be afraid of their big guns," he told his men, "We'll make a [[Battle of Bunker Hill|Bunker Hill]] of it."<ref>Robbins, p. 177; Tagg, p. 237.</ref> Pickett's presence and determination prevented the landing, the British being under orders to avoid armed conflict with United States forces, if possible.<ref name=pigwar /> Pickett had set up camp and his battery of cannon near the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]'s Belle Vue Sheep Farm, and directly under the cannons of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[warship]]. Having this error pointed out to him, he moved the camp and battery a few miles north to high ground, to a spot overlooking Griffin Bay and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. After initial tensions passed the crisis was averted, both sides being unwilling to go to war over a pig. President [[James Buchanan]] dispatched Brevet Lieutenant General [[Winfield Scott]] to negotiate a settlement between the parties.<ref>Gordon, ''General George E. Pickett in Life and Legend'', p. 60.</ref>

There is also some controversy that Pickett and General [[William S. Harney]], per General [[Granville O. Haller]], maneuvered behind the scenes to provoke a war between the United States and Britain, to distract the North, allowing the South to seek independence or, as General [[George B. McClellan]] said, to unite the North and South.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Pig War|last=Vouri|first=Michael|publisher=Discover Your Northwest distributed by University of Washington|year=2016|isbn=978-0-914019-62-6|location=Seattle WA |pages=69–72}}</ref>