In response to British threats of arresting the Americans on the islands, U.S. army troops were sent to ensure the latter’s safety. In response, two Royal Navy vessels and a number of marines were sent at the request of local authorities. The number of troops on both sides rapidly increased, all without the knowledge of their own governments (via The Canadian Encyclopedia). Once they learned of the situation, the federal government in Washington, D.C., scrambled to keep the conflict from becoming an actual war. Meanwhile, the bizarre dynamic included British ships conducting live fire drills and British and American officers attending a local church together. 

While under orders to protect their own country’s interests, both sides did what they could to avoid actual combat from materializing. Rear Admiral Baynes, the highest ranking British officer present, made this much very clear in his dispatches. When officials from the capital arrived, both sides greatly reduced their military presence on the archipelago and agreed to joint occupation for 12 years (via HistoryLink). In their search for an intermediary to judge who should gain possession of them, they found one in the form of Kaiser Wilhelm I. In 1871, the same year his title of Kaiser and the German Empire itself came into existence, he officially ended the Pig War in favor of the U.S. claim.