An ordinary bird that had the whole nation up in arms.

This article presents information on the conflict that arose among ornithologists from the classification of sparrows and its spread across the U.S. The Great Sparrow War is not mentioned in the histories of the U.S., yet--within its special company of combatants--it aroused as much emotion as, say, Coxey's Army or Dorr's Rebellion. It was waged, in the latter half of the 19th century, over an alien songbird, Passer domesticus, also known as the house or English sparrow, and although it began as a local war within the boundaries of ornithology, it spread to engage thousands of U.S. citizens. The leaders of the opposing forces were several strong-minded men: an eminent ornithologist who used to go bird watching with John James Audubon, facing a prodigious scientist who believed devoutly in both birds and ghosts; the country's most eloquent preacher, who knew very little about birds, opposed to a future president of the country, who knew a great deal about them. In 1853, the English sparrow was successfully introduced into the U.S. They had been brought in because they had the reputation of being busy breeders and voracious eaters of insects and it was hoped they would end a plague of cankerworms and spanworms that were eating the leaves of U.S. trees. Within a couple of decades, however, the English sparrows were being looked on as a nuisance and even a menace.