# Have any US states never been involved in a war? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2017, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970 "2017-06-03T00:44:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/1 "2017-06-03T00:44:22Z")
I am asking if there are any US states that A. Did not join the Union as a result of a war. and B. Have never been directly attacked since. The original 13 states were involved in the Revolutionary War and 1812. Hawaii, California, Alaska, Oregon, and Maine were all attacked in WW2. Many ships were sunk off the coast of NC as well. Much of the Southwest was taken from Mexico by war. The Civil War means much of the South has seen combat. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/2 "2017-06-03T01:12:16Z")
It seems like most of the Louisiana Territory would count. We got it fair and square by paying money for it, and it’s been too far in the interior for any enemy to reach it in war. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/3 "2017-06-03T01:20:12Z")
Chronos: There were a lot of wars with Native Americans. ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/4 "2017-06-03T01:30:29Z")
If wars against Natives count, no state is innocent. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/5 "2017-06-03T02:17:55Z")
> [@whc.03grady](#): > > If wars against Natives count, no state is innocent. Well, they have to be wars after statehood, per OP. What Wyoming and Idaho (statehood in 1890)? Oklahoma was later, but had battles with Muscogee Creeks afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/6 "2017-06-03T03:11:14Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Well, they have to be wars after statehood, per OP. It’s not clear that’s what the OP means. He gives the example of “most of the southwest,” which became part of the US after the Mexican War. But Arizona has not been involved in hostilities since statehood. (New Mexico has, being attacked by Pancho Villa in 1916.) ---
**Author:** ![nachtmusick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@nachtmusick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nachtmusick)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/7 "2017-06-03T04:26:15Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > I am asking if there are any US states that A. Did not join the Union as a result of a war. and B. Have never been directly attacked since. > The original 13 states were involved in the Revolutionary War and 1812. > Hawaii, California, Alaska, Oregon, and Maine were all attacked in WW2. Many ships were sunk off the coast of NC as well. > Much of the Southwest was taken from Mexico by war. > The Civil War means much of the South has seen combat. I want to hear about Oregon being attacked in WW2. Submarines, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/8 "2017-06-03T04:29:09Z")
> [@nachtmusick](#): > > I want to hear about Oregon being attacked in WW2. Submarines, maybe? [Balloon bombs](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/05/130527-map-video-balloon-bomb-wwii-japanese-air-current-jet-stream/) > [@](#): > > On May 5, 1945, five children and local pastor Archie Mitchell’s pregnant wife Elsie were killed as they played with the large paper balloon they’d spotted during a Sunday outing in the woods near Bly, Oregon—the only enemy-inflicted casualties on the U.S. mainland in the whole of World War II. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/9 "2017-06-03T04:44:12Z")
[There was an actual bombing along the south coast of Oregon:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Emily;wikipedia%5B/URL) [QUOTE=] On September 9, 1942 the Japanese I-25 (submarine) surfaced near Cape Blanco, Oregon, and launched a Yokosuka E14Y “Glen” seaplane piloted by Nubuo Fujita who dropped incendiary bombs on Mount Emily and succeeded in starting multiple forest fires. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/10 "2017-06-03T06:18:37Z")
Fort Stevens near Astoria (other side of the coast) was also shelled by a submarine. It looks like Fujita was also there. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/11 "2017-06-03T07:15:49Z")
Japanese balloon bombs landed all over the western part of the continent, from Yukon to Mexico. The furthest east was in Michigan and there were also some seen in AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, IA, KS, MT, NE, NV, ND, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, and WY (as well as all the western Canadian provinces and the NWT). I suspect there were some that landed in other states but not observed. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/12 "2017-06-03T08:37:22Z")
How about Wyoming, Idaho, Montana ? They’re out in the NW so became States late-ish and weren’t involved in the Civil War (as States anyway), can’t have been coastal bombed back in WW2, so outside of possible Indian Wars skirmishes there can’t have happened much up there. ETA : this was written prior to the previous post. I sit corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/13 "2017-06-03T09:25:57Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Well, they have to be wars after statehood, per OP. What Wyoming and Idaho (statehood in 1890)? Oklahoma was later, but had battles with Muscogee Creeks afterwards. The OP specifically mentions Hawaii which was not a state during WW2. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/14 "2017-06-03T10:28:38Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > The OP specifically mentions Hawaii which was not a state during WW2. Ditto for Alaska. Also, the southwest wasn’t even part of the country when the Mexican War was fought, and it’s considered to have been in a war. There were no Mexican War battles in Utah, Nevada, and (I think) Arizona, or the parts of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming that were acquired in that war. However, there were Civil War battles in AZ, KS and OK. Of course, as someone pointed out above, if wars with Indians count, then all states have had battles. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/15 "2017-06-03T12:22:31Z")
