• November 23: Henry McCarty, later known as Billy the Kid, is born in New York City to Irish immigrants Patrick and Catherine McCarty.
• Oct. 30, 1859—William Harrison Wilson (possibly the same Billy Wilson that would later ride with Billy the Kid) is born in Marshall, Searcy County, Arkansas.
• Late 1859 to possibly early 1862—(William?) Henry McCarty, later to be known as Kid Antrim, William H. Bonney, and Billy the Kid, is born, presumably to Catherine McCarty and an unknown father. The setting could be New York City, Indiana, Missouri, Texas, Illinois, Kansas, or even Ireland.1860

• Catherine moves west: Following the death of her husband, Catherine moves Henry and his younger brother Joseph to Indianapolis, Indiana, where she works as a laundress.
• 1862—Catherine McCarty and her two sons, Henry and Joseph, take up residence in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• Oct. 31, 1862—Fort Sumner is established in San Miguel County, New Mexico Territory.

1861

• Apr. 26, 1861—L. G. Murphy is discharged from the U. S. Army at Fort Fauntleroy.
• Jul. 27, 1861—L. G. Murphy enlists in the First New Mexico Volunteers at Santa Fe.
• Nov. 23, 1861—David L. Anderson (who may have been the Billy Wilson that would later ride with Billy the Kid) is born in Trumbull County, Ohio.

1863

• Feb. 14, 1863—Yginio Salazar is born at Valencia, New Mexico Territory.

1865

• Kansas: The McCarty family relocates to Wichita, Kansas. Catherine supports her sons as a laundress.
• 1865—Tom Folliard’s parents die of smallpox in Mexico. His maternal uncle, John Cook, having left the Civil War, goes to Mexico and takes young Tom back to Uvalde, Texas, where Tom goes to live with his aunt, Margaret Jane Cook.

1866

• Fall 1866—L. G. Murphy and Emil Fritz, who Murphy met in the service, muster out of the army at Fort Stanton, New Mexico Territory. They become partners and form L. G. Murphy & Co. A store and brewery are established at Stanton that they own. Soon, the company is awarded government contracts that order them to supply beef, vegetables, and other supplies to Fort Stanton and the local Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. To provide for these contracts, the company puts together quite a monopoly. The monopoly works like this: the company sells land they do not own to aspiring ranchers. The land is sold on credit, however. The rancher then attempts to pay off the debt with the cattle and crops he grows. Those crops and cattle are then used to fulfill the company’s government contracts. If the farmer can’t pay off the entire debt, the company forecloses on his land, then sells it to another rancher, and the process starts all over again. Due to Murphy and Fritz’s close association with the Santa Fe Ring (a clique of crooked politicians, business men, lawyers, and high-ranking military officials), their monopoly schemes goes on without a hitch. Around the same time, Dr. Joseph Hoy Blazer arrives in the Tularosa area of New Mexico. There, he ends up buying a small settlement composed of several small houses, a sawmill, and a gristmill called Big Fork. Blazer ends up changing the name of the settlement to Blazer’s Mills.
• Oct. 8, 1866—William Brady musters out of the U. S. Army at Fort Sumner.
•  

1867

• 1867—John and Pitzer Chisum, brothers, arrive in New Mexico Territory. They start a ranch at Bosque Grande, a few miles south of Fort Sumner. John and Pitzer’s other brothers, James and Jeff, join them at the ranch a while later with their families, including James’s daughter, Sallie.
• Dec. 15, 1867—William L. Rynerson shoots and kills the chief justice of New Mexico, John Slough, at the Exchange Hotel in Santa Fe.

1868

• Early 1868 (exact date unknown)—Josiah Gordon Scurlock studies some medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana. Shortly thereafter, he begins to fear he has contracted tuberculosis and flees to Mexico, hoping it’ll cure there. Also while in Mexico, Scurlock acquires a reputation as a gunfighter. While in a cantina one day playing cards, Scurlock and another man get into a shootout. The man shoots Scurlock in the mouth, the bullet knocking out his two front teeth and exiting through the back of his neck. Scurlock in turn fires once and kills the man. Thankfully, the wound Scurlock has suffered is not serious and he quickly recovers.
• Mar. 1868—William Rynerson is acquitted of killing John Slough.
• June 18, 1868: Billy’s mother Catherine McCarty’s name appears in a census in Anderson, Indiana. Her name appears with sons William Henry (Billy the Kid) and Joseph. It would be around this time that Catherine McCarty would meet and, in 1873, eventually marry William Antrim.

1869

• Jan. 16, 1869—Lincoln County is established. The small town of Placitas is the county seat. Eventually, Placitas’s name is changed to Lincoln as well. According to tradition, the county and town were named by resident Saturnino Baca in respect for the recently assassinated president.
• Jan. 25, 1869—Pat Garrett, who had been living in Louisiana with his family, leaves Louisiana to go to Texas, where he works as a cowboy at Lancaster, Texas.
• Mar. 1, 1869—In the first special election in Lincoln County, Richard Ewan is elected probate judge and Jesus Sandoval y Serna is elected sheriff. George W. Peppin ran against Serna, and lost.
• Apr. 3, 1869—James J. Dolan is mustered out of the U. S. Army at Fort Stanton. Shortly thereafter, he gets a job as a clerk working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
• May 12, 1869—Richard Ewan and Jesus Sandoval y Serna resign as probate judge and sheriff. L. G. Murphy is commissioned a district probate judge and Mauricio Sanchez is made sheriff in order to replace Ewan and Serna.
• Spring 1869—Catherine McCarty, her sons Joe and Henry, and William Henry Harrison Antrim leave Indiana to go west, specifically Wichita, Kansas. Catherine met Antrim in Indianapolis and the two had since become a couple.
• Sept. 6, 1869—The first full election is held in Lincoln County. William Brady is elected sheriff.

1870

• August 10, 1870: The Kid’s family relocated from Indiana to Wichita, Kansas.
• Spring 1870—Dick Brewer first arrives in Lincoln County. He goes to work for L. G. Murphy & Co. at Fort Stanton.
• June 1870—Catherine McCarty, sons Joe and Henry rent a small house in Wichita. William Antrim rents a house nearby.

1871

• Jan. 10, 1871—Jose Chavez y Chavez marries one Maria Lenora Lucero at Lincoln.
• Spring 1871—Frank Coe, along with some of his brothers and cousin Ab Saunders move out to Raton, New Mexico. In short time, Frank, his brothers, and Ab start a ranch at La Junta, on the Rio Hondo in Lincoln County. Around the same time, Josiah Scurlock, now going by the nickname of ‘Doc,’ arrives in New Mexico from Mexico and gets a job as a ranch-hand on the Chisum ranch.
• Jun. 16, 1871—Jessie Evans, age eighteen, his parents, and friends are arrested in Topeka, Kansas for passing counterfeit money. Jessie ends up being fined $500. This is his first known criminal offense.
• July 12, 1871—Emil Fritz has his life insured for $10,000 with the Merchants Life Insurance Company of New York. The money is kept at the Donnell, Lawson, & Co. bank. This insurance policy will cause much trouble in future years in Lincoln County.
• August 1871—Catherine McCarty discovers she has the early stages of tuberculosis. Her doctor tells her to move to a drier climate, which may help relieve the disease. Catherine follows this advice and immediately sells her house. Bill Antrim sells his as well and the two of them, along with Joe and Henry, travel to Trinidad, Colorado, where they will remain for a short time.
• Sept. 1871—Alex McSween is recorded to be attending the Washington University Law School at St. Louis, Missouri. At the same time in Lincoln, William Brady is elected to serve as in territorial house of representatives, Murphy is elected probate judge (making him both a local and district probate judge), and Jacob Glynn is elected sheriff.

1872

• 1872—Jessie Evans arrives in New Mexico from Texas and begins working as a farmhand on the Chisum ranch. According to Evans himself, he is told by John Chisum to steal cattle from the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency.
• Apr. 8, 1872—Saturnino Baca is elected probate judge of Lincoln County. William Brady had run against him and lost. A few days later, William Fritz and Emilie Fritz Scholand, siblings of Emil Fritz, arrive at Fort Stanton. They came to New Mexico due to their brother’s recommendation. The two of them will have a major impact on future events.
• Aug. 18, 1872—John Tunstall leaves his family home in England to travel to Canada. He hopes to strike it rich through farming/ranching.
• Sept. 25, 1872—John Tunstall arrives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He stays with the Turner family while there.
• Oct. 25, 1872—L. G. Murphy buys $8,647.50 worth of cattle from Johnny Riley in order to stock his new ranch at Carrizozo. The ranch is called ‘Fairview Ranch.’
• Fall 1872—Alex McSween is teaching school at Eureka, Kansas. Oddly enough, one of his students is Ida Rodenbaugh, the sister of David Rodenbaugh, later to be known as Dirty Dave Rudabaugh.

1873

• March 1: Catherine marries William Antrim in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the family settles in Silver City. Henry becomes known for his intelligence and amiable personality, but the family struggles financially. Henry works odd jobs and helps his mother. The wedding of Catherine McCarty and William Antrim took place on March 1, 1873. The ceremony took place in the chapel at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe. It was Catherine’s second marriage. Her first husband had died nine years earlier. The bride’s two sons, Henry and Joe, stood witness at the ceremony. Catherine had severe, advanced tuberculosis. She hoped that her new husband would care for her sons if anything happened to her. After the wedding, they moved to the drier climate of Silver City. She prayed that her sons would lead a Christian life. She died a year later, when Henry was 15.
• April: The Antrim family moves to Silver City, New Mexico. The fifth move of Billy and Joseph’s life. (possibly more, but that is all that is in the records.)
• Apr. 2, 1873—John Chisum has his cattle moved to a new ranch he and his brothers started, which is about eighteen miles south of Fort Sumner.
• Apr. 3, 1873—Alex McSween opens his first law office in Eureka, Kansas.
• May 18, 1873—Over a dispute, hot-headed Jimmy Dolan attempts to shoot and kill one Capt. James Randlett at Fort Stanton.
• June 10, 1873—Emil Fritz, who is suffering from kidney disease, travels to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he plans to depart for his old home in Stuttgart, Germany to die. L. G. Murphy accompanies him to Santa Fe.
• June 13, 1873—At Santa Fe, Murphy and Fritz sell their Fort Stanton store to L. Edwin Dudley for $8,000. That done, Fritz departs Santa Fe for Germany. Murphy returns south to Fort Stanton. Murphy now dreams of building a new, massive store in the town of Lincoln. Murphy believes that the small, Hispanic town will be the perfect new setting for his growing monopoly.
• Aug. 23, 1873—Alex McSween and Susan Hummer are married at Atchison, Kansas, but will live in Eureka.
• Sept. 30, 1873—L. G. Murphy & Co. are officially evicted from Fort Stanton. The company had been accused of selling merchandise at amazingly high prices and of scamming the local Mescalero-Apaches they were obligated by contract to supply with food and other supplies. The company does however, still hold the contracts that orders them to supply the Apaches and the local U. S. soldiers at Stanton.
• Fall 1873—In Lincoln, construction begins on the massive, two-story building that will become the store of L. G. Murphy & Co. The building will become known as ‘The House’ and ‘The Big Store’ to Lincoln residents. It will be the only two-story building in Lincoln, aside from the torreon, a fortress built for defense against Apache raids. Throughout the course of construction, the company will borrow heavily from the First National Bank of Santa Fe, and from its president, Thomas B. Catron, head of the Santa Fe Ring. Eventually, the company will be up to its knees in debt to the bank and Catron. Around the same time in Lincoln, another full election of the county is held. Ham Mills is elected sheriff, Jacinto Sanchez is elected probate judge, Manuel Gutierrez is elected justice of the peace, Juan Patron is elected probate court clerk, and Juan Martin is elected constable. Previous sheriff William Brady had run against Sanchez for probate judge, but lost.

1874

• September 16: Billy the Kid’s mother, Catherine, finally succumbs to her disease and dies. This leaves Billy and his brother alone with their stepdad. William Antrim then moved to Clifton, Arizona, and leaves his stepsons behind. This would subject the boys to live in foster care. Foster care at this time was rudimentary and much worse than even modern standards.
• September 23: Billy the Kid is arrested for stealing laundry. This becomes his first interaction with the law.
• Sept. 14, 1874—School opens again in Silver City. The new teacher is one Mary Richards. Henry McCarty ends up becoming somewhat close to her, due primarily to the fact that both Ms. Richards and Henry are ambidextrous.
• Sept. 16, 1874—Catherine McCarty Antrim succumbs to her tuberculosis and dies at her home. Henry and Joe are at her bedside as she dies. After her burial a few days later, William Antrim travels to Arizona Territory to mine. He leaves Henry and Joe in the care of the Knight family and later, the Truesdell family.
• Late Sept. 1874—Alex and Susan McSween leave Eureka, Kansas to head west to Silver City, New Mexico. They leave without repaying several debts to citizens of Eureka.

1875

• Late Feb. 1875—Alex and Susan McSween are at Punta de Agua, New Mexico on their way to Silver City. There, they meet U. S. congressman Miguel Otero, who recommends they go to Lincoln over Silver City. Otero also tells them about L. G. Murphy & Co. The McSweens take this advice and continue on to Lincoln.
• Mar. 3, 1875—The McSweens arrive in the town of Lincoln. Alex immediately announces his legal services are readily available and soon begins working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
• Late Mar. 1875 (exact date unknown)—Sheriff Ham Mills shoots and kills a black man he was keeping as a prisoner in the Lincoln jail. Afterwards, Mills flees Lincoln County, leaving his farm in the possession of friend Andy Boyle.
• Apr. 1875 (exact date unknown)—Alex McSween wins his first case in court in Lincoln defending a ranched named W. W. Paul on rustling charges.
• Apr. 15, 1875—Marion F. Turner, a Seven Rivers rancher/badman, shoots and kills one Juan Montoya at Blazer’s Mills. The killing occurs solely because Turner dislikes Hispanics.
• Apr. 21, 1875—Alex McSween represents John Chisum in a tax case. On the same day, Murphy, who is a probate judge, appoints William Brady administrator of the Emil Fritz estate. Shortly thereafter, Murphy supplies McSween to Brady as counsel for the estate.
• Late Apr. 1875—Henry McCarty becomes associated with George Schaefer, a local boy older than Henry, who goes by the nickname Sombrero Jack. The pair and fellow friends often throw rocks at the local Chinamen in town. Also, Henry, Jack, and possibly others, steal several pounds of butter from rancher Abel L. Webb. Henry is soon caught by Sheriff Harvey Whitehill and his guilt is easily established. However, Henry promises to be good and never do it again and is then released.
• Spring 1875—The Chisum brothers start a new ranch at South Spring, four miles southeast of the small town of Roswell, in southeastern Lincoln County. Out of all the Chisum ranches, this one ends up becoming the main headquarters of the Chisum brothers. The Chisums’ presence, specifically that of John Chisum, intimidates the smaller ranchers of the nearby Seven Rivers area. Soon, a massive gang known as the Seven Rivers Warriors is formed that rustles the Chisums’ livestock. The gang includes the Beckwith brothers, the Jones brothers, the Olinger brothers, Marion Turner, Milo Pierce, Lewis Paxton, Andy Boyle, Buck Powell, and many, many more. L. G. Murphy & Co. frequently buys the stolen cattle from the Warriors in order to supply the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency and Fort Stanton with beef, as required by their government contracts. Around the same time, Tom Folliard’s uncle, John Cook gets married. Tom then goes to live with his grandmother.
• July 30, 1875—Samuel B. Axtell, a key member of the Santa Fe Ring, takes office as governor of New Mexico Territory. Around the same time, Henry and Joe McCarty move out of the Truesdell house. Joe goes to live with Joe Dyer, proprietor of a local hotel/saloon and begins doing odd-jobs for Dyer. Joe also begins becoming an opium user. Henry, meanwhile, goes to live with R. H. and Sarah Brown. Henry gets a job from the Truesdell family waiting tables and washing dishes at the Star Hotel.
• Aug. 1, 1875—Robert Casey, a very successful rancher on the Hondo River, is shot and killed by one William Wilson. Wilson claims he killed Casey because he owed him wages.
• Aug. 8, 1875—The John Kinney Gang, including Jessie Evans, ambush and kill four members of the Mes Gang, namely Jesus Mes, Pas Mes, Tomas Madril, and Jermin Aguirre. The Mes Gang was a competitor of the John Kinney Gang.
• September 25: Two days after his arrest, he escapes jail and flees to Clifton, Arizona, where he meets up with his step-dad. He seeks refuge with his dead mother’s husband, but William Antrim rejects him and does not take him in. This now puts Billy the Kid on his own.
• Arizona Territory: Henry moves to southeastern Arizona and works as a ranch hand, gambler, and teamster. He gains a reputation as a skilled horseman and marksman.
• Oct. 18, 1875—William Wilson, who killed Robert Casey, is sentenced to hang for the murder. That night, while attempting to escape from jail, a guard shoots him. The wound is very serious, but Wilson survives.
• Nov. 1875 (exact date unknown)—John Chisum, deep in debt, sells his first ranch, the one at Bosque Grande, and his stock holdings to the firm of Hunter & Evans, a St. Louis based beef contracting company. Since Hunter & Evans don’t know of anyone to hire to manage the Bosque Grande Ranch and the large herd there, they hire Old John to stay there as ranch manager. So, basically, John continues to live exactly the way he did before, only now he is getting paid to do it.
• Dec. 10, 1875—William Wilson is hanged from the gallows in Lincoln. He dangles from the noose for around nine minutes, is taken down, and put in a coffin. When people hear noises coming from the coffin, it is opened and it’s discovered that Wilson is still alive. He is taken out and hung again. This time he is dead.
• Dec. 31, 1875—John Kinney and gang, including Jessie Evans, go to Las Cruces. At a saloon in town, Kinney gets into a fist fight with several U. S. soldiers. The soldiers beat up Kinney badly and he leaves the saloon. A short time later, Kinney, Evans, and a few other gang members fire shots into the saloon from the street. Two soldiers and one civilian are killed by the shots and two other soldiers are wounded. The outlaws flee and no charges are filed. Shortly thereafter, Evans departs from the John Kinney Gang and forms his own rustling gang, known as the Jessie Evans Gang Boys or simply, the Boys. The gang numbers about two-dozen at its prime, and the key members are: Evans, Jim McDaniels, Frank Baker, Tom Hill, Dolly Graham/George Davis, Nicholas Provencio, Bob Martin, Charles R. ‘Pony’ Diehl, Bill Allen, George ‘Buffalo Bill’ Spawn, Manuel ‘Indian’ Segovia, Billy Morton, Roscoe Burrell, Serafin Aragon, Ponciano Domingues, and Bob Nelson.

