Editing Boone County, Missouri (section)

==History==
Boone County was organized November 16, 1820, from a separated portion of the larger territorial [[Howard County, Missouri|Howard County]], first designated under the former federal [[Louisiana Territory]] (1804-1812) and subsequent successor [[Missouri Territory]] (1812-1821). The central region of the state is known as [[Mid-Missouri]] and is also known as the cultural area of [[Boonslick]] or [[Boone's Lick State Historic Site|Boone's Lick Country]], because of a nearby [[salt lick|salt spring or "lick"]] which famed [[Western United States|Western]] [[American frontier]] explorer, pioneer, settler [[Daniel Boone]]'s (1734-1820) sons, [[Daniel Morgan Boone]] (1769-1839), and younger [[Nathan Boone]] (1780-1856), used for their animals stock.

[[File:Boone County Courthouse in Columbia, Missouri.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Boone County Courthouse (Missouri)|Boone County Courthouse]] of [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival]] style architecture, built with three stories and basement, with front portico / pediment and columns, at the surrounding Boone County Government Complex, in the [[county seat]] town of [[Columbia, Missouri]]]]
Boone County was settled primarily from the [[Upper South]] states of [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]] and further east of [[Virginia]]. The settlers brought [[slaves]] and idea of slave-holding with them, and quickly started cultivating crops similar to those in [[Middle Tennessee]] and the bluegrass state of Kentucky: hemp and tobacco. Boone was one of several counties to the north and south of the diagonal flowing southwestward [[Missouri River]] that was settled by mostly [[Southern United States|Southerners]]. Because of its culture and traditions, the area became known as [[Little Dixie (Missouri)|Little Dixie]], and Boone County was at its heart.<ref>[http://www.missouridivision-scv.org/littledixie.htm The Story of Little Dixie, Missouri, Missouri Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717050109/http://www.missouridivision-scv.org/littledixie.htm |date=July 17, 2012 }}, accessed June 3, 2008</ref> In 1860 slaves made up 25 percent or more of the county's population, Boone County was strongly pro-[[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] during the [[American Civil War]] (1861-1865).<ref>T. J. Stiles, ''Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War'', New York: Vintage Books, 2003, pp.10–11</ref>

Shortly after the [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|assassination / murder in April 1865]], of 16th President [[Abraham Lincoln]] (1809-1865, served 1861-1865), the leading citizens of the county and its county seat town denounced the killing. They also directed that all public buildings including the county courthouse and the nearby state university be draped in black mourning for thirty days.<ref>PAPERS RELATING TO FOREIGN AFFAIRS, ACCOMPANYING THE ANNUAL MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE SECOND SESSION THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, PART IV, APPENDIX TO DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE OF 1865; THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF WILLIAM H. SEWARD, SECRETARY OF STATE, AND FREDERICK W. SEWARD, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, ON THE EVENING OF April 14, 1865; EXPRESSIONS OF CONDOLENCE AND SYMPATHY INSPIRED BY THESE EVENTS; Foreign Relations of the United States; Washington DC, 1866, Document 1090</ref>