Bellevue War facts for kids

The Bellevue War was a gunfight that happened in Bellevue, Jackson County, Iowa Territory, on April 1, 1840. It was a clash between a group led by Sheriff W. A. Warren and Thomas Cox against another group led by W. W. Brown.

A large painting made by local artists remembers this event. It is located at the site of Brown's Hotel, where the fight took place. Problems in Bellevue had started back in 1837. This was when new business people arrived in town, causing arguments with the people who lived there first. The original settlers joined forces with W. W. Brown, who owned a hotel. He helped them by giving them credit and jobs. A shooting on January 8, 1840, made the situation even worse.

Brown had tried to become the main candidate for the Democrats in the 1840 election. He wanted to take the place of Thomas Cox, who was a representative for the area. This made Cox very angry. After the shooting incident, Cox wrote an official order to arrest Brown. Sheriff W. A. Warren, who had also been a political rival of Brown, gathered a group of citizens to help him arrest Brown. This group is called a posse.

After trying to talk things out, the posse moved in on Brown's hotel. It seems Brown accidentally fired his weapon, which started the gunfight. Three people from each side were killed. The posse then set the hotel on fire and caught those who tried to get away. The people who were captured were given a punishment and told to leave the county.

What Happened Next

Three members of the sheriff's group and two members of Brown's group died. Brown's stable worker, Tom Walch, was badly hurt. One regular citizen, Andrew Farley, was also killed while helping someone named Day.

At first, Cox and Warren wanted to give the captives a very harsh punishment right away. But they decided to bury the dead, put out the fire, and wait until the next morning. The posse then held a vote to decide what to do with the captives. They were told to drop a white bean if they wanted a harsher punishment and a red bean if they wanted a less harsh punishment. The final count was thirty-eight white beans to forty-two red beans.

The captives received a certain number of lashes as punishment. Then they were sent down the Mississippi River on a board. They were ordered never to come back to the county. One of the captives, William Fox, later joined a group of outlaws called the Banditti of the Prairie in Illinois. The posse members also had a trial. However, the jury decided that they had acted within the law.

Even though some people were upset about the incident, Cox was re-elected to the state house the next summer. He was later chosen to lead the House. He then served in the territory council (like a senate) before he died in 1844. Warren later said that they didn't have strong evidence and didn't really want to arrest Brown. He stayed sheriff until 1845.