1876

• Jan. 12, 1876—John Chisum and his attorney, Thomas Conway, are on a stagecoach traveling between Silver City and La Mesilla. The stage ends up being robbed by Dutch Joe Hubert, who allegedly makes off with close to $30,000 in gold. Around the same time, Henry Brown arrives in Lincoln County, after recently killing a man in Texas. He gets a job working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
• Jan. 19, 1876—Jessie Evans and two gang members shoot and kill Quirino Fletcher in the streets of Las Cruces. His body will lie in the street until the next morning. Jessie and his two accomplices are soon indicted by the grand jury for the murder, but it’ll be a while before the case goes to trial.
• Late Jan. 1876 (exact date unknown)—Gov. Samuel Axtell appoints William Rynerson district attorney of the Third Judicial District of New Mexico Territory, which encompasses all of Dona Ana, Grant, and Lincoln Counties. Rynerson makes his headquarters in La Mesilla, Dona Ana County.
• Feb. 15, 1876—Alex McSween and William Brady leave Lincoln for Santa Fe to attend both federal and territorial court sessions. McSween later claims that at one point during this trip, in a moment of frustration, Brady exclaims that the House and the Santa Fe Ring literally control him.
• Feb. 18, 1876—John Tunstall departs from British Columbia, Canada to head south to California, where he hopes to start a sheep ranch.
• Feb. 21, 1876—Tunstall arrives in San Francisco, California.
• Mar. 3, 1876—Tunstall travels to Santa Barbara, California.
• Mar. 19, 1876—Henry ‘Kid’ Antrim (the name Henry McCarty is now going by) steals a horse from Pvt. Charles Smith at Camp Goodwin, Arizona. Also around this time, according to the Scurlock family, Henry begins working at the cheese factory on the Gila River owned by Doc Scurlock and Charlie Bowdre.
• Late Mar. 1876 (exact date unknown)—John Sherman is appointed New Mexico Territory’s U. S. Marshal. Around the same time, Fred Waite quits working at his father’s ranch in Indian Territory and moves to Colorado.
• Spring 1876 (exact dates unknown)—Jessie Evans and some fellow gang members shoot and kill Pancho Cruz, Roman Mes, and Tomas Cuerele at Shedd’s Ranch. Shedd’s Ranch, located in San Augustin, Dona Ana County, is the main headquarters and meeting place for all the New Mexican rustling gangs, including the Jessie Evans Gang and the John Kinney Gang. Around the same time, Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock leave their cheese factory and Arizona behind and return to Lincoln County. Once there, L. G. Murphy & Co. decides to use its monopoly scheme on them by selling them land they don’t own for a ranch on the Rio Ruidoso, near the town of Glencoe, on credit. Because of their ranch’s location on the Ruidoso, Charlie and Doc end up becoming friends with their neighbor, Dick Brewer. They also soon become acquainted with fellow ranchers Frank Coe and Ab Saunders. Like the other small ranchers in the area, Doc and Charlie must repay their huge debt to L. G. Murphy & Co. through beef and crops. With his employers gone, young Henry Antrim gets a job working as a cowboy on the ranch of prominent rancher Henry Hooker. Shortly thereafter, ranch foreman William Whelan is forced to fire Henry because he can’t handle the daily rigors of the job. Also around this time, George Coe leaves his family’s home in Colfax County and travels south to Lincoln County. There, he gets a job working on the Hondo ranch of his cousins, Frank and Ab. Later in the Spring, George and a brother named Jap start their own ranch on the Rio Ruidoso, making them neighbors (and friends) with Doc, Charlie, and Dick as well.
• April: Records indicate that he takes a job as a cook at the Hotel de Luna. It would be here that he meets a horse thief named John Mackie. Mackie takes the kid under his wing and shows him how to make money stealing horses. This lifestyle becomes alluring to young Billy since he has moved all over the Wild West and lived in poverty.
• Apr. 4, 1876—Frederick Godfroy, a Santa Fe Ring partisan, is appointed as the Mescalero-Apache Indian agent at Fort Stanton and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency.
• Apr. 19, 1876—Henry Antrim is hired by Miles L. Wood to work as a cook and waiter at Wood’s Hotel de Luna, located just outside of Fort (Camp) Grant, Arizona. Wood, besides owning the Hotel de Luna, is also the local justice of the peace. Henry also acquires the nicknames ‘Kid’ and ‘Austin’ around this time.
• Apr. 21, 1876—Gov. Axtell visits Lincoln and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. During this trip, Axtell stays at the House in Lincoln.
• July 1, 1876—Fred Godfroy and family move into a two-story building at Blazer’s Mills. The nearby Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency is leasing the building from Dr. Joseph Blazer for $65 a month. Blazer keeps an office for himself in the building, but lives in one of the other one-story adobe houses in the scattered settlement.
• July 2, 1876—William Brady resigns as administrator of the Emil Fritz estate.
• July 18, 1876—A lynch mob made up of Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, George Coe, Frank Coe, and Ab Saunders storms the small Lincoln jail and remove horse thief Jesus Largo from Sheriff Saturnino Baca’s custody. The five men then hang Largo.
• Late July 1876 (exact date unknown)—Frank Coe and Ab Saunders shoot and kill one Nicas Meras, a local badman, in Baca Canyon.
• Early Aug. 1876 (exact date unknown)—Alex McSween quits working for L. G. Murphy & Co.
• Aug. 8, 1876—John Tunstall travels to San Francisco, where he leaves on a train headed for Santa Fe, New Mexico. On the same day, the Republican Convention is held in Lincoln. At the convention, Major Mickey Cronin is elected president of the territorial delegation, Jose Montano is elected vice president, and Alex McSween is elected secretary. Juan Patron is also nominated to represent Lincoln County at the territorial convention in Santa Fe.
• Billy travels south along the Gila River, through the San Simon Valley.
• Aug. 9, 1876—The Democratic Convention is held in Lincoln. L. G. Murphy and William Brady are nominated to represent Lincoln County at the territorial convention in Santa Fe.
• Aug. 15, 1876—John Tunstall arrives at Santa Fe, New Mexico. During his stay there, he’ll meet and befriend one Robert A. ‘Rob’ Widenmann, a young man seeking adventure out west. The two end up becoming best friends.
• Sept. 2, 1876—Doc Scurlock and friend Mike Harkins are at the carpenter shop of L. G. Murphy & Co. Doc examines a pistol that somehow goes off, killing Harkins. No charges are filed against Doc, since the killing was accidental.
• Sept. 9, 1876—Murphy and Juan Patron go to Santa Fe to attend the territorial conventions.
• Sept. 11, 1876—Murphy attends the Democratic Convention in Santa Fe.
• Sept. 14, 1876—Patron attends the Republican Convention in Santa Fe. Shortly thereafter, Patron and Murphy return to Lincoln.
• Sept. 19, 1876—Charles Fritz and Emilie Fritz Scholand, siblings of Emil Fritz, are named as administrators of Emil’s estate. Alex McSween continues to serve as counsel for the estate.
• Oct. 1876—John Chisum travels to Arizona Territory in order to locate a large herd of cattle. It’s possible that at this time, Chisum first meets Henry Antrim in Arizona.
• Oct. 19, 1876—Doc Scurlock marries Antonia Miguela Herrera at Lincoln. Around the same time, Charlie Bowdre marries Manuela Herrera, Antonia’s half-sister. This makes Doc and Charlie brother-in-laws.
• Mid Oct. 1876 (exact date unknown)—Alex McSween prepares to leave for New York in order to solve a problem regarding the Emil Fritz life insurance policy and, if he’s able to, to collect the money from the insurance policy. The problem is this: according to the firm of Spiegelberg Bros., L. G. Murphy told them they could have the money from the Fritz insurance policy, since the House is in great debt to them. However, Murphy, not being the administrator of the Fritz estate, has no authority to give the money from the insurance policy to anyone. Due to the fact that both Spiegelberg Bros. and Emil’s siblings, Charles and Emilie, are claiming to be the rightful heirs of the insurance money, the life insurance agency refuses to act one way or another. So, this is why McSween is going to New York, to find some kind of solution to this problem. Juan Patron and Saturnino Baca plan to accompany McSween as far as Santa Fe. Around the same time, Frank Coe and Ab Saunders ambush a local badman named Juan Gonzales. Gonzales is shot by the cousins and badly wounded, but miraculously manages to survive.
• Late Oct. 1876—McSween, Patron, and Baca arrive in Santa Fe, having left Lincoln a few days prior. Also around this time, Henry ‘Kid’ Antrim quits working at the Hotel de Luna and hooks up with a rustling gang that steals cattle, mules, horses, and saddles owned by the U. S. Army in the local towns of Globe, Bonita, Clifton, Cedar Springs, and the army forts of Camp Thomas and Fort Grant. The gang is led by a former soldier named John R. Mackie.
• Oct. 29, 1876—In the dining room at the Exchange Hotel in Santa Fe, McSween meets John Tunstall. Tunstall tells McSween of his dreams of wanting to become a rancher, and McSween in turn tells him of Lincoln County. McSween recommends that Tunstall invest and start his ranch in Lincoln County. After the meeting, McSween proceeds on towards New York.
• Nov. 3, 1876—Tunstall decides to go to Lincoln County to see if he agrees with McSween’s suggestion. Friend Widenmann plans to go to Lincoln also in the near future. Tunstall travels in a buggy driven by Juan Patron, whom he also met in Santa Fe. During the trip back to Lincoln, a snowstorm occurs, making travel slow down a bit.
• Nov. 6, 1876—Tunstall and Patron arrive in Lincoln. Tunstall stays at the Casa de Patron for the time being. He also meets Susan McSween at this time.
• Nov. 7, 1876—William Brady is elected sheriff of Lincoln County, for the second time in his life. He won’t take office until the first of the year though. On the same day, Will Dowlin, Juan Patron, and Francisco Romero y Lueras are elected county commissioners and James H. Farmer is elected justice of the peace. Around the same time, Kid Antrim steals a horse from Sgt. Louis Hartman at Camp Thomas. Shortly afterwards, Hartman finds Antrim, but since he has no warrant for his arrest, the Kid is free to go.
• Mid Nov. 1876 (exact date unknown)—Near Fort Griffen, Texas, buffalo-hunter Pat Garrett gets into an altercation with a fellow hunter named Joe Briscoe. When Briscoe comes at Garrett with an ax, Garrett draws his pistol and kills Briscoe. The killing is ruled self-defense.
• Nov. 18, 1876—Buck Powell, Seven Rivers area rancher and member of the Seven Rivers Warriors, shoot and kills a man known only as Yopp at a cattle camp on the Pecos River.
• Nov. 21, 1876—Johnny Riley buys a junior partnership in L. G. Murphy & Co. All three heads of the House, Murphy, Dolan, and Riley, are heavy-drinking, hot-tempered Irishmen. Shortly after buying the partnership, Riley breaks into McSween’s office and trashes it, then insults Susan. He goes on by vowing to drive McSween out of the country. Around the same time, the Jessie Evans Gang shifts its domain from Dona Ana County to Lincoln County, planning to carry out their illegal activities in the much larger county now. Jessie and most of his gang members are former Chisum cowboys and know their way around the county and its backtrails. The gang’s main targets in Lincoln County are the Chisum ranches and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. L. G. Murphy & Co. soon begin buying most of the stolen livestock from the gang, just as they do with the Seven Rivers Warriors. Charlie Bowdre becomes associated with the gang soon after their arrival in Lincoln County as well.
• Late Nov. 1876—McSween arrives in New York and goes straight to work. He meets with the Spiegelbergs and they end up reaching a deal: the Spiegelbergs will accept $700 cash from McSween and then withdraw their claim that Murphy promised them the money from the Fritz insurance policy. Only one problem: McSween doesn’t have $700 in cash with him. He then makes a deal with the Donnell, Lawson, & Co. banking firm, which is holding the money from the insurance policy. The deal is that the bank will give the Spiegelbergs the $700, but at a later date, the bank will need to be repaid the $700, with interest. This money, which will likely be a couple thousand dollars, will have to come out of the Fritz insurance money. McSween then prepares to return to New Mexico, without a cent of the life insurance money with him.
• Dec. 12, 1876—McSween arrives back in Lincoln. He writes to Charles Fritz, telling him to trust in him and that he will get the Fritz insurance money soon. Also around this time, McSween and Tunstall begin talking about going into business together in direct competition with L. G. Murphy & Co. Tunstall’s dream is to start a ranch and a store of his own in Lincoln. It’s decided that McSween will serve as Tunstall’s lawyer and give him advice regarding his ranch and/or store. Tunstall and McSween also decide that if they’re going to have a store in competition with Murphy, they might as well compete for the government contracts that orders them to supply beef and supplies to Fort Stanton and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. They’ll need a lot of beef though if they get the contracts. They soon meet with John Chisum, since everyone knows he’s the ‘Cattle King of New Mexico’ and has no love for Murphy & Co., since he knows they’re buying his stolen cattle from the Seven Rivers Warriors. It’s eventually decided that Chisum will go into business with Tunstall and McSween as well as a ‘silent partner.’ If Tunstall does secure the government beef contracts, it will be Chisum’s duty to provide for them. Chisum also agrees to lend his name to another project dreamed up by Tunstall and McSween, namely, a bank in Lincoln. Tunstall and McSween feel that a bank will go along with their store perfectly, since there is no bank in Lincoln as of yet.
• Dec. 14, 1876—The Lincoln County Farmers Club is formed. Murphy is the president, Brady and Joe Storms are the vice presidents, Morris J. Bernstein is the secretary, and Charles Fritz is the treasurer. The committee is made up of Saturnino Baca, S. W. Lloyd, and Francisco Romero y Luceras.
• Dec. 18, 1876—Frank Freeman, a member of the Jessie Evans Gang, gets into an argument with two black men at the Wortley Hotel in Lincoln. The argument ends with Freeman drawing his pistol and killing one of the men. He then flees town, although he is hotly pursued by Sheriff Saturnino Baca.
• Takes odd jobs herding cattle, stacking hay, and working on ranches.
• Meets Charlie Bowdre (about 28) and Doc Scurlock (about 28) near Safford.  Joins their short-lived cheese-making operation near the Gila River. Operation ends shortly after, but the friendship between the three begins.
• In 1876, he was hired as a ranch hand by well-known rancher Henry Hooker. During this time, McCarty became acquainted with John R. Mackie, a Scottish-born criminal and former U.S. Cavalry private who, following his discharge, remained near the U.S. Army post at Camp Grant in Arizona. The two men soon began stealing horses from local soldiers. McCarty became known as “Kid Antrim” because of his youth, slight build, clean-shaven appearance, and personality.
• Nov 17th, Henry Antrim (Billy) allegedly steals a horse, saddle, bridle, and blanket from Louis Hartman near Camp Grant, Arizona.
• Dec 13, Louis Hartman recovers his stolen horse and property in Billy’s possession.

1877

• Jan. 1, 1877—William Brady takes office as Sheriff of Lincoln County. Shortly after taking office, Brady goes off on the trail of fugitive Frank Freeman. He soon arrests Doc Scurlock and George Coe under suspicion of harboring Freeman, as both Doc and George are known to be good friends of his. Doc and George are kept in Lincoln’s jail/pit for a few days and are treated very harshly by Brady (and, allegedly, are even physically tortured). They are both released a few days later, but they hold a hateful grudge against Brady because of their treatment at his hands.
• Early Jan. 1877—L. G. Murphy & Co. decide that they need money fast in order to pay off their debts to the Santa Fe bank and the Spiegelberg Bros. It’s decided that they’ll have to sell Murphy’s Fairview ranch at Carrizozo. Dolan approaches McSween and offers him $5,000 if he’ll get Tunstall to buy Murphy’s ranch. McSween refuses however, and then goes on and tells Tunstall to stay away from the Murphy ranch. McSween instead advises Tunstall to try to get his hands on some of the land in the area of the Rio Feliz. He goes on to inform Tunstall that the majority of this land was once the thriving ranch of Robert Casey, but now, since he is dead, only his widow and children live there on their ranch site. He also points out that the Caseys never bought the land they consider theirs; they just put up stakes there when they arrived in the territory. McSween tells Tunstall that legally, he can file for this land on the Desert Land Act and basically take the land from the Caseys. (The Desert Land Act states that anyone can file on up to 640 acres of desert land for twenty-five cents an acre, and then have three years to improve on the land before a further payment of a dollar an acre would give he or she perpetual title to the land.) Tunstall likes this plan indeed. Needless to say, this doesn’t please Dolan, or the Company.
• Jan. 7, 1877—John Chisum, along with several of his ranch-hands travel down to the El Paso, Texas area to look for rustlers. In the last several months, his ranch at South Spring has had an upsurge of rustling, first from the Seven Rivers Warriors, and now from the recently arrived Jessie Evans Gang as well.
• Jan. 10, 1877—Dick Brewer becomes sick with a mild case of smallpox.
• Mid Jan. 1877 (exact date unknown)—John Riley leaves Lincoln to tour Lincoln County’s army forts in order to lobby for the government beef contracts.
• Jan. 20, 1877—At Palo Duro, Texas, Frank MacNab, George Black, and Frank Tipton, all three cattle detectives working for Hunter & Evans, allegedly rob two brothers named Casner of $5,500 then shoot and kill them both. A $300 reward is offered for the capture of the three men.
• Jan. 26, 1877—John Riley makes his first stop at Fort Bayard.
• Jan. 30, 1877—Tunstall and McSween leave Lincoln. McSween is leaving to go on his circuit tour for his clients and other legal businesses. Tunstall is accompanying McSween as far as Las Cruces, where he plans to make a provisional filing on the land on the Rio Feliz using the Desert Land Act.
• Feb. 4, 1877—Tunstall and McSween arrive in La Mesilla.
• Feb. 5, 1877—John Riley, still on his tour, arrives at Santa Fe.
• Feb. 8, 1877—Tunstall and McSween arrive in Las Cruces. There, Tunstall makes a provisional filing on approximately 2,400 acres of the Rio Feliz land.
• Feb. 9, 1877—McSween buys six acres of land in the town of Lincoln from L. G. Murphy & Co. He buys the land for ‘$1.00 and other good and sufficient considerations.’
• Feb. 12, 1877 (approx.)—Kid Antrim, John Mackie, and fellow gang members steal three army horses from Cottonwood Springs.
• Feb. 13, 1877—Riley, along with Capt. Chambers McKibbin and William Rosenthal leave Santa Fe for Fort Stanton.
• Feb. 14, 1877—Riley and his companions arrive at Fort Stanton. On the same day, Jose Chavez y Chavez is again elected as constable of San Patricio.
• Feb. 16, 1877—Sgt. Hartman and Maj. Compton, both soldiers from Camp Thomas, go before Justice of the Peace Miles Wood and ask him to swear out a warrant for the arrest of Kid Antrim. This Wood does, and, suspecting that the Kid would have headed for the town of Globe, sends the warrant there.
• Feb 16th, Hartman files official complaint before Justice of the Peace Miles L. Wood at Camp Grant. Warrant requested for Billy’s arrest.
• Feb. 17, 1877—The constable at Globe arrests Kid Antrim and takes him to Cedar Springs. There, the Kid manages to escape somehow.
• Feb. 27, 1877—Tunstall and McSween arrive in Albuquerque.
• Early Mar. 1877 (exact date unknown)—Tunstall and McSween depart from Albuquerque and head for the town of Belen.
• Mar. 11, 1877—Tunstall and McSween leave Belen and head back towards Lincoln.
• Mar. 14, 1877—L. G. Murphy withdraws from his business in Lincoln, after discovering he has bowel cancer. He leaves the business (and the all the House’s debts) to Dolan and Riley now. The business’s name is formally changed to Jas. J. Dolan & Co.
• Mar. 21, 1877—Tunstall and McSween arrive back at Lincoln. On the same day, Tunstall’s friend, Rob Widenmann, arrives in Lincoln from Santa Fe.
• Mar. 25, 1877—Kid Antrim and John Mackie arrive at the Hotel de Luna near Fort Grant for breakfast. Miles Wood sees them enter the hotel and decides to capture them. Wood takes a large serving tray to their table, but has a pistol hidden under it. He puts the tray on the table in front of them then raises his pistol, telling them to put their hands in the air. Both outlaws do just that. Wood then walks his two prisoners two-and-a-half miles to Fort Grant. There, both Mackie and the Kid are thrown in the guardhouse. One hour later or so, the Kid asks one of his guards to take him outside for some reason, possibly to use the privy. Once outside, Antrim allegedly turns around and throws a handful of salt into the guard’s eyes. He then grabs the guard’s pistol out of his holster, but before the Kid can flee, the temporarily blinded guard yells for help. Several other guards come running, disarm the Kid, and throw him back in the guardhouse. Back in the guardhouse, the soldiers have Frank P. ‘Windy’ Cahill, a local bully of a blacksmith, attach shackles to the Kid’s wrists and ankles. That night, while a dance is being held at the fort, the Kid is left unguarded for a few moments. In those few moments, he somehow escapes, with his shackles on and all. After the dance, the guards and soldiers are dumbfounded as to how he escaped, but it’s suspected that a soldier or two may have aided him.
• March 25: The horse thief duo is arrested and put in jail at Fort Grant. Billy the Kid escapes later that evening and begins to get a reputation as an escape artist.
• Early Apr. 1877—An epidemic of smallpox ravages the local Mescalero-Apache population, killing several chiefs.
• Apr. 10, 1877—According to James Dolan, he and a group of Lincoln citizens (probably members of the Jessie Evans Gang and/or the Seven Rivers Warriors) are ambushed by Chisum cowboys. However, no one in the ambush is killed, or even wounded. This is the beginning of what will become known as ‘The War on the Pecos,’ a conflict waged between John Chisum and the local rustlers at Seven Rivers.
• Apr. 19, 1877—Tunstall receives his first draft of money from his father, John Tunstall Senior, in London.
• Apr. 20, 1877—John Chisum and around thirty of his cowboys lay siege to the ranch of Hugh Beckwith at Seven Rivers. Beckwith, along with his two sons Bob and John, are prominent members of the Seven Rivers Warriors. Pitzer Chisum had discovered evidence of the Beckwiths’ involvement in the rustling of Chisum cattle a short time earlier while at the Beckwith ranch.
• Apr. 23, 1877—Chisum and his men leave the Beckwith ranch after it’s decided that the battle isn’t really going anywhere.
• Apr. 24, 1877—Tunstall has a choza (a two-room dugout fort with thick adobe walls) built on his new land on the Rio Feliz. Manning what Tunstall will call his ‘ranch’ are his two new employees, namely Godfrey Gauss, an elderly man who is hired to serve as camp cook, and Fred Waite, recently arrived from Colorado. Waite had been hired for his skill with livestock, his fearlessness, and his prowess with a gun. On the same day, John Riley has the government beef contracts for Forts Stanton, Bayard, and Craig awarded to him (and, hence, the Company). Also on that day, a post office is established in the House, and Dolan himself is appointed Lincoln postmaster.
• Early May 1877 (exact date unknown)—Ellen Casey, widow of rancher Robert Casey, is deep in debt to the firm of the Spiegelberg Bros. Alex McSween, acting for the Spiegelbergs, serves a writ of attachment on her. Sheriff Brady is ordered by the courts to impound 400 head of the Caseys’ cattle (worth the amount Ellen owes to the Spiegelberg Bros.), as a type of security. If Ellen Casey doesn’t pay off the debt she owes, Brady must sell her cattle at a public auction.
• May 2, 1877—H. Harrison, a bounty hunter from Ft. Elliot, is hunting for Frank MacNab, Frank Tipton, and George Black at Dodge City, Kansas. Apparently, MacNab, Tipton, and Black had fled to Dodge City after killing(?) the Casner brothers in Texas.
• May 3, 1877—At Lincoln, Dolan gets into an altercation with a House employee named Hiraldo Jaramillo. The conflict ends with Dolan drawing a pistol and shooting Jaramillo dead. According to Dolan, Jaramillo suddenly and without reason attacked him with a knife, leaving him no choice but to gun him down. However, it was well-known that Dolan’s good friend, George W. Peppin, was having an affair with Jaramillo’s wife. What’s more likely is that Jaramillo told Peppin to stay away from his wife, and then Peppin told Dolan. Dolan, then, loyal to his friends, killed Jaramillo in cold-blood. Other Lincoln citizens, however, gossiped that Dolan made ‘unnatural advances’ towards Jaramillo, and when Jaramillo fought him off, Dolan killed him.
• May 7, 1877—Tunstall and McSween make up a plan to get some cattle for Tunstall’s new Rio Feliz ranch. The auction for the Casey cattle is scheduled for today and Tunstall has McSween make a deal with the widow Ellen Casey. The deal goes like this: McSween (acting for Tunstall) would buy about half of Casey’s cattle, and give the money directly to her. If, later on, she could repay McSween the amount he bought the cattle for, plus interest, she would get her cattle back from him. Ellen Casey agrees to this deal and McSween buys 209 head of cattle at the auction. However, both Tunstall and McSween realize that Casey still must pay off her debt to the Spiegelburg Bros., and will likely never be able to raise enough money to buy back her cattle from them. After buying the cattle, McSween has his friend Dick Brewer drive them to Brewer’s ranch in Glencoe, where they will be temporarily kept until they can be driven to Tunstall’s Rio Feliz ranch. The same day, Andy Boyle (who is a deputy sheriff) and Buck Powell, both members of the Seven Rivers Warriors, acquire a warrant for the arrest of John Chisum for his attack at the Beckwith ranch on April 20 through the 23. The two men arrive at Chisum’s South Spring Ranch, but Chisum is laid up with a case of smallpox and cannot be moved. Boyle and Powell leave the ranch without Chisum, but plan to return to arrest him when he is in better health.
• May 8, 1877—Murphy petitions the probate court to ascertain indebtedness of the Fritz estate to himself and vice versa.
• May 10, 1877—Andy Boyle, Buck Powell, and thirteen others arrive at the South Spring Ranch upon hearing that Old John has recuperated from his case of smallpox. Chisum and a few of his cowboys are arrested, but are released shortly thereafter.
• May 11, 1877—Murphy makes out a will, leaving everything in it to Dolan.
• May 28, 1877—Tunstall, Brewer, Fred Waite, and Rob Widenmann begin driving Tunstall’s cattle from Brewer’s ranch towards the Rio Feliz ranch.
• May 30, 1877—The 209 head of Tunstall cattle arrives at Tunstall’s Rio Feliz ranch. They will be manned there by Widenmann, Waite, and Godfrey Gauss. Shortly after this, Tunstall hires Dick Brewer to work as foreman at the Rio Feliz ranch when Dick isn’t working on his own ranch in Glencoe. Brewer and Tunstall end up becoming very good friends.
• Early June 1877 (exact date unknown)—Henry Brown has his wages short changed by his employers, Jas. J. Dolan & Co. Angry over this, Henry quits working for the company. Brown then goes to work for Dolan’s competition, John Chisum, as a cowboy at his South Spring Ranch.
• June 2, 1877—George Peppin begins building the Tunstall store in Lincoln. Tunstall pays around $100 a day for labor. The store is built with three-feet thick adobe walls and extra thick windows. When the store is complete, it will also house law offices for McSween and the Lincoln County Bank. Believed to be around the same time, Alex and Susan McSween’s house begins to be built. When finished, the McSween house will be located about thirty-five yards to the west of the Tunstall store. Both buildings are being built on McSween’s property, the land he recently purchased from then-L. G. Murphy & Co.
• June 5, 1877—Murphy and Dolan travel to Santa Fe.
• Mid June 1877 (exact date unknown)—Tunstall leaves Lincoln to travel to La Mesilla and Las Cruces.
• June 16, 1877—Frank MacNab is at Syracuse, Kansas, and denies any involvement in the killings of the Casner brothers in Texas. Apparently, he is believed and all charges against him are dropped. Thereafter, he and Frank Tipton return to Texas, where they are sent by Hunter & Evans to track some cattle that were lost on a recent drive.
• June 23, 1877–Tunstall arrives back in Lincoln after his trip to La Mesilla and Las Cruces. On the same day, Jessie Evans is acquitted of the murder of Quirino Fletcher at a La Mesilla trial. The presiding judge was Warren Bristol and the prosecuting attorney was William Rynerson, both key figures in the Santa Fe Ring and good friends of Dolan and Riley. It is highly unlikely that Rynerson ever even tried to get Jessie convicted.
• Late June 1877 (exact date unknown)—David Pugh Shield (a lawyer), his wife Elizabeth Hummer Shield (Susan McSween’s older sister), and their five children arrive in Lincoln. Around the same time in Texas, Frank MacNab and Frank Tipton find the cattle they were sent to find in the possession of several Mexicans. MacNab and Tipton kill all the Mexicans, then drive the cattle to Colorado, where they are sold. MacNab and Tipton tell their employers at Hunter & Evans that they were unable to locate the cattle.