Given the vagueness of the OP, I would suggest the question might be recast as: Which US states have not been directly involved in conflict or attacked by a foreign power since their territory was incorporated in the US? For the purposes of the question, “foreign power” excludes the Indian Wars, but includes the USA/CSA during the Civil War. It also excludes local conflicts like range wars, and more recently terrorist attacks. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/16 "2017-06-03T16:40:26Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > I am asking if there are any US states that A. Did not join the Union as a result of a war. and B. Have never been directly attacked since. > The original 13 states were involved in the Revolutionary War and 1812. > Hawaii, California, Alaska, Oregon, and Maine were all attacked in WW2. Many ships were sunk off the coast of NC as well. > Much of the Southwest was taken from Mexico by war. > The Civil War means much of the South has seen combat. I’m also confused about the exact question. Is it states where there was action in formal/major wars on land when they were states? You include actions v AK and HI WWII when they weren’t states, and Mexican War actions in future states, but then seem to exclude actions in future states during the Revolutionary War and 1812, both of which also occurred. For example the British took over a significant chunk of Maine in the War of 1812, that was a political factor in ME’s postwar independence as state from MA. Then also for WWII, when was there a direct military attack on Maine? U-boats in both WW’s (though much larger scale in WWII) operated against shipping close to the coast along the Atlantic seaboard, laid mines in some cases, put ashore espionage agents in others. But they never fired their guns against targets ashore in CONUS in WWII AFAIK, which one U-boat did in WWI (some shells aimed at a tug and barges off Orleans, MA by U-156 landed ashore, July 21, 1918). And as mentioned Japanese subs shelled targets in OR and CA in addition to bombing by floatplane. As mentioned, if one includes all organized violence between Europeans and Indians then that occurred in almost all if not 100% of the 50 states if including before they were states, including state/colonial militias, British forces before independence, and battles by US forces against natives allied with foreign powers in foreign wars (Revolution, 1812). And any possible gaps (eg. were their any real battles between natives and Europeans in the state of Delaware?) would be filled in by battles between Indian tribes (eg. the Susquehannock people drove the Delaware people out of the state of DE in the 17th century, presumably there was some fighting). ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/17 "2017-06-03T17:05:31Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > I am asking if there are any US states that A. Did not join the Union as a result of a war. and B. Have never been directly attacked since. > The original 13 states were involved in the Revolutionary War and 1812. > Hawaii, California, Alaska, Oregon, and Maine were all attacked in WW2. Many ships were sunk off the coast of NC as well. > Much of the Southwest was taken from Mexico by war. > The Civil War means much of the South has seen combat. I agree with the folks who have pointed out how unclear this question is. It’s actually self-contradictory too, in that the original thirteen colonies that became states did NOT all see combat, and the only states which were “attacked” in the war of 1812, were Maryland and Louisiana. In the Civil War, no formal combat took place in Florida. Perhaps it would help, if the OP explained what the GOAL of the question is. Trying to ferret out some loyalty test? Or perhaps some political validation? If all you have in mind is to sort out which states had a SENSE that they were in a war, then the answer would be that there are none who have not, regardless of whether any actual enemy troops touched their soil. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/18 "2017-06-03T18:03:15Z")
> [@igor\_frankensteen](#): > > In the Civil War, no formal combat took place in Florida. > **[Battle of Olustee](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Olustee)** > > The Battle of Olustee or Battle of Ocean Pond was fought in Baker County, Florida on February 20, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the largest battle fought in Florida during the war. > Union General Truman Seymour had landed troops at Jacksonville, aiming chiefly to disrupt Confederate food supply. Meeting little resistance, he proceeded towards the state capital of Tallahassee, against orders, assuming that he would face only the small Florida militia. Confederates in Charleston sent ... ---
**Author:** ![bikerdruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@bikerdruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bikerdruid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/19 "2017-06-03T18:15:53Z")
The USA has been perpetually at war since 1945, and have been at war for the majority of its entire life. Read. [https://mises.org/sites/default/files/Perpetual%20War%20for%20Perpetual%20Peace\_2.pdf](https://mises.org/sites/default/files/Perpetual%20War%20for%20Perpetual%20Peace_2.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970/20 "2017-06-03T18:47:15Z")
I am also in the camp that the wars with the Native Americans makes this completely moot but I did want to share a link to the Pig War up here in Washington. > **[Pig War (1859)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War_(1859))** > >  United States >  United Kingdom > Current Border Disputes > The Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between the United States and the United Kingdom over the British–U.S. border in the San Juan Islands, between Vancouver Island (present-day Canada) and the State of Washington. The Pig War, so called because it was triggered by the shooting of a pig, is also called the Pig Episode, the Pig and Potato War, the San Juan Boundary Dispute, and the Northwestern Boundary Dispute. Despite being referred to... While the US may not have succeeded in _54° 40’ or Fight_ there were significant issues with the wording of the treaty relating to the Salish sea which did result in conflicts with England. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-us-states-never-been-involved-in-a-war/787970.md?page=2)