December 12, 1839 – In the Clark County, Missouri Courthouse, the Iowa committee, led by Col. William Patterson, requests that both governors – Iowa and Missouri – call off their militia, and allow the federal government to decide where the boundary line between the two entities should be. According to county records, both sides give speeches professing friendship and positive dealings, after which, discussion ensues, ending with the Clark County Court deciding to recall the Missouri militia. The Honey War is over.
Did you know that in the fall of 1839, the Territory of Iowa and the State of Missouri came ever so close to a civil war – arguing over where the border line was between these two sovereign entities? They called it The Honey War.
When Governor Robert Lucas came to Iowa Territory in 1838, one of his priorities was to build a strong militia. One of his recruits was Lee County’s favorite son – William Patterson. Elected as a representative to the First & Second Territorial Legislature in Burlington, Patterson became a Colonel in Iowa’s 1st Regiment, 1st Brigade, and 1st Division, and in the fall of 1839, helped keep Iowa’s Honey War with Missouri a bloodless one!
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