• July 1, 1877—Rob Widenmann becomes sick with smallpox. He is laid up at Tunstall’s Rio Feliz ranch and Tunstall takes care of him.
• July 7, 1877—Tunstall leaves Lincoln to go to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri on a buying trip for his store, which is still being built.
• Mid July 1877 (exact dates unknown)—David Shield and Alex McSween decide to become law partners, as they both are lawyers. Their law firm will be known as McSween & Shield. They will keep their offices in the Tunstall store when it’s completed and Shield and his family will live in the massive McSween house when it is finished as well. Around the same time, John Chisum has 2,500 head of his cattle driven to Arizona, where he plans to start yet another ranch. Believed to be around the same time, Frank MacNab is assigned by Hunter & Evans to go to New Mexico and work as a foreman on Chisum’s South Spring Ranch. MacNab is sent there to try to reduce some of the rustling activities of the Seven Rivers Warriors and the Jessie Evans Gang.
• July 8, 1877—Jessie Evans, Frank Baker, and Nicholas Provencio are arrested in Juarez, Mexico on charges of selling stolen cattle. All three are released that night.
• July 18, 1877—David Shield is appointed a notary public. On the same day, warrants are issued for the arrest of Jessie Evans, John Kinney, and Frank Baker based on complaints made by Albert J. Fountain. Fountain, a writer for the Mesilla Valley Independent, had recently written articles denouncing the local rustlers, and in turn, Fountain got word that the rustlers were going to kill him on site. After the warrants are issued, Dona Ana County Sheriff Mariano Barela makes no attempt whatsoever to arrest Kinney, Evans, or Baker, since he is also a member or (at the very least) an associate of the Jessie Evans Gang or the John Kinney Gang. Even though Gov. Samuel Axtell offers a $500 for the arrest of Evans, Kinney, and/or Baker, no one goes after them.
• July 19, 1877—The New York banking firm of Donnell, Lawson & Co. transfers all the money that remains from the Fritz insurance policy, $7,148.49 (the rest had been taken by the firm itself as payment for loaning $700 to the Speigelberg Bros. back in Nov. 1876), to McSween’s St. Louis bank account. The firm writes a letter to McSween the same day advising him of this movement.
• July 20, 1877—The Jessie Evans Gang raids the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency and makes off with several horses.
• July 24, 1877—Tunstall is at Kansas City on his buying trip.
• July 30, 1877—Dolan is at Santa Fe to bid for the government forage contracts of Fort Stanton. Bidding against him are Pat Coghlan and Willi Spiegelberg.
• Late July (exact date unknown)—Charles Fritz and Emilie Fritz Scholand petition Probate Judge Florencio Gonzales for an order that the Fritz insurance money be paid to them immediately. McSween hears of this and advises Gonzales against it, saying that Charles Fritz will use it all to pay off his debts to Jas. J. Dolan & Co., and thereby not giving McSween his fee.
• Early Aug. 1877 (exact dates unknown)—The construction of both the McSween house and the Tunstall store is completed. The Lincoln County Bank is established in the store, as are offices for the firm of McSween & Shield. John Chisum is appointed bank president, McSween is appointed vice president, and Tunstall (still away in Missouri) is appointed treasurer. Around the same time, Wyatt Earp claims that Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, Pat Garrett, James Carlyle, and Billy Wilson are at Dodge City, Kansas. This is in all likely hood false, and, it should be noted, that Earp is far from a reliable source.
• Aug. 1, 1877—Florencio Gonzales writes a letter to Donnell, Lawson & Co. requesting that they transfer the money from the Fritz insurance policy to the First National Bank of Santa Fe to the order of Charles Fritz. However, on the same day McSween receives the letter from Donnell, Lawson & Co. informing him that the money from the Fritz insurance policy had been deposited in his St. Louis bank account. McSween petitions the court, asking for an audit of the books of Jas. J. Dolan & Co. in order to discover the value of the insurance money to the company. The court does this and appoints three examiners, namely, McSween, Morris Bernstein, and Juan Patron. McSween then petitions Gonzales, asking him to be released from his duties as a bondsman. McSween believes that if he hands over the money, it’ll go directly to Dolan, since Charles Fritz is in debt to his company, and that Fritz and Scholand will never get their money. For this reason, McSween decides to wait until the next term of court, in January, to be given formal instructions on what to do with the money.
• Aug. 5, 1877—Charlie Bowdre and Frank Freeman, both Jessie Evans Gang members, get drunk and begin shooting up Lincoln. Freeman ends up shooting another black soldier in a saloon, but the soldier recovers. The two badmen go to the newly completed McSween house, where John Chisum is currently visiting the McSweens, and threatens to burn it down if Chisum doesn’t come out, when Sheriff Brady arrests them both. That night, Freeman manages to escape from jail, while Charlie posts $500 bond and is released.
• Aug. 11, 1877—The Jessie Evans Gang again raids the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency, making off with even more horses this time.
• Aug. 14, 1877—The Grand Masonic Lodge is formed at Santa Fe. District Attorney William Rynerson is appointed deputy grand master, Thomas Catron is appointed grand lecturer, and S. B. Newcomb is appointed senior grand warden.
• Aug. 15, 1877—Frank Freeman is tracked by a posse to Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock’s ranch. Freeman resists arrest and ends up being killed by the posse. Around this time, Charlie pretty much quits the Jessie Evans Gang. After being arrested and seeing his friend killed apparently convinces him to stop riding with Evans. Around the same time, John Tunstall departs Missouri on a return trip to Lincoln.
• Aug. 17, 1877—Kid Antrim shows up at George Atkins’s cantina at Fort Grant. While there, the local blacksmith, Frank ‘Windy’ Cahill, who had previously attached shackles the Kid’s wrists and ankles, begins bullying him, as he has done several times before. Cahill calls the Kid a pimp, to which the Kid responds by calling Cahill a son-of-a-bitch. Cahill then jumps the Kid, knocking him to the ground, pinning him there, and slapping him. Since Cahill weighs around 200 pounds and Antrim weighs about 130 or so, the Kid has no chance in a fair fight. He manages to grab his pistol with his right hand and stick the barrel in Cahill’s gut. Cahill straightens up, but because he doesn’t get off of the Kid, the Kid shoots him. Cahill topples over and the Kid runs out of the cantina, mounts a horse that’s not his, and rides away. Later, the Kid ends up sending the horse back to its rightful owner.
• Aug. 18, 1877—Windy Cahill dies of his gut wound. A coroner jury doesn’t rule the killing as self-defense, but as pure murder, and warrant is issued for the arrest of the Kid. However, by this time, Kid Antrim is heading back towards his old home of New Mexico.
• August 18: In Fort Grant, the Kid kills his first man, Frank “Windy” Cahill, a bully who attacked the Kid during an argument. The Kid then leaves Arizona and heads back to New Mexico.
• Aug. 20, 1877—McSween has Roswell postmaster Marshall Ashmun ‘Ash’ Upson hold his and Tunstall’s mail at the post office in Roswell, since he believes that Dolan will read their mail if they continue to get it at the House’s post office.
• Aug. 24, 1877—A rumor begins going around that the Jessie Evans Gang was ambushed by a posse, and Jessie, along with most of his gang, had been killed. The rumor is soon proven to be false.
• Aug. 29, 1877—Dolan, still deep in debt to Tom Catron and the Santa Fe bank, borrows $1,000 from McSween (acting for Tunstall) at the Lincoln County Bank. On the same day, the Jessie Evans Gang yet again raids the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency, making off with several government mules.
• September: The Kid joins Jesse Evans, the leader of “The Boys,” a gang of rustlers and killers.
• Early Sept. 1877 (exact date unknown)—William H. ‘Billy’ Bonney (the name Henry ‘Kid’ Antrim is now going by) arrives at Shedd’s Ranch in La Mesilla, Dona Ana County. There, he meets up with Jessie Evans and joins his gang. Billy and Jessie end up becoming good friends and Billy keeps his nickname of ‘the Kid.’
• Sept. 3, 1877—Tunstall is at El Moro, New Mexico on his return trip to Lincoln.
• Sept. 9, 1877—Jessie Evans Gang members Frank Baker and Ponciano Domingues rob a store at Colorado, New Mexico, killing one Benito Cruz in the process. Eighty-three-year-old store owner Chaffre Martinetti is badly beaten by Baker and Domingues as well and dies a few months later from this attack.
• Sept. 15, 1877—Tunstall gets sick with a case of smallpox while at Las Vegas. He will be laid up there for a while before continuing on to Lincoln.
• Sept. 17, 1877—Ash Upson is appointed a notary public at Roswell.

