Alexander William Doniphan - The Heatherly War

The Heatherly War

Doniphan's friend and partner, David Rice Atchison, was a member of the Liberty Blues, a volunteer militia company. He persuaded Doniphan to join them. Doniphan took part in the so-called Heatherly War as an aide to Colonel Samuel C. Allen. As the Liberty Blues moved toward the Missouri border, Stephen Watts Kearny, then a lieutenant colonel, joined them from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Kearney discovered that the Heatherly brothers had sold whiskey to a hunting party of Potawatomi Indians, then stolen their horses. The Potawatomis pursued the brothers and killed three of them. The brothers' mother sought revenge by claiming that the Potawatomis had gone on the war path, while the remaining Heatherly brothers robbed and murdered two white men, trying to place the blame on the Potawatomis. The "war" ended with the Heatherly family being arrested, tried, and convicted.