• Sept. 18, 1877—The Jessie Evans Gang raids the Rio Ruidoso ranch of Dick Brewer, making off with several horses and mules belonging to Brewer, Tunstall and McSween. Since the gang targeted this particular ranch and stole only the horses belonging to these three, none of who were on good terms with Jas. J. Dolan & Co. (to say the least), it’s almost certain that Dolan and Riley hired the gang to steal them. The gang apparently drives the horses to gang member Jim McDaniels’s Dona Ana County ranch after the raid. Later that day, after discovering the horses have been stolen, Dick Brewer and friends/neighbors Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock saddle up and go off in pursuit of the thieves. A short time later, Dick separates from Doc and Charlie and rides as fast as he can towards Las Cruces, in Dona Ana County. Doc and Charlie meanwhile continue to follow the trail of the thieves.
• Sept. 19, 1877—Dick Brewer arrives at Las Cruces and meets with Sheriff Mariano Barela. Dick asks Barela to issue warrants for the arrest of the gang members and/or to help him go after the thieves, but Barela, being a member of the gang himself, refuses to go. Dick, angry over Barela’s unwillingness to help, decides to stay in Las Cruces and wait for Doc and Charlie to meet him there.
• Sept. 21, 1877—Doc and Charlie arrive in Las Cruces and meet up with Dick. They tell him that they’ve discovered that the Jessie Evans Gang, and the stolen horses, are at Shedd’s Ranch, not too far away. All three men then ride to Shedd’s Ranch. At the ranch, Dick confronts Jessie by walking right up to him and demanding to have the horses back. Jessie laughs it off, but is amused by Dick’s courage. He then offers to give Dick his own horses back, but won’t surrender Tunstall’s or McSween’s. Dick then tells him that if he can’t have them all, he (Jessie) can keep them and ‘go to Hell.’ Dick, Doc, and Charlie then ride off towards Lincoln, without reacquiring a single horse. On the way, the three encounter Rob Widenmann, who is himself on his way to Las Cruces to try to get the stolen horses back.
• Sept. 22, 1877—Rob Widenmann arrives in Las Cruces and meets with Jessie Evans. Jessie also refuses to give Widenmann the stolen horses. Angry, but severely outnumbered, Widenmann has no choice but to turn back. Later that day, the Jessie Evans Gang leaves Shedd’s Ranch and heads west.
• Sept. 27, 1877—The Jessie Evans Gang steal some horses at Santa Barbara, then head for Mule Springs. They leave Santa Barbara with a six-man posse at their heals, which ends up catching up with them a short time later. However, the posse is greatly out numbered and out gunned and is forced to turn back. The gang continues on west, stealing another horse on the way. Billy Bonney is identified as riding with the gang.
• Late Sept. 1877 (exact date unknown)—Riding west, the Jessie Evans Gang disposes of the horses belonging to Tunstall, Brewer, and McSween, possibly by selling them to the Clanton Gang. The gang then steals some more horses and begins riding back east, towards the Seven Rivers area.
• Oct. 3, 1877—The Evans Gang exchange shots with rancher George Williams at his Warm Springs ranch. No one is hurt in the gunfight and the gang soon moves on. Later the same day, the gang steals some more horses and unsuccessfully attempts to rob a stagecoach. The gang then continues to head east.
• Oct. 8, 1877—The Evans Gang pass through La Mesilla and arrive at Shedd’s Ranch on their way back to Seven Rivers. While passing through La Mesilla, Billy Bonney steals a race horse belonging to the daughter of Sheriff Mariano Barela. The rest of the gang doesn’t immediately know who the horse belongs to, but they soon find out and Billy is believed to leave the gang at Mesilla after Jessie himself expresses his anger over Billy stealing Barela’s horse. Only one other gang member sticks with Billy, namely Tom O’Keefe.
• Oct. 9, 1877—McSween files on 3,840 acres of land on the Rio Feliz on Tunstall’s behalf. The same day, Jessie Evans and his gang arrive at Tularosa, get drunk, and begin shooting up the town. Later in the day, they move on and arrive at the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency late that afternoon. There, the gang steals supplies then moves on. Around dusk, the gang sets up camp near the summit of the Sacramento Mountains. In the early evening hours, Johnny Riley and Jim Longwell (a employee of the House) arrive at the camp site as well. Throughout the night, the gang, Riley, and Longwell ‘compare notes’ and discuss much of their ‘upcoming plans.’ At some point during the night, Jessie himself congratulates his men on a ‘job well done.’ This meeting between the Jessie Evans Gang and Riley and Longwell seems to prove beyond any doubt that Jas. J. Dolan & Co. most certainly hired the gang to steal the horses of Tunstall, McSween, and Brewer. At the very least, it proves that Dolan and Riley have a close association with the gang.
• Oct. 10, 1877—In the morning, the Evans Gang splits up into several parties. Some of the gang, including Jessie himself, continue on towards Seven Rivers. Others travel back to Tularosa. Probably on the same day, Billy Bonney and Tom O’Keefe leave La Mesilla and head east. They may have left due to Sheriff Barela finding out that Billy is the one who stole his daughter’s race horse. It’s possible the duo heads east because they hope to meet back up with the Evans Gang. That night, while riding through the Guadalupe Mountains, the pair is attacked by Apaches. Billy and O’Keefe separate and Billy runs for a river bank, where he hides in the surrounding brush. A short time later, after Billy no longer hears the Apaches, he comes out of his hiding place and discovers his horse, all of his supplies (except his canteen, which he had on him at the time of the attack), and O’Keefe are gone. Billy then has no choice but to continue to head east, but now must walk on foot. Sources differ on what happened to O’Keefe. Some say he was killed by the Apaches and never seen again. Others say he found his way back to La Mesilla.
• Oct. 12, 1877—Jessie Evans and gang members Tom Hill, Frank Baker, and Dolly Graham/George Davis arrive at the Beckwith ranch in Seven Rivers. Alex McSween, in Lincoln, hears of this and meets with Sheriff Brady. McSween orders Brady to appoint Dick Brewer a deputy sheriff so he can go arrest the outlaws. Reluctantly, Brady complies and deputizes Dick. Dick immediately rounds up a posse of fifteen men, including Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock, and prepares to leave for the Beckwith ranch. Just before leaving, Dick asks Brady to come along with the posse. Not wanting to look usurped by Dick, Brady reluctantly agrees to go along, although he is in cohoots with the gang. On the way to the Beckwith ranch, Brady proclaims that he’s going to turn back to Lincoln. Dick, however, says he’s going to continue on, by himself if need be. The other fifteen members of the posse all decide to go with Dick and Brady, thoroughly shamed and probably not wanting his association with the gang to become more obvious than it already is, also decides to continue on to the Beckwiths’.
• Oct. 13, 1877—Billy Bonney, exhausted and in bad shape from three days of walking through the desert, arrives at the Seven Rivers house of the Jones family. Barbara Jones, the mother of the Jones boys (who are Seven Rivers Warriors), called ‘Ma’am Jones of the Pecos,’ brings Billy into her house, feeds him, cleans his sores and wounds, dresses him, and puts him to bed.
• Oct. 14, 1877—Tunstall arrives back in Lincoln from Las Vegas. There, McSween brings him up to speed on the recent events, most notably the theft of his horses and mules by the Evans Gang and the fact that McSween filed on 3,840 additional acres of land on the Rio Feliz for Tunstall. McSween also informs Tunstall that he and his brother-in-law David Shield are now partners in a law firm and are keeping their offices in Tunstall’s store. Early in the morning of the same day, Billy awakes at the Jones place and feels much better than he did the night before. He tells the Jones family of the attack he suffered at the hands of the Apaches and for the next several days, he works around the ranch and the house, helping with all he can. He also plays with the little Jones children and allegedly practices his shooting skills with the oldest Jones boy, John, with whom he quickly becomes good friends.
• Oct. 15, 1877—John Chisum sends an order to Tunstall in Lincoln requesting several supplies from his not-yet-opened for business store. Tunstall begins putting together the supplies that Chisum requested and plans to travel to Chisum’s South Spring ranch with the supplies in a few days. This makes Chisum the first customer of Tunstall’s store.
• Oct. 17, 1877—Before dawn, Dick Brewer and his posse (still including Sheriff Brady) arrive at the Beckwith ranch, where Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, Frank Baker, and George Davis/Dolly Graham are holed up inside a well-armed choza. The posse surrounds the choza, and at dawn, when the outlaws awake, they begin shooting at the posse through windows and portholes. The posse returns fire and several hundred shots are fired in total. According to Jessie, he was intent on killing Dick and fired three shots at him, each bullet missing him by only a few inches. The shooting eventually stops when it becomes clear that no one on either side has been hit. A standoff begins, with the outlaws refusing to exit the choza. However, some of the posse members who know the outlaws shout out that if they surrender, they will not by harmed or lynched. The outlaws apparently believe whoever said this (possibly Brady, Charlie Bowdre, and/or Doc Scurlock) and exit the choza with their hands up. All four are then disarmed, arrested, and put on horses. The posse with their new prisoners then begin riding back up the Pecos towards Lincoln. Billy Bonney is believed to still be at the Jones ranch a short distance away from the Beckwith ranch.
• Oct. 18, 1877—Tunstall, driving a wagon, leaves Lincoln for Chisum’s South Spring ranch. The wagon is loaded with the supplies Chisum requested.
• Oct. 19, 1877—On his way to the Chisum ranch, Tunstall crosses paths with Dick Brewer, his posse, and the four captured outlaws. Tunstall shakes hands with Dick and most of the posse, then he and Dick begin joking about things. Jessie Evans then exclaims that Tunstall doesn’t know if the posse has got the outlaws, or if the outlaws have got the posse. Tom Hill then asks Tunstall if he has any whiskey, to which Tunstall replies that he has very little. Tunstall then offers to meet the outlaws in Lincoln once they’re in jail and to give them some whiskey. Hill accepts the offer. The posse, with the outlaws, then moves on, while Dick stays behind to bring Tunstall up on current events. Afterwards, Dick catches up with his posse and Tunstall proceeds on to the Chisum ranch.
• Oct. 20, 1877—The Brewer posse throw Jessie Evans, Frank Baker, Tom Hill, and George Davis/Dolly Graham in the dungeon-like jail in Lincoln. The four outlaws have the opinion that they are very sure they won’t be in the jail for long.
• Late Oct. 1877 (exact dates unknown)—Billy Bonney leaves the Jones ranch and heads up to Lincoln, where he meets Sheriff Brady. Brady, feeling sorry for Billy, gives him a job working on his ranch east of Lincoln. After working there for only a few days, Billy quits and heads back to the Seven Rivers area, where he gets a job working on a Jas. J. Dolan & Co.-owned cattle camp, of which Billy ‘Buck’ Morton is the foreman. While working at the camp, Billy meets the Casey family and stays with them. Billy is soon fired by Morton for having taken a liking to Morton’s girlfriend. Billy is bitter over his dismissal. He then follows the Rio Pecos north and may have acquired a very brief job working as a cowboy on the Chisum ranch. He soon after arrives at the Rio Ruidoso ranch of George Coe, who gives him a job and lets him stay there as well. George and Billy soon become close friends, and Billy also gets reacquainted with George’s neighbors, Doc Scurlock and Charlie Bowdre. He also meets and befriends George’s other neighbor, Dick Brewer, and George’s cousins who visit frequently, Frank Coe and Ab Saunders. According to George, he, Billy, Frank, and others go hunting often and notice Billy’s prowess with a gun.
• Oct. 25, 1877 (approx.)—Dick Brewer hires John Middleton as a ranch-hand and gunman for the Tunstall Rio Feliz ranch.
• Oct. 27, 1877—In the morning, the widow Ellen Casey has some Texas cowboys go to the Tunstall ranch and steal back all 209 head of her cattle that she lost at auction to Tunstall and McSween. The Caseys are planning to leave New Mexico behind and head for Texas. Around the same time, Tunstall and Brewer visit Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, Frank Baker, and George Davis/Dolly Graham at the Lincoln jail. The four outlaws joke (?) and say they sold Tunstall’s mules to a priest in Mexico. Angry, Tunstall and Brewer leave, but apparently, true to his word, Tunstall sends a bottle of whiskey to the outlaws later in the day. Also later in the day, Tunstall and Brewer discover that the widow Casey stole all of Tunstall’s cattle and is heading for Texas. Dick forms another posse that’s made up of John Middleton, Fred Waite, Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, Rob Widenmann, and others. Tunstall himself supplies brand new carbines to each of the posse members. The posse then leaves Lincoln and goes off on the trail of the Caseys. After traveling several miles, Dick and another member of the posse realize they need fresh horses, so they depart from the rest of the posse to acquire some. Middleton then takes command of the posse and they press on after the Caseys. Just before reaching the Texas border, the posse encounters the Caseys and their large herd of cattle. Middleton demands 209 head of the cattle and Ellen gives them to him, probably out of fear. The posse then drives the cattle back to the Rio Feliz ranch, while the Caseys for some reason return back to their own Rio Hondo ranch.
• Oct. 30, 1877 (approx.)—The Tunstall store opens for business in Lincoln, with Samuel R. Corbet serving as manager and clerk and David Shield’s teenage boys working there as well. Now, the store, the bank, and the offices of McSween & Shield are all set up in the fort-like building. Tunstall also keeps a bedroom in the back of the store for him when he stays in Lincoln. After being opened for only a short time, the Tunstall store begins taking business away from the House, causing Jimmy Dolan to lose even more money, something he can’t afford to let happen.
• October – November – The gang rides into Lincoln County. Shortly after arriving, Billy the Kid has a falling out with the gang and is then hired by John Tunstall. At the time, Tunstall was involved in a feud with the Dolan Company that would turn bloody.
• Nov. 1, 1877—In La Mesilla, John Kinney shoots and kills one Ysable Barela. Kinney and his gang then flee for Silver City, in Grant County.
• Nov. 7, 1877—A drunken Sheriff Brady enters the Tunstall store and begins accusing him of giving credit for the arrest of the members of the Evans Gang to Dick Brewer rather than himself. Brady goes on to call Tunstall a fool, and Tunstall does the same to him. Brady then accuses Tunstall of trying to help Evans, Hill, Baker, and Davis/Graham escape from jail. Tunstall takes offense to this and states that Brady knows full well that the outlaws have cut holes in the logs over their heads and have filed down their shackles, but has done nothing about it. Brady then begins to pull his pistol, but McSween, who is also present, restrains him, saying that it wouldn’t look very good for the sheriff to kill and unarmed man. Brady apparently agrees and holsters his pistol. As he leaves, he tells Tunstall that he won’t be sheriff forever and Tunstall doesn’t have long to run.
• Nov. 16, 1877—At dawn, a party led by Dick Lloyd and Andy Boyle and made up of around thirty Jessie Evans Gang members and Seven Rivers Warriors ride into Lincoln and to the jail. They break down the door of the jail and break out Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, Frank Baker, George Davis/Dolly Graham, and Lucas Gallegos, who is not involved with the gang but was in jail for another reason. The large party then rides to Dick Brewer’s ranch, where they steal eight of Tunstall’s horses. They tell the cook at the ranch that they are sorry to have to steal the horses, but that they need them, and they’ll never again steal from Tunstall. The party then heads for the Beckwith ranch in Seven Rivers. Some have claimed that Billy Bonney was in the group of liberators, but this is unlikely. It’s also been claimed that Tunstall helped to liberate the outlaws, but this is also very unlikely. The party’s comment that they would never steal from Tunstall again was probably a way for them to cast unfounded suspicion on their enemy.
• Late Nov. 1877—Dick Brewer hires Billy Bonney as a cowboy and gunman for Tunstall’s Rio Feliz ranch. Brewer had recently arrested Billy at Seven Rivers when he’d heard that Billy was a former member of the Jessie Evans Gang and had possibly taken part in the theft of his, Tunstall’s, and McSween’s horses. Brewer had taken Billy to Lincoln and had Brady put him in the jail there. After being imprisoned for a few days, Tunstall himself visited Billy and the two talked, with Billy apparently convincing Tunstall that he didn’t know the whereabouts of his horses. The conversation ended with Billy agreeing to go to work for Tunstall if he agreed to allow him to be released from jail. Tunstall did this, and immediately afterwards, Brewer hired him. At Tunstall’s ranch, Billy becomes good friends with fellow cowboy Fred Waite and, allegedly, the two plan to start their own ranch eventually. Around the same time it’s believed that Old John Chisum sends one of his cowboys, Henry Brown, to go work on the Rio Feliz ranch and to serve as a bodyguard for Tunstall and/or McSween.
• Dec. 4, 1877—McSween deeds the east wing of his U shaped house to Elizabeth Shield.
• Dec. 7, 1877—Charles Fritz files a petition with the Lincoln County Probate Court requesting that McSween be ordered to pay the insurance money owed to him. It’s believed that Fritz did this under the influence of Jimmy Dolan. Tom Catron, head of the Santa Fe Ring, had recently thought up a grand scheme to get McSween and Tunstall, told Dolan the plan, and Fritz’s filing a petition is the first step of his plan.
• Mid Dec. 1877 (exact date unknown)—Alex and Susan McSween plan to take a trip to St. Louis, Missouri and vacation there for a few months. John Chisum plans to accompany them to St. Louis because he has matters to discuss with the Hunter & Evans firm. McSween plans to give Charles Fritz the insurance money before he leaves, and writes a letter to Fritz telling him this. When Dolan hears of this, he writes a letter to Fritz as well, telling him not to accept the insurance money from McSween. Dumbfounded, Fritz follows Dolan’s advice and doesn’t accept the money from McSween, but tells him to hold on to it.
• Dec. 18, 1877—The McSweens leave Lincoln and head towards Anton Chico, where they are to meet with Chisum before moving on to St. Louis.
• Dec. 21, 1877—Dolan, knowing that the McSweens are leaving the territory, races to the home of Emilie Fritz Scholand in La Mesilla and tells her that McSween is leaving the territory with her money permanently. He prompts her to sign an affidavit stating that McSween embezzled her money. Dolan and his friend District Attorney William Rynerson immediately telegraph Tom Catron in Santa Fe, who says he’ll swear out a warrant for McSween’s arrest based on Scholand’s affidavit. Catron then telegraphs Sheriff Desiderio Romero of San Miguel County (the county Las Vegas is in) and tells him to hold the McSween party when they arrive in Vegas. Of course, if the warrant for McSween’s arrest doesn’t arrive before McSween does, it will be illegal for McSween to be arrested. Catron knows this, but it doesn’t matter to him. This is all part of Catron’s devious plan for Tunstall and McSween.
• Dec. 24, 1877—Alex and Sue McSween and John Chisum are arrested by a posse just outside of Las Vegas. The party is then brought back to Vegas, where McSween and Chisum are thrown in jail (Chisum is being held on other charges). The warrant for McSween’s arrest has not yet arrived in Vegas from Santa Fe, so the arrest is illegal. Sheriff Romero decides to wait forty-eight hours for the warrant to arrive. If it doesn’t arrive within that time, he’s going to release McSween.
• Dec. 26, 1877—The warrant doesn’t arrive in Las Vegas and Sheriff Romero lets the McSweens and Chisum leave. Shortly after the party leaves, the warrant does arrive in Vegas, and Romero sends a posse out to go after them again. A few miles outside of Vegas, the posse finds the party and McSween and Chisum are arrested again. Sue McSween is allowed to go free and she continues on to St. Louis by herself. McSween and Chisum are taken back to Vegas and are again thrown in jail.
• Lincoln County War involvement: Henry begins working for John Tunstall, a rancher and merchant in Lincoln County, New Mexico, who is embroiled in a conflict with the Murphy-Dolan faction.

1878

• Early Jan. 1878 (exact dates unknown)—Federal warrants are issued for the arrest of Jessie Evans and some of his gang for their theft of government mules from the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency back in Aug. 1877. U. S. Marshal John Sherman for some unknown reason appoints Rob Widenmann a deputy marshal and hands him the warrants for the arrest of the Evans Gang.
• Jan. 4, 1878—McSween is ordered for arraignment at La Mesilla. He leaves Vegas for Mesilla in the care of Vegas deputies Adolph P. Barrier and Antonio Campos. McSween plans to stop at Lincoln on the way to La Mesilla. Chisum is left in the Vegas jail. On the same day, the Jessie Evans Gang raids the Lloyd ranch on the Rio Mimbres. The gang makes off with several horses, but Jessie is shot in the groin during the raid. The wound is not serious, but Jessie can’t ride on a horse for a while.
• Jan. 9, 1878—McSween, Deputy Barrier, and Deputy Campos arrive in Lincoln. Word gets to Lincoln that La Mesilla’s judge, Warren Bristol, is seriously ill at La Mesilla and cannot be at the courthouse for McSween’s arraignment. For the time being then, McSween remains at his house under house arrest. Deputy Barrier continues to stay with McSween at his house, but Deputy Campos returns to Las Vegas.
• Jan. 12, 1878—Dolan and Riley mortgage the House and everything else belonging to Jas. J. Dolan & Co. to Tom Catron and the First National Bank of Santa Fe.
• Jan. 17, 1878—Tunstall writes a letter to the Mesilla Valley Independent accusing Sheriff Brady of embezzling $1, 545.13 worth of McSween’s tax money. His letter is published by the Independent. Dolan is furious when he hears of this and writes a rebuttal.
• Jan. 19, 1878—Judge Bristol is still very sick at La Mesilla and is laid up in bed.
• Jan. 21, 1878—McSween, accompanied by Tunstall, David Shield, Deputy Adolph Barrier, and John B. ‘Green’ Wilson leave Lincoln for La Mesilla, where Wilson has business of his own to attend to. Dolan leaves for La Mesilla as well, accompanied by Charles Fritz, James Longwell, and several members of the Jessie Evans Gang. Jessie himself needs to ride in a wagon due to his groin wound.
• Jan. 26, 1878—The McSween party arrives in La Mesilla. Dolan’s party arrives around the same time and sets up camp at Shedd’s Ranch.
• Jan. 27, 1878—The Rudabaugh-Roarke Gang of rustlers (which is composed of Dirty Dave Rudabaugh, Mike Roarke, Dan Dement, Tom Golt, J. D. Green, and Edgar West) fails in their first attempt to rob a train near the small town of Kinsley, Kansas. The gang ends up having to flee the train without a dollar’s worth of loot (although Dirty Dave does steal a nice coat from a passenger on the train).
• Jan. 28, 1878—Dirty Dave Rudabaugh and Edgar West are arrested by Bat Masterson and a small posse for attempted train robbery.
• Late Jan. 1878 (exact date unknown)—Dolan confronts Tunstall in La Mesilla and tries to goad the Englishman into a fight by calling him names. Tunstall, however, doesn’t fight, angering Dolan further.
• Feb. 2, 1878—Due to the fact that Judge Bristol is still sick at his home, McSween’s preliminary hearing is held at Bristol’s house. William Rynerson serves as the prosecution at the hearing, and, according to Deputy Barrier, throughout the hearing both Rynerson and Bristol insult McSween and show they are partisan to Dolan. It’s decided that additional evidence is needed before McSween can go to trial.
• Feb. 4, 1878—McSween’s hearing is concluded at Bristol’s house. McSween is bound over to the April term of court and his bail is set at $8,000. Rynerson, however, refuses to accept the $8,000 when it’s offered. Deputy Barrier is given instructions to escort McSween back to Lincoln and to hand him over to Sheriff Brady when they get there.
• Feb. 5, 1878—McSween, Tunstall, David Shield, Deputy Barrier, and John Wilson leave La Mesilla on their return trip to Lincoln. They reach Shedd’s Ranch that night and set up camp. The Dolan party is still camped at Shedd’s Ranch as well.
• Feb. 6, 1878—Early in the morning, Dolan and Jessie Evans approach Tunstall and Dolan again tries to get Tunstall to fight. When Tunstall again refuses to fight, Dolan pulls out his Winchester rifle and is about to shoot Tunstall when Deputy Barrier steps in-between the two men and orders Dolan away. Dolan, angrier than ever, leaves Shedd’s Ranch with his party and heads back to La Mesilla. At Mesilla, using affidavits from Emilie Fritz Scholand and Charles Fritz, Dolan, Bristol, and Rynerson work feverishly to issue a writ of attachment of $10,000 worth of McSween’s property. The $10,000 figure is taken from the amount of the Emil Fritz insurance policy that McSween is accused of embezzling. However, by this time, only $7,148.46 of the insurance money actually remains. And, to top it off, McSween himself was owed a total of $5,115.50 for his services in the insurance matter, leaving only $2,032.96 of the insurance money left. So, basically, even if McSween had embezzled the money, he only embezzled around $2,000 of it, not the $10,000 it was originally worth.
• Feb. 7, 1878—Bristol issues the $10,000 writ of attachment on McSween’s property. After the writ is issued, Bristol gives it to Dolan, Tom Hill, Jessie Evans, and Frank Baker, who ride as fast as they can to Lincoln, bypassing the McSween party that is also on its way to Lincoln. Dolan wants to give the writ to Sheriff Brady as fast as he can so Brady can start attaching the property before McSween or Tunstall know what’s going on. The real goal of this was not to get McSween’s property, but Tunstall’s. According to Bristol, Dolan, and Rynerson, McSween and Tunstall testified at the hearing that they were co-partners in the store business and in Tunstall’s Rio Feliz ranch. Technically, however, they were not actually partners. David Shield, Deputy Barrier, and McSween said that neither McSween nor Tunstall ever testified they were partners, and Tunstall and McSween would have no reason to say they were. Deputy Barrier would likewise have no reason to lie for McSween and Tunstall if they actually had testified they were partners. Dolan, Rynerson, and Bristol did have a reason to lie and say that Tunstall said they were partners: that way, they could attach Tunstall’s property as well. This was Tom Catron’s plan from the very beginning.
• February 18 – 23, 1878 – The Kid rides along with Tunstall and his men, herding horses to Lincoln. The group is ambushed by Dolan and Sheriff Brady’s men, and Tunstall is killed. Billy the Kid and the others escape. The following day, three of Tunstall’s men, which included Billy, try to serve warrants on the men who killed Tunstall. They were arrested and would miss Tunstall’s funeral. They would be released from jail on the 23rd.
• John Tunstall’s Murder: John Tunstall, an English rancher and Billy the Kid’s employer, is murdered by members of the rival Murphy-Dolan faction near his ranch. This event sparks the beginning of the Lincoln County War.

February 19

• Formation of the Regulators: In response to Tunstall’s murder, Billy the Kid and other Tunstall supporters form a vigilante group called the Regulators to avenge his death and bring the killers to justice.
• Feb. 2, 1878—Due to the fact that Judge Bristol is still sick at his home, McSween’s preliminary hearing is held at Bristol’s house. William Rynerson serves as the prosecution at the hearing, and, according to Deputy Barrier, throughout the hearing both Rynerson and Bristol insult McSween and show they are partisan to Dolan. It’s decided that additional evidence is needed before McSween can go to trial.
• Feb. 4, 1878—McSween’s hearing is concluded at Bristol’s house. McSween is bound over to the April term of court and his bail is set at $8,000. Rynerson, however, refuses to accept the $8,000 when it’s offered. Deputy Barrier is given instructions to escort McSween back to Lincoln and to hand him over to Sheriff Brady when they get there.
• Feb. 5, 1878—McSween, Tunstall, David Shield, Deputy Barrier, and John Wilson leave La Mesilla on their return trip to Lincoln. They reach Shedd’s Ranch that night and set up camp. The Dolan party is still camped at Shedd’s Ranch as well.
• Feb. 6, 1878—Early in the morning, Dolan and Jessie Evans approach Tunstall and Dolan again tries to get Tunstall to fight. When Tunstall again refuses to fight, Dolan pulls out his Winchester rifle and is about to shoot Tunstall when Deputy Barrier steps in-between the two men and orders Dolan away. Dolan, angrier than ever, leaves Shedd’s Ranch with his party and heads back to La Mesilla. At Mesilla, using affidavits from Emilie Fritz Scholand and Charles Fritz, Dolan, Bristol, and Rynerson work feverishly to issue a writ of attachment of $10,000 worth of McSween’s property. The $10,000 figure is taken from the amount of the Emil Fritz insurance policy that McSween is accused of embezzling. However, by this time, only $7,148.46 of the insurance money actually remains. And, to top it off, McSween himself was owed a total of $5,115.50 for his services in the insurance matter, leaving only $2,032.96 of the insurance money left. So, basically, even if McSween had embezzled the money, he only embezzled around $2,000 of it, not the $10,000 it was originally worth.
• Feb. 7, 1878—Bristol issues the $10,000 writ of attachment on McSween’s property. After the writ is issued, Bristol gives it to Dolan, Tom Hill, Jessie Evans, and Frank Baker, who ride as fast as they can to Lincoln, bypassing the McSween party that is also on its way to Lincoln. Dolan wants to give the writ to Sheriff Brady as fast as he can so Brady can start attaching the property before McSween or Tunstall know what’s going on. The real goal of this was not to get McSween’s property, but Tunstall’s. According to Bristol, Dolan, and Rynerson, McSween and Tunstall testified at the hearing that they were co-partners in the store business and in Tunstall’s Rio Feliz ranch. Technically, however, they were not actually partners. David Shield, Deputy Barrier, and McSween said that neither McSween nor Tunstall ever testified they were partners, and Tunstall and McSween would have no reason to say they were. Deputy Barrier would likewise have no reason to lie for McSween and Tunstall if they actually had testified they were partners. Dolan, Rynerson, and Bristol did have a reason to lie and say that Tunstall said they were partners: that way, they could attach Tunstall’s property as well. This was Tom Catron’s plan from the very beginning.
• Feb. 8, 1878—Jimmy Dolan, Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, and Frank Baker arrive in Lincoln and give the writ of attachment for $10,000 worth of McSween’s property to Sheriff Brady. On the same day, Johnny Riley cleans Lincoln’s jail/pit especially for McSween.
• Feb. 9, 1878—Sheriff Brady and his men attach the Tunstall store. Rob Widenmann protests against this, but is himself arrested by Brady. Widenmann is bound over to the April term of court.
• Feb. 10, 1878—Brady and his men attach the McSween house. Later in the day, Tunstall, McSween, Deputy Adolph Barrier, David Shield, and John Wilson arrive back in Lincoln. McSween and Tunstall are furious over the fact that their house and store, respectively, have been attached without their knowledge. Tunstall is especially angry since his store has been unlawfully attached in the first place. To make matters worse, Brady also intends to attach Tunstall’s ranch and livestock soon. Nevertheless, Tunstall and McSween are both helpless against the sheriff and his men. Also upon arrival in Lincoln, Deputy Barrier refuses to hand McSween over to Sheriff Brady, fearing that McSween will be harmed, or even killed, while in Brady’s care. So, for the time being, McSween will remain under house arrest under Deputy Barrier’s care.
• Feb. 11, 1878—Tunstall is able to get several of his horses and mules in Lincoln exempted from Brady’s attachment. He then has cook Godfrey Gauss drive the mules and horses to his Rio Feliz ranch. Later in the day, Tunstall also sends ranch-hands Billy Bonney, John Middleton, Fred Waite, Rob Widenmann, and newcomer William McCloskey to the ranch, where foreman Dick Brewer already is. On the same day, McSween writes a letter to Interior Secretary Carl Schurz accusing Jas. J. Dolan & Co. of fraud of the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency.
• Feb. 12, 1878—Sheriff Brady sends a posse under the command of his deputy, and employee of Jas. J. Dolan & Co., Billy Mathews to the Rio Feliz ranch in order to attach McSween’s (Tunstall’s actually) cattle. Also included in the posse are members of the Jessie Evans Gang, such as Jessie himself, Frank Baker, and Tom Hill. Upon reaching the ranch, Dick Brewer tells Mathews that there are no McSween cattle at the ranch (which is true; all the cattle there belongs to Tunstall, not McSween). Widenmann than threatens to arrest Hill, Baker, and Evans, seeing as how he’s a deputy U. S. marshal and has warrants for them. Baker, Evans, and Hill then begin threatening and trying to intimidate Widenmann. Possibly to calm the situation, Dick invites the Mathews posse into the choza for dinner. Throughout the meal, things are tense and Widenmann and the outlaws almost end up shooting it out. Confused over what to do about the cattle, Mathews says he and his posse will stay at the ranch for the night then return to Lincoln in the morning to get further instructions from Brady.
• Feb. 13, 1878—In the morning, the Billy Mathews posse leaves the Tunstall ranch to head back to Lincoln. Billy Bonney, Fred Waite, and Rob Widenmann accompany the posse on the trail. At some point during the fifty-mile ride to Lincoln, Mathews asks Widenmann if Tunstall’s men will resist the attachment of Tunstall’s cattle. Widenmann says they will if the posse attempts to drive the herd to the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency, for fear that the cattle will be butchered there. Meanwhile, Jessie Evans, Frank Baker, and Tom Hill break apart from the posse and head to the ranch of Bob Paul, located several miles southwest of Tunstall’s ranch.
• Feb. 14, 1878—James H. Farmer resigns his position as Lincoln’s justice of the peace. John B. Wilson is thereafter appointed justice of the peace to replace Farmer. On the same day, D. A. William Rynerson writes a letter from Las Cruces to Dolan and Riley in Lincoln. In the letter, Rynerson advises Dolan and Riley to ”shake the McSween outfit up till it shells out and squares up, and then shake it out of Lincoln.” Rynerson also hints, in a not-so-subtle manner, that Dolan and Riley should have Tunstall, McSween, and/or Chisum murdered. He also volunteers to help them all he can in the forthcoming months. Probably that same night the Mathews party, as well as Billy, Waite, and Widenmann, arrive in Lincoln. Billy, Waite, and Widenmann also discover that the Tunstall store is being guarded by several of Sheriff Brady’s deputies.
• Feb. 15, 1878—In the morning, Sam Wortley, owner of the Wortley Hotel & Restaurant, attempts to bring food to the deputies at the Tunstall store. On his way down the street, Billy Bonney and Fred Waite stop him. Billy and Waite then walk to the Tunstall store, where Billy pulls out his Winchester rifle, aims it at the front door, and yells out for Deputy James Longwell to come out and face him in a fair gunfight. Longwell, however, has enough sense to turn down the offer. On the same day, Tunstall employs a neighboring rancher, ‘Dutch’ Martin Martz, to work on his Rio Feliz ranch. Also on the same day, the eastern section of Dona Ana County is annexed into Lincoln County, making Lincoln County the biggest county in the country.
• Feb. 16, 1878—L. G. Murphy officially puts his Carrizozo ranch up for sale. He wishes to leave Lincoln County for good. On the same day, Billy Mathews, under the orders of Sheriff Brady, and Jimmy Dolan head for Bob Paul’s ranch, where a large party of members of the Seven Rivers Warriors and the Jessie Evans Gang is being put together by Buck Morton to go after Tunstall’s herd. Also on the same day, Billy, Waite, and Widenmann leave Lincoln to head back to the Rio Feliz ranch. Tunstall, by himself, leaves his ranch to head to Chisum’s South Spring ranch. He hopes to get Chisum to ‘loan’ him some of his cowboys/gunmen in order to defend his ranch and property.
• Feb. 17, 1878—Tunstall arrives at the Chisum South Spring ranch, but discovers that Old John is still in jail back in Las Vegas. John had refused to list all of his assets, as a Vegas court ordered him to do, and was subsequently ordered to remain in jail. It’s believed that Chisum did this for the precise reason to stay in jail in Vegas, and thereby avoid direct activity in Lincoln County for the next few months. Tunstall does find that Old John’s brothers, Jim, Pitzer, and Jeff are at the ranch though. Tunstall asks them to loan him some of their cowboys, but they refuse, not wanting to get involved in any troubles of Tunstall’s. Angry over this, Tunstall leaves the ranch to head back to his own ranch. He arrives there around ten o’clock at night. On the same day, Dolan and Mathews discover about forty-five men at the Paul ranch (most of them members of the Jessie Evans Gang and Seven Rivers Warriors) who are more than willing to help them attach Tunstall’s property and livestock.
• Feb. 18, 1878—Around 3:00 in the morning, Tunstall decides to drive his horses back to Lincoln. At dawn, he, Dick Brewer, Billy Bonney, John Middleton, Rob Widenmann, Henry Brown, and Fred Waite (in a wagon) leave with nine horses. Of the nine horses, six are Tunstall’s, two are Dick’s, and one is Billy’s. After ten miles of riding, Waite splits from the rest of the party and takes a wagon trail that will lead him to La Junta, on the Rio Hondo; the rest of the group takes a short cut through Pajarito Springs. Around this same time, the posse of forty-five men led by Deputy Billy Mathews and Jimmy Dolan leaves the Paul ranch for the Rio Feliz ranch. Not too long afterwards, Henry Brown’s horse throws a shoe, and he must turn back to the Rio Feliz ranch to get it fixed. On the way back, Henry runs into the Dolan-Mathews posse heading for the Tunstall ranch as well. Henry and the posse arrive at the Tunstall ranch and the posse is angry to discover that all the horses are gone and only cook Godfrey Gauss is still there. The posse asks Brown and Gauss where Tunstall and the horses are, but they both play dumb. The posse then decides to simply follow the tracks of Henry’s horse in the snow. Dolan, Mathews, and Buck Morton decide not to send all forty-five posse members after Tunstall, but to send only eighteen men, along with Morton who will be in charge. Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, and Frank Baker all go with the sub-posse. Meanwhile, the rest of the posse, including Dolan and Mathews, stick around at the Tunstall ranch. Around five in the afternoon, and only about ten miles from Dick’s Ruidoso ranch, Tunstall, Billy, Dick, John, and Widenmann ride down a gorge leading to the Rio Ruidoso. In front of the pack of horses are Tunstall, Dick, and Widenmann, and Billy and Middleton ride drag. Billy and Middleton suddenly hear the sound of horses behind them and turn to see the sub-posse approaching. The duo race forward, shouting for Tunstall, Widenmann, and Dick to ride with them. At the same time, the sub-posse opens fire on the five men. Widenmann and Dick race along with Billy and Middleton to reach cover, but Tunstall himself freezes for some reason, although Middleton yells directly at him to run. Billy, Dick, Widenmann, and Middleton take cover in a ravine and lose site of Tunstall. Seeing the frozen Tunstall, the sub-posse ceases their fire and rides up to him. Tunstall then rides his horse closer to the sub-posse, hoping to talk to them. As he approaches, Tom Hill and Billy Morton each fire one shot at him with their rifles. One bullet hits Tunstall in the chest, and the other in the head, killing him instantly. One the posse then shoots Tunstall’s horse once in the head, killing it. Shortly thereafter, one of the posse takes Tunstall’s pistol out of its holster and fires two shots in the air with it to make it look as though the group killed Tunstall in self-defense. Members of the sub-posse then carry Tunstall’s body and lay it next to the body of his horse. His hat is then placed on the horse’s head as a sick joke. One member of the sub-posse then takes it upon himself to bash in Tunstall’s head with the butt of his rifle. The sub-posse then rounds up the nine horses Tunstall was driving and drive them back to the Rio Feliz ranch. Immediately after the shooting, Billy, Dick, John, and Widenmann knew that Tunstall had been killed. They wait until dark, when they’re sure that the sub-posse is gone, then ride on towards Lincoln. Around midnight, the four men arrive in Lincoln and tell McSween what occurred. McSween then holds a mass meeting of most of his and Tunstall’s supporters at his house. During the meeting, a very drunk Johnny Riley appears and for some reason empties his pockets at McSween’s house. He then departs, leaving the contents of his pockets at McSween’s. After Riley leaves, McSween himself examines the possessions he left behind. He happens to find a book which contains the letter from Rynerson, as well as documented business transactions with the Jessie Evans Gang and Seven Rivers Warriors. With the murder of John H. Tunstall, the Lincoln County War has begun.
• Feb. 19, 1878—Around 2:00 in the morning, the Morton sub-posse arrives back at the Rio Feliz ranch with Tunstall’s horses. Morton tells Mathews that Tunstall resisted arrest and pulled his pistol on them, forcing them to kill him in self-defense. Around dawn, John Newcomb, Florencio Gonzales, Patricio Trujillo, Lazaro Gallegos, and Ramon Baragon travel to the Tunstall murder site, where they find the bodies of Tunstall and his horse. Newcomb straps Tunstall’s body to a mule and the party takes it back to Lincoln. While the Newcomb party is gone, Billy Bonney and Dick Brewer sign affidavits before Justice of the Peace Wilson stating that Jimmy Dolan, Jessie Evans, and sixteen others were in the sub-posse that killed Tunstall. Immediately after the Newcomb party arrives back in Lincoln with Tunstall’s body, Wilson organizes a coroner’s jury made up of George B. Barber, John Newcomb, Bob Gilbert, Sam Smith, Frank Coe, and Ben Ellis. Tunstall’s body is taken to the McSween house, where the coroner’s jury holds its inquest. Based on the testimony of Billy, Dick, and John Middleton, the jury reaches the verdict that Tunstall was killed ”by one or more of the persons whose names are herewith written, to wit, Jessie Evans, William Morton, Frank Baker, Thomas Hill, George Hindman, J. J. Dolan, and others not identified by the witnesses who testified.” With the jury’s verdict, Wilson swears out warrants for the arrest of Dolan, Jessie, and sixteen others. Wilson also swears out warrants for Sheriff Brady, Deputy James Longwell, and every other deputy Brady had guarding the Tunstall store, due to the fact that they had stolen hay from the Tunstall store. Wilson then hands the warrants to Constable Atanacio Martinez, who plans to start making arrests the next day. Rob Widenmann did not testify before the coroner’s jury because he had left Lincoln for Fort Stanton before the inquest was held. On the same day, Rev. Dr. Taylor Ealy, his wife and two children, and a school-teacher, Susan Gates, arrive in Lincoln, where they plan to make their home. They come to Lincoln at the bequest of the Presbyterian Board of Missions, to whom McSween had recently requested a Presbyterian missionary to come to Lincoln.
• Feb. 20, 1878—At the McSween house, Fort Stanton’s assistant surgeon, Lt. Daniel M. Appel, conducts the post-mortem on Tunstall’s body and embalms it. On the same day, Constable Martinez deputizes Billy Bonney and Fred Waite and the trio sets off to the House in order to arrest Sheriff Brady, his deputies, and some of the members of the group that killed Tunstall. Upon arriving at the House, they discover Sheriff Brady and several of Tunstall’s killers, all heavily armed. When Martinez states his, Billy’s, and Fred’s business, Brady refuses to be arrested or to allow any of Tunstall’s killers to be arrested. Brady then unlawfully arrests Martinez, Billy, and Fred, confiscates their guns, and walks them down main street at gunpoint, in full view of the entire town, to Lincoln’s jail/pit. Billy, Waite, and Martinez are humiliated by this ordeal. That same night, Brady releases Martinez, but refuses to free Billy or Waite. On the same day, Rob Widenmann arrives at Fort Stanton. Leaning on his deputy U. S. marshal status, Widenmann asks commanding officer Capt. George Purington for military assistance to aid him in arresting members of the Jessie Evans Gang on charges of stealing government mules. Purington complies and says in a few days he will send a detachment of troops under the command of Lt. Millard F. Goodwin to Lincoln to aid Widenmann in making his arrests. Satisfied, Widenmann heads back to Lincoln.
• Feb. 21, 1878—McSween has Sheriff Brady arrested by Constable Martinez for stealing hay from the Tunstall store. Brady’s case is bound over to the April term of court. That night, one of the McSweens’ black house servants, Sebrian Bates, digs a grave for Tunstall beside Tunstall’s store. Tunstall’s body itself is placed in a coffin in the McSween house, where it will remain until the following day.
• Feb. 22, 1878—At 3:00 in the afternoon, Tunstall’s body, in its coffin, is carried out of the McSween house and to the grave beside the Tunstall store by pallbearers Dick Brewer, Frank Coe, George Coe, and John Newcomb. Rev. Dr. Ealy conducts the graveside funeral, and Justice Wilson translates the sermon into Spanish. After the sermon, Tunstall is buried, with Dick Brewer vowing at the gravesite that he will catch every man that was involved with Tunstall’s murder. Following the funeral, a mass meeting of outraged Tunstall-McSween supporters is held at the McSween house. The citizens at the meeting decide that Sheriff Brady deserves to give them an explanation as to why Constable Martinez and Deputies Waite and Bonney were arrested and why he refuses to arrest the men that killed Tunstall. Judge Florencio Gonzales, Isaac Ellis, John Newcomb, and Jose Montano march down to the House and confront Brady. They ask him why Martinez, Billy, and Fred were arrested, and he replies simply because he ”had the power” to do so. When they ask him why he won’t arrest Tunstall’s killers, he doesn’t answer. When someone then asks if he will now accept McSween’s bond in the Fritz embezzlement matter, he says he will not. On the same day, Jimmy Dolan leaves Lincoln for La Mesilla, hoping to get D. A. Rynerson to issue an alias warrant for McSween’s arrest, which will make it possible for Brady to rearrest McSween and get him out of Deputy Barrier’s care.
• Feb. 23, 1878—As promised, Capt. Purington sends a detachment of troops under the command of Lt. Goodwin from Fort Stanton to Lincoln to assist Widenmann in making his arrests. Upon the troops’ arrival in Lincoln, Widenmann, the troops, and a large group of Tunstall-McSween supporters (which includes Dick Brewer, Doc Scurlock, George Coe, Frank Coe, Sam Smith, Constable Atanacio Martinez, John Middleton, and Sam Corbet, among many others) goes to the Lincoln jail/pit and free Billy Bonney and Fred Waite. The party then goes to the House and searches it for members of the Jessie Evans Gang. However, none of them are found at the House. The party then walks over to the Tunstall store, which Sheriff Brady still has his deputies guarding. At the store, Constable Martinez arrests the five deputies Brady has posted there for stealing hay from the store and throws them in the jail/pit. The deputies arrested are George Peppin, Jack Long, James Longwell, John Clark, and Charles Marshall. By arresting the deputies, the Tunstall-McSween faction has successfully retaken the Tunstall store. On the same day, Sheriff Brady goes before Justice Wilson and posts $200 bond for the charge facing him for stealing hay from the Tunstall store. After the day’s events, the U. S. troops return to Fort Stanton. Also on the same day, Jessie Evans Gang member Jim McDaniels shoots and kills one H. Martin, a rustler in competition with the Jessie Evans Gang.
• Feb. 24, 1878—In the morning, Rev. Ealy holds a Sunday school class in the McSween house. Also in the morning, Deputies Peppin, Long, Marshall, Clark, and Longwell are bound over to the April term of court and are released from the jail in Lincoln. Sometime during the day, McSween and Widenmann write a letter together to Tunstall’s father in London, informing him of his son’s recent murder. After mailing the letter, another mass meeting of Tunstall-McSween supporters is held at the McSween house. McSween is advised by the people at the meeting to leave Lincoln for his physical safety. McSween agrees and plans to leave Lincoln the next day.
• Feb. 25, 1878—Isaac Ellis is appointed administrator of the Tunstall estate. Also, sometime during the day, Widenmann claims his food is poisoned by someone from the Murphy-Dolan faction. On the same day, McSween writes another letter to Tunstall’s father, informing him of Ellis’s appointment as the administrator of his son’s estate. McSween then makes out his last willing testament, with Sam Corbet and David Shield as his witnesses. When his will is finished, McSween, still in the care of Deputy Barrier, leaves Lincoln for the mountains.
• Feb. 26, 1878 (approx.)—At La Mesilla, D. A. Rynerson issues an alias warrant for McSween’s arrest and hands it over to Dolan, who then begins to ride back to Lincoln.
• Feb. 28, 1878—David and Elizabeth Shield, as well as their children, finally move into the east wing of the McSween house. The west wing of the house still belongs to Alex and Susan McSween, although Susan is the only one living there now, since McSween is still living in the mountains outside of Lincoln with Deputy Barrier. Probably on the same day, Jimmy Dolan arrives back in Lincoln and hands the alias warrant for McSween over to Sheriff Brady. However, Dolan is disappointed when he finds out that only a few days previously McSween, along with Deputy Barrier, left Lincoln for parts unknown to Sheriff Brady and his men.
•  

March 

• March 1, 1878- Dick Brewer, Tunstall’s foreman, is appointed constable to bring in Tunstall’s murderers. The Kid and several others are deputized. They called themselves “The Regulators.”

• The Regulators arrest Bill Morton and Frank Baker.
• Murder of Sheriff Brady: The Regulators ambush and kill Sheriff William Brady and his deputy George W. Hindman in Lincoln, New Mexico. Billy the Kid is directly involved in this attack, which escalates the conflict in Lincoln County.

• Mar. 1, 1878—Dick Brewer, furious over the fact that Sheriff Brady refuses to arrest his friend Tunstall’s killers, goes before Justice of the Peace Wilson, who appoints him a special constable and hands him the warrants for all of Tunstall’s killers. Immediately after his appointment as constable, Dick begins putting together a posse for the express purpose of catching Tunstall’s killers. By the end of the day, the posse is made up of Dick, as their leader, Billy Bonney (who Dick appoints as his deputy), John Middleton, Doc Scurlock, Fred Waite, ‘Big Jim’ French, Henry Brown, Charlie Bowdre, Jose Chavez y Chavez, ‘Dirty Steve’ Stephens, John Scroggins, and ‘Tiger Sam’ Smith. John Chisum, who just recently arrived back at his South Spring ranch after finally being released from jail in Las Vegas, ‘loans’ the posse his Hunter & Evans cattle detective, Frank MacNab, since the killers the posse are going after are members of either the Jessie Evans Gang or the Seven Rivers Warriors, which are Chisum’s arch-enemies. After the posse is fully formed, its members decide to call themselves ‘the Regulators.’ All of the members also take part in an iron clad oath that states that under no circumstances whatsoever, can any member reveal anything about the activities of the group to outsiders. After hearing of the formation of the Regulators, Sheriff Brady strikes back by arresting Widenmann and fifteen others of the group that had thrown his deputies in jail and taken back the Tunstall store. Brady says he had them arrested for ”rioting.” Widenmann and the fifteen other men can’t all fit in Lincoln’s jail, so they are all released, but are bound over to the April term of court. Also on this day, construction of a twelve-foot adobe wall around the McSween-Shield house begins. It’s built for defense in case of a siege.

• Mar. 2, 1878—The thirteen members of the Regulators leave east out of Lincoln and head for the Rio Pecos on the trail of some of Tunstall’s killers.
• Mar. 4. 1878—Sheriff Brady writes a letter to Tom Catron in Santa Fe, justifying his posse’s murder of Tunstall and his ”misappropriation” of McSween’s tax money.
• Mar. 5, 1878—Tom Catron forwards Brady’s letter to fellow Santa Fe Ring member (and thereby a Murphy-Dolan-Riley supporter) Gov. Samuel Axtell. Axtell then forwards the letter to President Rutherford B. Hayes and asks him to authorize the use of U. S. troops to assist the ”civil law enforcement officers in Lincoln County,” which basically means Brady and his deputies.
• Mar. 6, 1878—Late in the afternoon, the Regulators spot Buck Morton, Frank Baker, Dick Lloyd, Tom Cochran, and one other man in a cluster of trees on the Rio Penasco. When the five men spot the Regulators, they mount their horses and take off, riding at breakneck speed. As the Regulators give chase, the five men break into two groups, one made up of Morton, Baker, and Lloyd, and the other of Cochran and the unidentified man. All thirteen Regulators elect to pursue the group of three, and begin firing their pistols at them as they run. After running for five miles, Lloyd’s horse collapses underneath him. However, the Regulators overlook him and continue to pursue Morton and Baker, allowing Lloyd to escape on foot. After about another mile of running, the horses of Morton and Baker also give out, forcing the two men to take cover in a cluster of bushes. The Regulators soon after approach and threaten to burn them out if they do not surrender. After Dick Brewer promises the two men no harm will come to them, they both surrender. As they are being disarmed, one Regulator, in all likely hood Billy Bonney, has to be restrained from killing Morton. It makes sense that it was Billy who wanted to kill Morton, since not only had Morton lead the group that killed Tunstall, but had fired Billy months previously from the Jas. J. Dolan & Co. owned cattle camp. After Baker and Morton’s surrender, Dick himself says he’s sorry they actually surrendered, since he would have rather liked killing them. The two men are put on their tired horses and the Regulators begin leading them north up the Rio Pecos, back towards Lincoln.

 

• Mar. 7, 1878—The Regulators, along with their prisoners Morton and Baker, continue to follow the Rio Pecos north and stop at the ranch of Bob Gilbert. Also at the Gilbert ranch is William McCloskey, a former Tunstall ranch-hand and close personal friend of many of the men who were in the group that killed Tunstall, including Morton and Baker. Later in the day, as the Regulators leave the Gilbert ranch with Morton and Baker and continue north up the Pecos, McCloskey joins them, saying he wants to go to Lincoln as well. The Regulators dislike McCloskey and do not trust him, but they do allow him to accompany them on their way to Lincoln. Probably on the same day, Pres. Hayes sends a reply to Gov. Axtell and tells him to go to Lincoln himself and investigate matters there.
• Mar. 8, 1878—Late in the day, the Regulators, Morton, and Baker arrive at the Chisum South Spring ranch. At the ranch, Morton writes a letter to a relative in Richmond, Virginia. The Regulators and their prisoners are then fed dinner and elect to spend the night at the ranch. Sallie Chisum, Old John’s niece, gives up her bedroom for Morton and Baker to stay in. At some point during their stay at the ranch, the Regulators hear a rumor that Jimmy Dolan is putting together a massive party that will ambush the Regulators and free Morton and Baker on their way to Lincoln.
• March 9, 1878, the Lincoln County Regulators, a vigilante posse formed by Tunstall and McSween supporters and at the time led by Dick Brewer caught Morton and Baker, and executed both men. On that same day Jesse Evans was injured and Tom Hill was killed while attempting to raid a ranch near Tularosa. Evans was arrested but managed to break out of jail. Evans returned and was present at the five-day siege at McSween’s house, known as the Battle of Lincoln
• Mar. 9, 1878—Gov. Samuel Axtell arrives in Lincoln sometime in the early morning. During his time in Lincoln, Axtell is in the constant company of friends L. G. Murphy and Jimmy Dolan. After meeting with several of the Dolan men and David Shield, Rob Widenmann, and Dr. Taylor Ealy, Axtell decides to remove Justice of the Peace John Wilson from his position and renders all processes issued by Wilson void. Axtell’s reasoning for this is that Wilson was only appointed as the local justice, not elected. However, the real reason Axtell did this was because it made Dick Brewer’s commission as constable void. Axtell also was able to revoke Widenmann’s status as a deputy U. S. marshal, making Sheriff Brady and his men the only law officers of Lincoln County. After this was all done, Axtell left Lincoln to return to Santa Fe. He spent only a total of three hours actually in Lincoln. Also in the morning, the Regulators and their prisoners leave the South Spring ranch. Before leaving, Baker gives Sallie Chisum several of his personal possessions, including a letter he’s written to a girlfriend. He tells her that if he should be killed before reaching Lincoln to send the letter to the girlfriend. With that, the party leaves the ranch and head towards Roswell. They arrive at Roswell around ten o’clock and Morton is allowed to mail his letter at the Roswell post office. While at the post office, Postmaster Ash Upson asks Morton if he thinks he may be killed. Morton replies that he doesn’t, but in case he is killed, he wants his family to be informed. McCloskey, also in the post office, steps forward and says that he will need to be killed before the Regulators can harm Morton or Baker. After that, the Regulators leave Roswell and head west, towards Lincoln. A few miles away from Lincoln, the Regulators, remembering the rumor about Dolan’s party ambushing them, leave the main trail and begin traveling on a unused trail that takes them through Agua Negra Canyon. A short time later, while still in the Canyon, Morton, Baker, and McCloskey are all killed. There are many different versions of how the killings occurred, but probably the most accurate is that Frank MacNab rode his horse alongside McCloskey’s and pulled his pistol out at him, saying ”So you’re the sonofabitch that’s got to die before harm can come to these fellows, are you?” MacNab then fired one shot into McCloskey’s head, killing him instantly and knocking him from his horse. Morton and Baker then took off on their horses, only to be gunned down by the rest of the Regulators before they got very far. Another plausible theory is that McCloskey tried to assist Morton and Baker in making an escape, but the escape backfired and all three were gunned down. Either way, after the killing, the Regulators leave the three bodies where they had fallen and decide to go to the small village of San Patricio. San Patricio is composed entirely of native Hispanics who hate Jas. J. Dolan & Co. and are sympathizers of the Regulators. Also, Regulator Jose Chavez y Chavez was still the constable at San Patricio. Frank MacNab decided to head back to the Chisum South Spring ranch alone, however, while the others headed towards San Patricio. After arriving in San Patricio, Dick Brewer decides to return to Lincoln by himself. Upon arriving in Lincoln, Dick discovers that Gov. Axtell revoked his position as constable. This makes the killings of Morton, Baker, and McCloskey illegal, which also makes Dick and all the Regulators outlaws. Regulator Jose Chavez y Chavez is an outlaw as well, even though he is still constable at San Patricio, making him an outlaw and a lawman at the same time! After getting the news, Dick leaves Lincoln and returns to San Patricio.
• Mar. 9, 1878 (cont’d.)—Around the same time that the Regulators kill Morton, Baker, and McCloskey, Jessie Evans and Tom Hill ride over to the sheep camp of John Wagner on the Tularosa. The two attempt to rob the camp, but a Cherokee worker that Wagner left in charge resists the robbery. One of the outlaws then draws his pistol and shoots the Cherokee in the leg, dropping him to the ground. The two outlaws apparently assume the Cherokee is dead and go back to robbing the camp. The Cherokee manages to get ahold of a Winchester rifle and when he sees the two outlaws again, he fires at them twice. His first bullet hits Hill in the torso and drops him to the ground, killing him instantly. His second shot hits Jessie in the left elbow and shatters the bone. Jessie manages to mount his horse and takes off, leaving the dead Hill behind. Jessie, bleeding heavily and in dire need of medical attention, begins riding towards Shedd’s Ranch. On the way, however, he encounters a local rancher and constable named Dave Wood, who places Jessie under arrest. Wood notices that Jessie needs medical attention and decides to take him up to Fort Stanton. At Stanton, Jessie is treated at the post hospital, but it’s discovered that he’ll never regain the use of his left arm. On the same day, Alex McSween, along with Deputy Barrier, leaves his hiding place in the Capitan Mountains and returns to his home in Lincoln, where he also hears of Gov. Axtell’s recent decree. McSween realizes it’s still not safe for him in Lincoln and decides to leave again in a few days.
• Mar. 10, 1878—At Lincoln, a drunk Jimmy Dolan breaks his leg by falling off of a horse while trying to shoot an unidentified, unarmed man. Could the man Dolan was trying to kill be McSween, who was still in Lincoln at this time? On the same day, Sheriff Brady and a posse travel down to Agua Negra Canyon, where they discover the bodies of Morton, Baker, and McCloskey. The three bodies are taken to Roswell, examined, and then buried. According to some sources, the bodies of Morton and Baker had eleven bullets in each of them. Other sources say that the bodies were discovered with five bullets in Baker and ten in Morton.
• Mar. 11, 1878—McSween, along with Deputy Barrier and two of his black servants, George Robinson and George Washington, leaves Lincoln. The four-man group heads for the Chisum South Spring ranch, where McSween has heard that his wife Susan is currently at, after recently arriving there on her return trip from St. Louis. On the same day, Rob Widenmann hears of Jessie Evans’s confinement at Fort Stanton and leaves Lincoln for the fort. Although Widenmann is officially no longer a deputy U. S. marshal, he still holds the warrant for Jessie’s arrest for stealing government mules. He plans to officially put Jessie under arrest at the fort.
• Mar. 12, 1878—At the Ellis house, a very drunk Jack Long threatens Rev. Dr. Taylor Ealy. Probably on the same day, Widenmann arrives at Fort Stanton and officially places Jessie Evans under arrest. Evans will remain at the fort’s post hospital for now, though.
• Mar. 13, 1878 (approx.)—McSween, Deputy Barrier, Robinson, and Washington arrive at the Chisum South Spring ranch, where McSween is reunited with his wife, Susan. The couple hasn’t seen each other since Dec. 1877.
• Mar. 24, 1878—Johnny Riley is in Santa Fe. Around the same time, near San Patricio, Billy Bonney and Charlie Bowdre get into a shootout with Andrew ‘Buckshot’ Roberts, a member of the sub-posse that killed Tunstall. No one is hurt in the gunfight, and no other details are known of the altercation.
• Mar. 28, 1878—Dick Brewer and Billy Bonney ride into Lincoln from San Patricio. Upon entering town, Deputy George Peppin and some other Brady deputies tell the two Regulators that they have warrants for their arrests. As Peppin and the men with him approach Dick and Billy, the two Regulators open fire on them. Peppin and the others flee to safety and no one is hurt. Later in the day, Billy attempts to shoot Deputy Billy Mathews in the street, but fails. On the same day, Sheriff Brady, some of his deputies, and a detachment of U. S. soldiers from Fort Stanton under the command of Lt. George Smith leave Lincoln for the Chisum South Spring ranch. The group claims they are going to the ranch to select jurors for the term of court that’s coming up. However, it’s far more likely they were going there to arrest McSween, since he was still at the Chisum ranch.
• Mar. 29, 1878—Rob Widenmann writes a letter to Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz, accusing Jas. J. Dolan & Co. of stealing livestock from the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. On the same day, the Brady party arrives at the Chisum ranch. Brady wants to arrest McSween on the alias warrant he holds for him, but Deputy Barrier still refuses to hand over McSween. Lt. Smith has a talk with Susan McSween, telling her that if she gets her husband to surrender, he will receive a military escort to Lincoln and will be held in the Fort Stanton guardhouse, instead of the Lincoln pit. Susan talks with her husband and he agrees to Smith’s deal. It’s decided that McSween will leave the Chisum ranch for Lincoln in a day or two and meet up with a military detachment shortly after leaving the ranch. With the deal completed, the Brady party, and Lt. Smith’s men, leave the Chisum ranch for Lincoln. Deputy Barrier, also believing that McSween will be taken care of at Fort Stanton, leaves the ranch and heads back to his home in Las Vegas.
• Mar. 30, 1878—Sheriff Brady and his men, as well as Lt. Smith and his soldiers, arrive back at Lincoln. Smith sends some of his soldiers back down to the Chisum ranch, in order to meet up with McSween when he also leaves the ranch.
• Mar. 31, 1878—Alex and Susan McSween, John Chisum, George Robinson, George Washington, and a couple others leave the South Spring ranch and head towards Lincoln, expecting to meet up with the military escort on the way. However, due to heavy rains, the McSween party is forced to spend the night at the home of a Rio Hondo rancher, and miss meeting up with the military escort. They plan to proceed on to Lincoln the next day anyway. Later that night, Regulators Billy Bonney, Fred Waite, Frank MacNab, John Middleton, Henry Brown, Big Jim French, and maybe Jose Chavez y Chavez and/or Charlie Bowdre, ride into Lincoln. They arrive at the Tunstall store and spend the night there along with Rob Widenmann and store clerk Sam Corbet.

April 1, 1878

• On April 1, 1878, Billy, along with several other Regulators, which included Frank MacNab, Jim French, Fred Waite, Henry Brown, and John Middleton, were involved in a shootout with law enforcement in front of the Lincoln County Courthouse. William Brady and his deputy, George Hindman, lay dead when the dust cleared.

• Apr. 1, 1878—Early in the morning, Sheriff Brady rides into Lincoln from his ranch just outside of town. Brady goes to the House, and stays there for a couple of hours. Around eleven o’clock or so, Brady leaves the House with four deputies, George Peppin, Jack Long, George Hindmann, and Billy Mathews, and heads east down the street. All five men are armed with Winchester rifles. Where the five men were heading is not known for sure. One story claimed they were heading to the courthouse to post a notice on the door announcing the dates for the term of court had changed. A far more likely story is that they were heading east in order to arrest McSween when his party arrived in Lincoln that morning (afterall, why did Brady need four, heavily-armed deputies to go with him to post a notice on the courthouse door?). As the five men were passing in front of the Tunstall store, Billy Bonney, Fred Waite, John Middleton, Henry Brown, Frank MacNab, and Big Jim French open fire on them with their rifles from the store’s corral. Brady falls dead with about nine bullets in him. Deputy Hindmann is shot in the neck by MacNab and falls to the ground. He yells for help, but Waite shoots him again, killing him. Deputy Long is also shot, but manages to flee to the torreon for safety. Deputies Peppin and Mathews, both unhurt, flee across the street to the Cisneros house for cover. Former Justice of the Peace Wilson, across the street mowing some onions, is accidentally shot in the buttocks by a random bullet. However, the wound is very slight. After the shooting stops, Billy and either Big Jim or Waite exit the corral and approach Brady’s body. It’s believed that the two approached the body in order to get the alias warrant for McSween’s arrest that Brady had on him, or to get his rifle, which was in fact Billy’s rifle that Brady had confiscated from him when he had Billy arrested after Tunstall’s murder. As the two near the body, Deputy Mathews opens fire on them with his rifle from a window in the Cisneros house. One bullet hits Billy in the thigh, and another, or possibly the same bullet, hits French/Waite in the thigh as well. Both men limp back to the Tunstall store’s corral for cover. French/Waite is too badly wounded to ride, but the other five men all saddle up their horses and immediately ride out of Lincoln towards San Patricio. French/Waite, meanwhile, flees into the Tunstall store, where Dr. Ealy quickly dresses his leg wound. Sam Corbet then hides French/Waite under a trap door in the floor. A short time later, Deputies Mathews and Peppin follow French/Waite’s blood trail into the store, but are unable to discover his hiding place. A couple of hours later, the McSween party arrives in Lincoln. Immediately after their arrival, Deputy Peppin, with military assistance from Lt. Smith and twenty-five buffalo soldiers, attempts to arrest McSween on the alias warrant. McSween refuses to surrender to Peppin, but does surrender to Lt. Smith. Peppin then arrests Rob Widenmann, David Shield, and McSween house servants George Washington and George Robinson, for allegedly aiding Brady’s assassins. Of course, the arrests were unlawful, since Peppin was no longer a deputy; his status, as well as the status of all the other deputies under Brady, ended the second Brady was killed. On the same day, an unidentified Murphy-Dolan man dies at the House, after he hears about Brady’s assassination and an old wound bursts. After darkness falls, Billy Bonney rides back into Lincoln undetected and picks up French/Waite at the Tunstall store. The two then flee to San Patricio, where the rest of the Regulators already are.
• Apr. 2, 1878—The Regulators begin looking for new recruits at San Patricio and along the Rio Ruidoso and Rio Hondo. Ignacio Gonzales, from San Patricio, and cousins George Coe and Frank Coe join the Regulators. The Regulators’ roster is now comprised of sixteen men. On the same day, Lt. Col. Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley, Ninth Cavalry, arrives at Fort Stanton. Dudley is a very strong supporter of the Santa Fe Ring and is friends with Murphy, Dolan, Riley, Rynerson, Bristol, etc.
• Apr. 3, 1878—McSween, Widenmann, Shield, Robinson, and Washington are taken to Fort Stanton. Susan McSween also accompanies the group to the fort. Robinson and Washington are placed in the guardhouse, while McSween, Widenmann, and Shield are given private quarters. After the men are secured, Susan McSween returns to Lincoln alone. On the same day, the Regulators begin planning their next move. They plan to ride to Blazer’s Mills the next day, and may do so with plans to ambush D. A. Rynerson and Judge Bristol as the two travel by the Mills on their way from La Mesilla to Lincoln for the upcoming term of court in Lincoln on Apr. 8.
• Apr. 4, 1878—In the morning, all sixteen Regulators arrive at Blazer’s Mills. Shortly after arriving, Regulators Tiger Sam Smith and Ignacio Gonzales leave the Mills to do a wide search of the area for any Murphy-Dolan-Riley men. Meanwhile, the other Regulators enter Blazer’s two-story adobe house to eat a meal. John Middleton remains outside to stand guard, however. A short time later, Middleton spies Andrew ‘Buckshot’ Roberts riding up to the small settlement on a mule. Middleton runs back inside the two-story adobe and tells the rest of the Regulators of Buckshot’s appearance. Frank Coe, who is on good terms with Buckshot, leaves the adobe to try to talk Buckshot into a surrender. The two men talk outside for about a half-hour, but Buckshot refuses to surrender, fearing he’ll suffer the same fate as Morton and Baker. The Regulators in the house grow tired of waiting for Coe to try to talk Buckshot into a surrender and exit the house themselves in order to arrest Buckshot. As the thirteen Regulators reach Buckshot and Coe, Charlie Bowdre tells Buckshot to surrender. Buckshot’s only response is to bring up his Winchester rifle and fire a shot at Charlie with it. Charlie reacts at the same time, draws his pistol, and fires at the same time Buckshot does. Buckshot’s bullet hits Charlie in the belt buckle and knocks him to the ground, although he is not seriously injured. Charlie’s bullet hits Buckshot in the left side and exits near his right hip. Buckshot stumbles, but continues to fire his rifle. His next few bullets hit John Middleton in the right lung, George Coe in the right hand (taking off his trigger finger), Doc Scurlock in the leg, and Billy Bonney in the arm. The Regulators scatter for cover, firing at Buckshot as they go, but all their bullets miss him. Buckshot, however, takes cover in a one-story adobe house. Inside the house, Buckshot discovers a mattress and barricades it against the door. He then grabs a monstrous Springfield buffalo rifle he has found (his Winchester is by now empty) and lies down on the mattress, pointing the barrel of the rifle out of the door and looking for a target. Shortly thereafter, Dick Brewer, who is hiding behind a pile of logs, peers his head over the logs and fires a shot at Buckshot. The shot misses, but Buckshot sees where the shot came from. He then waits for Brewer to show himself again. A few seconds later, Brewer pops his head up again. Buckshot fires the Springfield, and the large slug tears off the top of Brewer’s head, killing him instantly. After the death of their leader, the rest of the Regulators gather their wounded and leave the Mills, meeting up with Ignacio Gonzales and Sam Smith shortly after their departure. On the road back to San Patricio, the Regulators encounter the assistant post surgeon from Fort Stanton, Lt. Dr. Daniel Appel, on his way to the Mills to treat Buckshot (Appel had received a telegram from the Mills a short time before requesting he come as soon as possible in order to aid the wounded Buckshot). The Regulators have Appel clean and bandage the wounds of the wounded Regulators as best he can before moving on to the Mills. Later that night, the Regulators reach San Patricio, where their wounded are cared for by the local citizens. Also, with Brewer dead, Frank MacNab takes over as the Regulators’ leader. Also that night, Brewer is buried in a small cemetery at Blazer’s Mills.
• The Regulators, including Billy the Kid, Charlie Bowdre, and led by Richard “Dick” Brewer, were in the process of hunting down anyone believed to have been associated with the murder of John Tunstall, which had sparked the Lincoln County War. Roberts had been implicated in crimes associated with the “Murphy-Dolan” faction, but in reality it is believed he wanted nothing to do with the ongoing range war.The Regulators known to be present that day included Brewer, Bowdre, William McCarty (aka Billy the Kid), Doc Scurlock, Frank McNab, George Coe, Frank Coe, John Middleton, Jim French, Henry Newton Brown, Fred Waite, and several lesser-known others.
• Buckshot Roberts is killed at Blazer’s Mill, but not before wounding Frank Coe and John Middleton and killing Dick Brewer.
• Apr. 5, 1878—Early in the morning at Blazer’s Mills, Buckshot Roberts dies of the wound Charlie Bowdre gave him the day before. Lt. Dr. Appel had arrived at the Mills the night before, but there was nothing he could do for Buckshot. After his death, Buckshot is buried directly beside Dick Brewer at the Mills. On the same day, Lt. Col. Nathan A. M. Dudley assumes command of Fort Stanton. Immediately after assuming command, Dudley grants permission to all prisoners at the fort to remain there under protective custody until court convenes in Lincoln on April 8. He also has Lt. Millard Goodwin and an armed company of troops escort D. A. Rynerson and Judge Bristol on the rest of their trip from La Mesilla to Lincoln. Meanwhile, the Regulators are at San Patricio, still licking their wounds.
• Apr. 8, 1878—Court convenes in Lincoln, with Warren Bristol serving as judge and D. A. William Rynerson serving as prosecuting attorney. Bristol’s first action is to appoint a sheriff to replace the recently assassinated Sheriff Brady. He chooses thirty-seven year-old John Copeland, a longtime resident of Lincoln, for the job. What neither Bristol nor Rynerson apparently know is that Copeland is a McSween supporter. On the same day, Rob Widenmann, David Shield, George Washington, and George Robinson are released from custody at Fort Stanton. While Washington and Robinson return to Lincoln, Widenmann and Shield remain at the fort for protection. Also on the same day, a warrant for embezzlement is formally served on McSween at the fort.
• Apr. 10, 1878—John Copeland is officially sworn in as Sheriff of Lincoln County.
• Apr. 13, 1878—A grand jury of ten citizens, which includes Juan Patron, is sworn in at Lincoln, with Dr. Joseph Blazer serving as jury foreman. During Judge Bristol’s early statements to the jury, it becomes painfully clear he is a staunch Murphy-Dolan-Riley supporter. Bristol’s support of Dolan becomes especially clear when he practically orders the grand jury to indict McSween for embezzlement. For the next few days, the jury hears evidence regarding the recent activities in Lincoln County.
• Apr. 17, 1878—With the authorization of John Tunstall Senior in England, McSween offers a $5,000 reward for the murderers of Tunstall.
• Apr. 18, 1878—The grand jury indicts Billy Bonney, Henry Brown, and John Middleton for the murder of Sheriff Brady and Fred Waite for the murder of Deputy Hindman. Frank MacNab and Big Jim French, however, are apparently overlooked. The jury also indicts Charlie Bowdre for the murder of Buckshot Roberts and Billy, Middleton, Brown, Waite, Doc Scurlock, George Coe, John Scroggins, and Dirty Steve Stephens as accessories to the murder of Roberts. On the same day, the grand jury delivers a significant blow to the Murphy-Dolan-Riley faction by indicting Jessie Evans, Manuel ‘Indian’ Segovia, Jack Long, and Dolly Graham/George Davis for the murder of Tunstall. The jury also indicts Jimmy Dolan and Billy Mathews as accessories to the murder. Of the four men named as the principal murderers, only Jessie is able to be located, since he is still in jail at Fort Stanton. He’s placed on $5,000 bond, and Dolan and Mathews are each placed on $2,000 bond. All three men are able to post bond immediately. While it’s not that odd for Dolan or Mathews to be able to post bond, it is certainly odd that Jessie is able to procure $5,000 so fast. Jessie’s bond was surely posted by Dolan, or someone close to him. Dolan, along with partner Johnny Riley, are also indicted for cattle theft. The most significant blow to the Murphy-Dolan-Riley side comes when the grand jury completely exonerates Alex McSween of the embezzlement charge. Needless to say, Judge Bristol and D. A. Rynerson are not happy with the grand jury’s indictments, especially when Bristol had practically ordered them to indict McSween. Nevertheless, the indictments are handed to Sheriff Copeland to serve. However, since Copeland is a McSween supporter, he has no desire to attempt to arrest any of the Regulators named in the indictments. Since McSween wasn’t indicted, he is immediately released from custody at Fort Stanton and returns to Lincoln.
• The Kid, Middleton, and Brown are indicted for the murder of Sheriff Brady. This would be the criminal act that would stick with Billy through the rest of his life.
• Apr. 22, 1878—L. G. Murphy leaves Lincoln and seeks protection at Fort Stanton. While at the fort, Murphy takes the opportunity to talk to his friend Col. Dudley and explain to him the details of the troubles throughout the county. It doesn’t take long for Murphy to win Col. Dudley over to his point of view.

 

• Apr. 23, 1878—Due to the indictments they are now facing, Dolan and Riley decide to temporarily suspend all business of Jas. J. Dolan & Co.
• Apr. 24, 1878—Several McSween supporters hold a mass meeting in Lincoln. At the meeting’s end, everyone present signs a petition requesting that the ‘Irish firm’ (i.e. Dolan, Riley, etc.) leave Lincoln at once and never return. Around the same time, Regulator leader Frank MacNab states that the Regulators’ next operation will take place somewhere in the Seven Rivers area.
• Apr. 26, 1878 (approx.)—The Seven Rivers Warriors get word that MacNab is planning something in Seven Rivers. The Warriors all get together and make up their own plan to ride to Lincoln and volunteer their services as a ‘posse’ to Sheriff Copeland to help him in arresting the Regulators. Their plan is that if Copeland accepts their offer, they’ll know he’s on their side, but if he rejects their offer, they’ll know he’s on the Regulators’ side.
• Apr. 28, 1878—Frank MacNab, Frank Coe, and a newcomer to the Regulators, Ab Saunders (who is also Frank Coe’s cousin and ranching partner) leave Lincoln and head south, towards Seven Rivers. On the same day, the Seven Rivers Warriors, along with seven or eight members of the Jessie Evans Gang, leave Seven Rivers and head north towards Lincoln. Leading the Warriors is former Brady deputy William H. Johnson. Other Warriors in the party are Marion Turner, Bob and John Beckwith, Buck Powell, Milo Pierce, Bob and Wallace Olinger, Tom Green, Johnny Hurley, and ‘Dutch’ Charlie Kruling. Also present are fellow former Brady deputies George Peppin, John Long, and Billy Mathews. Many of the men in the group were in the sub-posse that killed Tunstall.

• April 29, 1878

  • Battle of the Fritz Ranch: The Regulators face off against the Seven Rivers Warriors, allies of the Murphy-Dolan faction, at the Fritz Ranch. This battle results in casualties on both sides and further intensifies the Lincoln County War.
  • Regulators involved
    • Frank MacNab (leader), shot twice, once in the head, and killed
    • Frank Coe, captured
    • James Albert ‘Ab’ Saunders, shot in the left hip and left ankle

   

• Apr. 29, 1878—The Seven Rivers Warriors, while on their way to Lincoln, stop at the ranch of Charles Fritz in the Bonito Valley. They expect MacNab and his party to pass by the ranch on their way south, so the Warriors decide to stay at the ranch and ambush MacNab as he passes. A few hours later, MacNab, Coe, and Saunders come riding by the Fritz ranch. Seeing MacNab, the Warriors take up positions in the brush around the ranch. The three men ride to a small spring and let their horses drink, then move on, with Coe in the lead. Coe is so far ahead of MacNab and Saunders, that the Warriors lying in wait in the bushes apparently believe Coe is riding separately, and not with MacNab and Saunders! As MacNab and Saunders come into clear view, the Warriors open fire on them. MacNab takes a bullet in the side and falls from his horse, gravely wounded, while Saunders is shot in the left ankle and left hip and falls off his horse and to the ground. As MacNab tries to crawl away, one of the gunmen, probably Jessie Evans Gang member Manuel ‘Indian’ Segovia rides by and shoots him in the head with a shotgun, killing him instantly. Coe, meanwhile, takes off on his horse in the other direction, but his horse is shortly thereafter shot out from under him. He then runs on foot to a nearby arroyo and takes cover there, all the while firing at the Warriors with his pistol. One of the Warriors, Wallace Olinger, who is on good terms with Coe, promises he will not be harmed if he surrenders. Reluctantly, Coe does indeed surrender. The Warriors take Coe to the Fritz ranch-house, and he learns that MacNab is dead and Saunders is badly wounded. The Warriors intend to leave Saunders where he fell (they apparently mistake him for Billy Bonney), but Coe convinces them to go pick him up and bring him to the Fritz ranch-house as well. Later in the day, the Warriors, with Coe as a prisoner, leave the ranch and continue north towards Lincoln. Saunders is left to be cared for at the Fritz ranch, but is shortly thereafter taken to Fort Stanton for medical attention, where he will remain for the next several months.
• Apr. 30, 1878—Around dawn, the Seven Rivers Warriors/Jessie Evans Gang posse rides into Lincoln. Upon entering the town, about a dozen of them take up positions at the House (which is where they hold Frank Coe) and the rest take up positions around the river bank on the eastern edge of town near the Ellis house, which is becoming well-known as a Regulator hangout. As luck would have it, the Regulators were indeed in the Ellis house. However, unbeknownst to the Warriors, the mail carrier had come through town earlier and informed the Regulators of the event at the Fritz ranch. Once the Regulators in the Ellis house saw the Warriors enter town, George Coe and Henry Brown grab two rifles and take up positions on the roof of the Ellis house. A short time later, Coe spies Seven Rivers Warrior ‘Dutch’ Charlie Kruling standing a short distance outside of the House. Taking careful aim, Coe fires his rifle, and ends up shooting Kruling through both legs with a single shot. What’s very impressive was that the distance from Coe, at the Ellis house, to Kruling, at the House, was measured to be 444 yards! For the next several hours, the Regulators in the Ellis house exchange shots with the Warriors located on the river bank and at the House. At some point during the long gunfight, Warriors Tom Green, Jim Patterson, John Galvin, and Charles Marshall are all allegedly killed and one more unknown Warrior is allegedly wounded by the Regulators. However, none of the Regulators are wounded or killed. At some point during the day’s events, Wallace Olinger, who had been assigned to guard Frank Coe at the House, gives Coe a pistol and tells him to just get going. Coe does this and manages to get to the Ellis house and meet up with his compadres. Around 4:30, Sheriff Copeland grows tired of the constant gunfire and requests military assistance from Fort Stanton in order to diffuse the situation. A short time later, a company of troops under the command of Lt. George Smith arrives in Lincoln to aid Copeland. Lt. Smith places his troops in the middle of town, between the Regulators and Warriors, and the gunfire comes to a halt. Copeland then has Lt. Smith arrest House employee James Longwell and all the Seven Rivers Warriors and Jessie Evans Gang members in town. The Warriors allow themselves to be arrested, but refuse to give up their guns. Apparently satisfied with this though, Smith and his troops leave town and take all of the Warriors with them. Upon reaching Fort Stanton a short time later, the Warriors are not placed in the guardhouse, but are allowed to have the run of the fort.

May 15, 1878

• May 1, 1878—Dolan and Riley announce that they are shutting down Jas. J. Dolan & Co., due to the indictments they now face and to the fact that they cannot repay their mortgage debt to Tom Catron. Everything that Dolan & Co. once owned now belongs to Catron, who sends his brother-in-law Edgar Walz to Lincoln to run the House for him. On the same day, Frank MacNab’s body is brought up to Lincoln and buried beside Tunstall next to the Tunstall store.
• May 3, 1878—McSween and Sheriff Copeland travel to San Patricio and meet with the small village’s justice of the peace, Gregorio Trujillo (no J. P. has yet replaced John Wilson in Lincoln). McSween gets J. P. Trujillo to issue arrest warrants for Bob Beckwith, William Johnson, and twenty other Seven Rivers Warriors for ”assault with attempt to kill” MacNab and Ab Saunders. The warrants are handed over to Sheriff Copeland, who travels to Fort Stanton, where all the men listed on the warrants are still being held. There, he formally serves the warrants and asks Col. Dudley to have his troops escort the men to San Pat for their hearing. Seeing as how Dudley is a Dolan partisan, he refuses the Sheriff’s request and instead orders Lt. Goodwin and Lt. Smith to go back to San Pat with Copeland and arrest McSween and any of his allies down there. On their way to San Pat, the party stops at Lincoln, where they find and arrest Doc Scurlock, John Scroggins, Ignacio Gonzales, Rob Widenmann, Sam Corbet, and Isaac and Will Ellis. After making these arrests, the party continues to San Pat, where McSween himself and his black servant George Washington are also arrested; all the other Regulators had left San Pat only an hour or so earlier. The party returns to Fort Stanton, where Dudley still allows the Seven Rivers Warriors free run of the fort, but places all the McSween men in the guardhouse (Scurlock is even put in shackles). At this point, J.P. David Easton, not wanting to seen as a partisan for either side, resigns his position, leaving J.P. Trujillo the only magistrate in the county that the prisoners could get an immediate hearing from. Knowing that Trujillo is McSween biased, Dudley refuses to allow his troops to escort all the prisoners back to San Pat. Since Copeland would now have to do this by himself, he instead decides to just release all the prisoners, from both sides. The Warriors immediately head back towards Seven Rivers, taking with them the horses of MacNab and Saunders, and stealing six more from the Tunstall ranch as they pass it. All the McSween men return to Lincoln or San Pat, except for Scurlock, who for some reason is still in shackles in the guardhouse.
• May 4, 1878—U. S. Department of Justice Agent Frank Warner Angel arrives in Santa Fe. He had been sent there from Washington, D. C. with orders to investigate recent troubles throughout the territory, and, most notably, the recent troubles in Lincoln County.
• May 6, 1878—Rob Widenmann becomes administrator of the Tunstall estate. On the same day, Sheriff Copeland releases Scurlock from Fort Stanton and appoints him deputy. Scurlock then returns to the Regulators, takes over as leader, and makes Billy Bonney his second-in-command.
• May 10, 1878—Dolan and James Longwell travel to Fort Stanton, and from there escort L. G. Murphy to Santa Fe. Murphy will never again set foot in Lincoln County. Dolan and Longwell will remain in Santa Fe with Murphy for the next month or so as well.
• Mid-May 1878—Tom Folliard, along with friend James Woodland, leave Texas and head west, towards Lincoln County. Shortly after arriving in the county, the two young men begin stealing horses from the Murphy-Dolan-Riley faction. Because of this, both men are placed on Dolan’s hit list.
• May 11, 1878—Doc Scurlock organizes the Regulators in Lincoln and they decide to ride south to Seven Rivers for the purpose of regaining the horses of MacNab, Saunders, and Tunstall that were stolen by the Seven Rivers Warriors.
• May 14, 1878—The Regulators travel down to Seven Rivers and raid the Jas. J. Dolan & Co. cattle camp there. Of course, unbeknownst to the Regulators, Dolan & Co. no longer owns the camp; now the camp is the property of Tom Catron and the First National Bank of Santa Fe. At the camp, the Regulators steal twenty-seven of Dolan’s and Riley’s horses (again, they are actually Catron’s). They also discover Jessie Evans Gang member Manuel ‘Indian’ Segovia hiding out at the camp. The Regulators all know that Segovia was in the sub-posse that killed Tunstall and was probably the one that fired the fatal shot into MacNab. They also know that it would do little good to bring him up to Lincoln, put him in jail there, and have him be freed by other Evans Gang members or released by Judge Bristol. These problems are solved however when they simply gun Segovia down, leaving his corpse where it falls. Who exactly killed Segovia is unknown, but it’s been claimed it was either Billy Bonney, Jose Chavez y Chavez, and/or Frank Coe. Afterwards, the Regulators return to Lincoln.
• On May 15, the Regulators tracked down and captured the Jesse Evans gang member Manuel Segovia, who is believed to have shot McNab. They shot him during an alleged escape.
• May 24, 1878—Agent Frank Angel, on his way to Lincoln, arrives at Fort Stanton.
• May 25, 1878—Frank Angel arrives in Lincoln. Over the next several days, Angel will interview and acquire sworn statements from several McSween and Dolan supporters.
• May 28, 1878—Gov. Axtell issues a proclamation removing the McSween-supporting Sheriff Copeland from office on some trivial technicality. In the same proclamation, Axtell appoints former Brady deputy and staunch Dolan supporter George Peppin as the new sheriff in order to replace Copeland. No doubt Tom Catron heavily influenced Axtell’s decision on who to appoint to replace Copeland.
• May 30, 1878—George Peppin officially takes office as Sheriff of Lincoln County. This means that once again, the Murphy-Dolan-Riley faction has control over the ‘law’ in Lincoln County.

June 1878

• Early June 1878—With Frank Angel in town conducting his investigation, both the gunmen from the Tunstall-McSween-Chisum faction and the Murphy-Dolan-Riley faction remain inactive. However, Sheriff Peppin plans to strike back at the Regulators before they can at him right after Angel leaves the area. Also, around this time a special election is held in Lincoln in order to determine a new justice of the peace. John Wilson wins the election and is once again Lincoln’s J. P.
• June 8, 1878—Billy Bonney appears before Agent Angel and gives him his sworn testimony regarding Tunstall’s murder. Angel leaves Lincoln shortly thereafter. During his stay in Lincoln, he managed to get testimony not only from Billy, but from McSween, Rob Widenmann, John Middleton, Henry Brown, Godfrey Gauss, and Sam Corbet of the McSween faction, and Jimmy Dolan (who recently returned from Santa Fe), Sam Perry, Wallace Olinger, and Bob Beckwith of the Dolan faction.
• June 13, 1878—With Jessie Evans’s trial at La Mesilla beginning in a few days, Rob Widenmann, who is to testify at the trial, leaves Lincoln on his way to Mesilla. With him on the trip are John Copeland, Godfrey Gauss, Constable Atanacio Martinez, Juan Patron, George Robinson, and George Washington. The party is escorted by troops from Fort Stanton.
• Mid-June 1878—Tom Folliard travels to San Patricio, where he meets the Regulators for the first time. Since he too is wanted by Dolan, he decides to join the Regulators and fight for their cause. He quickly becomes a close friend of Billy Bonney, who begins to teach him how to shoot with a rifle and a pistol. What happened to Tom’s friend from Texas James Woodland is still unknown.
• June 15, 1878—Jessie Evans, under military escort, leaves his confinement at Stanton for his trip down to La Mesilla to stand trial for stealing government mules (a federal charge) and for murdering John Tunstall (a territorial charge).
• June 18, 1878—In Lincoln, Sheriff Peppin deputizes Jessie Evans Gang member (and former Brady deputy) John Long, as well as Seven Rivers Warriors Marion Turner, Buck Powell, and Jose Chavez y Baca. He then contacts Col. Dudley at Fort Stanton and requests military assistance to aid him in arresting the Regulators, who are also in town. Dudley agrees to do so, and Peppin, Long, Turner, Powell, and Chavez y Baca, along with about twenty other members of the Jessie Evans Gang and the Seven Rivers Warriors, who are acting as Peppin’s posse, leave west out of Lincoln in order to meet up with the troops. Meanwhile, Dudley assembles twenty-seven soldiers, commanded by Lt. Goodwin, and sends them out to meet up with Peppin and his posse. Shortly after Peppin’s posse leaves Lincoln, someone tells the Regulators what Peppin and Dudley are planning. The Regulators wisely decide to flee town before Peppin and his men return. They once again flee to the safe haven of San Patricio. Meanwhile, Peppin’s posse and Lt. Goodwin’s troops meet up a few miles between Lincoln and Stanton. When Goodwin sees the wanted badmen in Peppin’s posse, he flatly refuses to aid Peppin in anything. Peppin is able to convince Goodwin otherwise, though, once he promises to dismiss all the wanted men from his posse as soon as they get back to Lincoln. After this decision is made, the posse and the troops ride back to Lincoln together. Once they arrive back at Lincoln, Peppin is furious to discover that someone had alerted the Regulators of his plans and that they are now gone. With no Regulators to arrest, Lt. Goodwin and his troops return to Fort Stanton. Peppin is also furious over the fact that although McSween himself is still in town, he has no arrest warrant for him. On the same day, the U. S. Congress passes the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids any military action in civil disturbances.
• June 19, 1878 (approx.)—In La Mesilla, D. A. Rynerson hires the John Kinney Gang of rustlers and killers and tells them to travel to Lincoln County and to report to either Jimmy Dolan or Sheriff Peppin. They are told to follow any of Dolan’s or Peppin’s orders. On the same day in Kansas, Dirty Dave Rudabaugh is released from jail, after testifying in trial against his accomplices in the Kinsley train robbery. He is completely free and promises the authorities he will live a law-abiding life.
• June 22, 1878—The John Kinney Gang arrives in Lincoln and meet with Dolan and Sheriff Peppin, who immediately deputizes Kinney himself and declares the rest of his gang an official posse. Dolan, meanwhile, offers Kinney $500 worth of Tunstall’s cattle and horses to kill McSween himself.
• June 23, 1878—In Lincoln, Billy Mathews, Deputy Marion Turner, and several other Murphy-Dolan-Riley men attend Rev. Dr. Ealy’s church service, which is held in the McSween house. On the same day, at La Mesilla, Jessie Evans is acquitted of stealing government mules from the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. It’s really no surprise, though, since the judge presiding over the trial was none other than Judge Warren Bristol.
• June 24, 1878—McSween writes a letter to Tunstall’s father in England requesting money in order to pay the Regulators for the fighting they are doing. After the letter is written and mailed, McSween flees Lincoln for San Patrico. He feels that his life is surely in danger if he stays in Lincoln. On the same day, Geoge and Frank Coe leave San Patricio and head south towards the small Hispanic village of Picacho, where Billy Bonney and some of the other Regulators are looking for new recruits. About a mile outside of San Pat, the Coes are ambushed by the John Kinney Gang. They quickly ride to a small canyon and hide out there until the Kinney Gang gives up on their attempt to capture (or, more likely, kill) the Coes and leaves the area. After they are certain that the Kinney Gang is gone, the Coes continue their ride to Picacho
• June 27, 1878—Deputy John Long, with a posse of five men, heads to San Pat to arrest the Regulators. When the posse reaches the village however, they find only McSween house servant George Washington. Washington immediately surrenders and is arrested by the posse. Later, as the posse is leaving San Pat, McSween, John Copeland, and nine Regulators (Billy Bonney, Fred Waite, Charlie Bowdre, Big Jim French, John Scroggins, Dirty Steve Stephens, and newcomers Constable Atanacio Martinez, Jesus Rodriguez, and Eusebio Sanchez) are just coming into the village. When the two parties see each other, they both immediatly draw their guns and a running fight ensues. Although many shots are fired, the only victim is Deputy Long’s horse, which takes a bullet and falls dead. However, after realizing that they are outnumbered, the Long posse rides out of town and the Regulators do not pursue them. Later in the day, after hearing of the incident, Sheriff Peppin rides to Fort Stanton and signs an affidavit before Capt. Thomas Blair, stating that Long’s posse was resisted and fired upon with intent to kill while attempting to serve lawful arrest warrants. With this sworn affidavit, Col. Dudley orders Capt. Henry Carroll and twenty-five troops to go with Peppin and help him search for the Regulators. Peppin and the troops ride back to Lincoln, where Peppin assembles another posse (which includes Long and all the other members of the original posse). Then, the posse and troops both go out after the Regulators, first searching for them in the mountains south of the Rio Ruidoso, then back north near the Rio Hondo, and then northwest near the Blue Water road. However, the Regulators never turn up. A few hours later, Dudley is forced to recall Capt. Carroll and the troops back to Fort Stanton once he hears of the Posse Comitatus Act for the first time. With no more assistance from the troops, Peppin and his posse return to Lincoln.
• June 29, 1878—Juan Patron flees Lincoln and seeks sanctuary at Fort Stanton, where he is almost killed by Sheriff Peppin. However, a Col. Michael Cronin manages to come between Patron and Peppin, thereby saving Patron’s life. On the same day, probably after being bullied by some of the Dolan men, Justice of the Peace Wilson issues arrests warrants for McSween, Copeland, and the Regulators who participated in the San Pat fight. Once again, McSween is a legally wanted man.
•  

• Governor Axtell’s Intervention: New Mexico Governor Samuel Axtell declares martial law in Lincoln County and sends in the military to restore order. This intervention temporarily halts some of the violence but does not end the conflict. (check for accuracy)

July 1, 1878-

• Some of Peppin’s men arrest John Copeland at his ranch and take him to Lincoln.

July 2, 1878

• Copeland appeals to Col. Dudley for protection at Fort Stanton. On the same day, in La Mesilla, Rob Widenmann testifies against Jessie Evans in his hearing for the Tunstall murder. When Widenmann says he identified Evans as one of the killers, Judge Bristol attacks him, saying there was no way that he could have identified anyone in the sub-posse when he was riding away from them. Later in the day, Evans takes the stand in his own defense and denies that he was even a member of the sub-posse that killed Tunstall. By the day’s end, Evans posts $5,000 bond without any trouble (again, it’s almost definite that the money was supplied by Dolan or someone close to him) and walks free. His case is continued until the next term of court and he shortly thereafter returns to Lincoln in order to get back into the war. Widenmann, meanwhile, elects to stay in Mesilla instead of returning to Lincoln. Also on the same day, in Lincoln, Susan McSween goes to the house of Saturnino Baca (which is on the McSweens’ property) and threatens to have him killed if she discovers that he was in anyway connected with the sending of troops after her husband.

July 3, 1878

• Early in the morning, a posse of a dozen men under the command of Dep. Jose Chavez y Baca rides into San Patricio. Unfortunately for the posse, the Regulators have been expecting their arrival and have all taken up positions on the roofs in the small village. As the posse enters town, the Regulators open fire on them. The Baca posse scatters and flees San Pat as quick as their horses will take them, but not before two horses are killed and posse member Julian Lopez has his arm shattered by a rifle slug. Shortly after the posse leaves, the Regulators also leave town and head down the Rio Hondo. A short time later, about four miles east of San Pat, the John Kinney Gang, accompanied by Dep. John Long and Jimmy Dolan himself, begin chasing the Regs. The Regs take up positions on a ridge that keeps them hidden from view and open fire on the posse. After losing two horses, the posse quickly turns around and head back to San Pat. The Regs, meanwhile, with McSween still with them, head to the Chisum South Spring Ranch, hoping to find refuge there. Furious over the fact that the Regs escaped them yet again, the Kinney Gang rides into San Patricio and terrorize it. They shoot their guns through windows, kill a horse, steal goods from citizens, tear the roof off of the Dowlin Bros. store, and more. After Kinney judges that the village is thoroughly terrorized, he leads his men out and back to Lincoln. It’s likely this was done in order to discourage the citizens of San Pat to continue to harbor the Regulators.

July 4, 1878

• The Regulators and McSween arrive at the Chisum South Spring Ranch early in the morning. A few hours later, Billy Bonney, Henry Brown, Tom Folliard, and George and Frank Coe ride to the small town of Roswell to buy supplies at the store/post office of Ash Upson. While at the store, Billy buys some candy hearts for Chisum’s niece, Sallie. Unbeknownst to the Regulators at the Chisum ranch or at Roswell, a large party of the Seven Rivers Warriors led by Deputy Buck Powell is on its way to the Chisum ranch in order to take the Regulators. As the five Regulators leave Roswell and ride back towards Chisum’s, they spot the posse, which is several hundred yards behind them, but is indeed following them. Billy, the Coes, Brown, and Folliard make it back to the Chisum ranch and tell their fellow Regulators what’s up. They all baricade themselves in the ranch-house and prepare for a siege. Shortly thereafter, the posse does arrive and surrounds the house. Sporadic shots from both sides are fired all day, but no one is wounded or killed.

July 5, 1878

• In the morning, Dep. Powell realizes that none of his posse’s bullets are getting through the house (afterall, the adobe walls are four-feet thick!). He and his posse leave the ranch and plan on returning later when they get reinforcements in the form of Dep. Marion Turner and his posse. Before the combined forces of Powell and Tuner return though, the Regulators leave the Chisum ranch and, after realizing that with Dolan’s three gangs (the Jessie Evans Gang, the Seven Rivers Warriors, and the John Kinney Gang) after them, they are grossly outnumbered. They elect to spend the next few days looking for new recruits to join the Regulators.

July 8, 1878

July 15, 1878

• Battle of Lincoln: The most significant and prolonged engagement of the Lincoln County War occurs over five days in the town of Lincoln. Billy the Kid and the Regulators are besieged in the McSween house by the Murphy-Dolan faction and their allies.
• July 15 – 19, 1878 – The Five-day battle at Alex McSween‘s home in Lincoln. On the 19th, while trying to escape, Alex McSween, Francisco Zamora, and Harvey Morris are killed; on the Dolan side, Robert Beckwith is killed. Billy the Kid and the Regulators escape.
• In the morning, Sheriff Peppin discovers that the Regulators have taken the town and that there are only a few other Dolan men in town willing to help fight the Regulators. The posses of John Kinney, Marion Turner, and Buck Powell are still out searching for the Regulators. Trapped in the torreon across the street from the Montano store and next door to the Baca house are Deputy John Long, Billy Mathews, Jim McDaniels, Jim Reese, George ‘Roxy’ Rose, Sam Perry, and a man known only as ‘the Dummy.’ Peppin himself, along with Dolan, Pantaleon Gallegos, Lucio Montoya, Andy Boyle, and about a few others take over the Wortley Hotel and the House, located across the street from each other at the west end of town. While the Regulators in the McSween, Ellis, Montano, and Patron houses and Tunstall store begin pilling bags of sand against the doors and windows and carving portholes for their guns in the adobe walls, Peppin sends a rider to find the posses of Kinney, Turner, and Powell. Once McSween himself realizes that Dolan men are in the torreon and that Saturnino Baca is supplying them with food and water, he writes a note to Baca telling him he has three days to vacate his house, or it will be burned down. McSween’s reasoning for this is that the Baca house is on his property and that Baca is aiding men who want to kill him (McSween). After Baca receives the note, he panics and appeals to Col. Dudley at Fort Stanton for military protection. However, Dudley cannot take any action, due to the Posse Comitatus Act. However, Dudley does send Lt. Daniel Appel to Lincoln to investigate. After arriving in Lincoln, Appel meets with Baca, then with McSween, who stands by what he wrote in his note to Baca, but adds that he will not allow the Dolan men to force him from his home again. Appel then meets with the men in the torreon and tries to talk them into leaving it, but they refuse unless U. S. troops from Stanton come to occupy it, thereby rendering it neutral. Appel then leaves Lincoln for Fort Stanton, in order to report to Dudley. As Appel leaves Lincoln, the posses of Kinney, Powell, and Turner ride into town from the west, leave their horses in the Wortley Hotel corral, and fire several shots at the McSween house. Hearing the shots, Billy Bonney and five or six other Regulators from the Montano house run across the street to the McSween house, firing their guns at the Dolan men as they go. Taking shelter in the McSween house, the total number of Regulators in the building is now brought to thirteen (Billy the Kid, Big Jim French, Jose Chavez y Chavez, Tom Folliard, Ignacio Gonzales, George Bowers, Tom Cullins, Joe Smith, Francisco Zamora, Florencio Chaves, Yginio Salazar, Vincente Romero, and Jose Maria Sanchez). With the Powell, Turner, and Kinney posses now in town, the Dolan-Peppin forces now number about forty, including Jessie Evans who arrived with the posses. A few hours later, in the early afternoon, Dolan and Peppin order Deputy Jack Long to try to serve the warrants on McSween, Billy Bonney, Jim French and the other Regulators in the McSween house. Long approaches the house and shouts out his intentions to the men inside. His only response is a burst of gunfire from the Regulators. Long takes off and finds cover back at the Wortley Hotel, miraculously without a scratch. For the rest of the day, sporadic shots are fired from both sides, but no one is hurt. Come nightfall, all gunfire comes to a halt.

July 16, 1878

• By early morning, both sides are firing at each other again. However, all shots are pretty much useless. A few Dolan men suffer minor wounds, but nothing more. Around noon, someone in the Dolan camp (probably Dolan himself) tells Peppin to write a note to Col. Dudley requesting the loan of a howitzer, which would surely drive all the Regulators out of their hiding places. Someone takes the note to Fort Stanton, but, again due to the Posse Comitatus Act, Dudley cannot loan a howitzer to anyone. Dudley orders black trooper Pvt. Berry Robinson to ride to Lincoln and give Peppin the news. A short time later, as Pvt. Robinson rides into Lincoln from the west, he is fired on. Robinson manages to get to the Wortley Hotel without being hit, though. The Dolan men tell Robinson it was the Regulators that fired on him, but this is unlikely, since it was the Dolan men who occupied the entire western end of town. After Robinson informs Peppin of Dudley’s response to his request for a howitzer, he rides back to Stanton, where he tells Dudley he was fired on by the Regulators. Dudley is infuriated over this and puts together a board of officers consisting of Lt. Appel, Capt. Tom Blair, and Capt. George Purington for the purpose of going to Lincoln the next day to investigate Robinson’s claim. For the rest of the day in Lincoln, intermittent firing continues and by nightfall, two windows of the McSween house are completely shot out.

July 17, 1878

• Around dawn, Peppin sends five men to the hills south of Lincoln, located behind the Montano house/store. Peppin wants the men to fire on the Montano house until the Regulators inside are driven out. However, shortly after the five Dolan men open fire, one Regulator inside the Montano house, Fernando Herrera, sticks his rifle out the window, takes aim, and shoots Charlie ”Lollycooler” Crawford through the gut, dropping him to the ground. The other four Dolan men in the hills then make a hasty retreat to the Wortley Hotel, leaving Crawford where he fell. Later, around noon, Capt. Purington, Capt. Blair, Lt. Appel, and five troopers arrive in Lincoln to investigate the claim that Pvt. Robinson had been shot at by the Regulators the day prior. The soldiers discover the entire town is boarded up and gunfire is everywhere. They meet with Peppin, Dolan, and many other Dolan men, all of whom say it was the Regulators that shot at Pvt. Robinson. Also during their investigation, they discover that Charlie Crawford had been seriously shot and had not been moved from where he had fallen. Lt. Appel, being a doctor feels compelled to help the wounded man and gets Capt. Blair and two troopers to climb the hills with him in order to aid Crawford. As the four men make their way up the hills to Crawford’s location, they are fired on by the Regulators in the Montano and Patron houses. However, none of them are hit and they soon reach the moaning and bleeding Crawford. Somehow, they manage to get Crawford down from the hills. It is clear to Appel that Crawford needs urgent medical attention and it’s decided that the soldiers will take him back to Fort Stanton with them in order to get him some medical attention at the post hospital. The soldiers leave shortly thereafter, with Crawford going with them. Although Crawford will get immediate medical care at the fort, he will die of his wound less than a week later. For the rest of the day, firing continues throughout Lincoln. After nightfall, Ben Ellis steps out of his house in order to feed his mule, only to be shot by one of the Dolan men in the neck. The Regulators in the Ellis house run out and are able to carry Ellis back inside without being hit themselves. Shortly thereafter, a couple of Regulators from the Ellis house make their way to the Tunstall store under cover of darkness and there request Dr. Ealy to come back with them to the Ellis house in order to treat Ellis. Dr. Ealy agrees, but only moments after stepping out of the Tunstall store, he is shot at several times by the Dolan men. However, he manages to make it back inside the Tunstall store unhurt, and decides to remain in there for the rest of the night.

July 18, 1878

• In the morning, Dr. Ealy, along with his wife and children, leave the Tunstall store and boldy walk down the street to the Ellis house in plain view. At the Ellis house, Ealy treats Ben Ellis’s neck wound as best he can. He and his family then return to the Tunstall store. Shooting continues throughout the day, and, at some point, Regulator George Bowers, located in the McSween house, takes a bullet, but is only wounded. A short time later, another bullet enters the McSween house and kills Regulator Tom Cullins. The other Regulators in the house then take Cullins’s body and place it in the McSween cellar, probably planning to bury it when the battle is over. Also, during the shooting, Sever Rivers Warrior William Johnson and two others are wounded. At some point during the day, three Hispanic women from Lincoln walk the nine miles to Fort Stanton and meet with Col. Dudley in order to request military protection for their homes and families in Lincoln. All three woman complain that they were forced out of their houses by gunmen on both sides. Later in the day, Dolan, John Kinney, Sam Perry, Roxy Rose, and two Dolan men also go to Fort Stanton and meet with Dudley in private. Witnesses overhear Dudley tell Dolan that he will be in Lincoln by noon tomorrow. Shortly thereafter, the Dolan men leave Stanton and return to Lincoln. After meeting with the Dolan men, Dudley approaches Juan Patron, who has been living at the fort for protection for days now, and orders him to leave the fort. It’s likely that Dudley thought Patron was a McSween spy. Patron takes Dudley’s advice and flees to Las Vegas, San Miguel County, New Mexico Territory. After nightfall, Dudley calls for a meeting with Capt. Purington, Capt. Blair, Lt. Goodwin, Lt. Appel, and Lt. Samuel Pague. The meeting lasts for about and hour and a half and, by its end, all five of the officers present sign a resolution supporting Dudley’s new descision to ”place soldiers in the town of Lincoln for the preservation of the lives of the women and children.” Immediatly following the meeting, Dudley orders the fort’s blacksmith, a Mr. Neslon, to fix the old, broken howitzer located on the parade ground. Nelson works all through the night on the howitzer, and has it fixed by morning. Dudley knew that by stating that the U. S. Army’s only intention in going to Lincoln was to protect women and children, he would not be disobeying the Posse Comitatus Act.

July 19, 1878

• Burning of the McSween House: The McSween house is set on fire during the Battle of Lincoln. Alexander McSween is killed while attempting to escape the burning building. Billy the Kid and a few others manage to break out and flee, but the battle ends in a defeat for the Regulators.
• Early in the morning, McSween writes a letter to Roswell postmaster Ash Upson, requesting three dollars worth of stamps and telling that ”right will triumph.” Shortly thereafter, the mail carrier comes through town and is allowed to make his stops without being shot at by either side. When the carrier stops at McSween’s house, he gives him his letter for Upson. After the carrier leaves, sporadic gunfire begins again. At noon, a major turning point happens when Col. Dudley rides into town from the west, along with four officers, one company of cavalry, and one company of infantry, for a total of thirty-five men. Dudley also brings with him the howitzer, a Gatling gun with 2,000 rounds for it, and three days worth of rations for his soldiers. From the second the soldiers enter the town, gunfire from both sides comes to a complete halt. The first thing Dudley does is ride to the Wortley Hotel, where he meets with Peppin and informs him he and his men are only in town to protect noncombatants, women, and children. He goes on to tell Peppin that he will treat both the Dolan men and the Regulators exactly the same and that if either side even fires one shot in his men’s direction, he will annihilate them. Dudley and his men then continue to ride east through Lincoln and pass by the McSween house, yet Dudley does not stop to tell McSween the same thing he told Peppin. This alone shows that, at the very least, Dudley thought more of the Dolan faction than he did the McSween faction. While Dudley and his men continue to ride east, Peppin and Dolan take advantage of the cease-fire and have their men take over the houses of Steve Stanley, Ham Mills, Justice of the Peace John Wilson, the Shon family, and McSween’s stable, located in the backyard of the McSween house. All of these buildings surround the McSween house. Meanwhile, Dudley stops his men at a half-completed adobe building located right across the street from the Montano house and has them set up camp there. After their camp is complete set up, Dudley orders his men to aim the howitzer at the front door of the Montano house. Upon seeing the cannon pointed at them, Martin Chaves and his men elect to leave the Montano house. They all conceal their faces with blankets so the Dolan men won’t be able to identify them and walk out the back door, where they are met by the Regulators from the Patron house, who are also fleeing. After giving up their positions, the two groups of Regulators make it to the Ellis house without being spotted. Around the same time, the Regulators inside the McSween house spot Dolan men walking down the street being accompanied by soldiers. Some of the soldiers begin to surround the McSween house as well. It seems clear now that Dudley’s real intention in coming to Lincoln was to help the Dolan faction. McSween writes a quick note for Dudley, asking him why soldiers are surrounding his house. McSween also writes that the constable for San Pat, Jose Chavez y Chavez is in his house and that he has warrants for the arrests of most of Peppin’s posse members. McSween then has his young niece, Minnie Shield, walk down the street to Dudley’s camp site in order to deliver the note to him. After reading the note, Dudley writes a hasty reply, stating that no soldiers surround his house. A short time later, Deputy Marion Turner and a couple other Seven Rivers Warriors approach the McSween house. Turner yells in that he wants to speak with McSween, and McSween responds by asking what he wants. Turner replies that he has a warrant for his arrest and has warrants for the arrests of most of the Regulators in his house and asks if he wishes to surrender. Big Jim French then yells out that they (the Regulators) have warrants for the arrests of Turner and most of his fellow gunmen. When Turner asks French where his warrants are, French shouts back that they’re in their guns. Turner and his men then return to the Wortley Hotel.
• -Meanwhile, Dudley and his men discover that the Montano house is deserted and that the Regulators that were in it had fled to the Ellis house. Dudley immediatly has one of his men find Peppin, and to tell him that if he gets enough men at the Ellis house, he may be able to catch the Regulators inside. The soldier meets up with Peppin at the Wortley Hotel and gives him Dudley’s message. Peppin, along with Bob Beckwith, John Jones, John Hurley, and two others then begin walking up the street towards the Ellis house. At the same time, Dudley has Lt. Goodwin aim the howitzer and the Gatling gun at the Ellis house and tells him not to fire either unless he (Dudley) gives the order to do so. When the men in the Ellis house see the howitzer and the Gatling gun, they run to the corral behind the house and mount up on their horses. Just as Peppin and his men reach the Ellis house, all of the Regulators that were in it ride out, shooting their guns off at Peppin as they do. One bullet grazes John Jones in the neck, but no serious damage is done. Peppin and his run for cover, but shoot at the fleeing Regulators as they do. One rifle bullet hits Dan Dedrick in the arm, but he keeps riding. The Regulators ride east out of town and head for the hills north of Lincoln, crossing the Rio Bonito on the way. Now, only the twelve Regulators in the McSween house and the three in the Tunstall store remain in Lincoln. With Dudley’s arrival in town, the backbone of the McSween faction during this battle was broken. With the Regulators that were located in the eastern half of Lincoln now gone, Peppin and his men go through the Ellis house, where they find four pistols and six rifles that the Regulators left behind. In the corral behind the Ellis house, Peppin’s men discover twelve saddles and bridles and thirteen horses, all of which belong to the Regulators still in the McSween house and Tunstall store. All of the Regulators’ possesions are appropriated by Peppin’s men. Bob Beckwith also discovers some coal oil in the house and takes a bucket of it with him. Shortly thereafter, as Peppin and his men make their way back towards the western end of town, they stop by Dudley’s camp, where Dudley yells at Peppin for not getting to the Ellis house quicker, when he may have been able to catch the Regulators. Shortly thereafter, Dudley has one of his men go get Justice of the Peace Wilson and bring him to the camp. The soldier brings Wilson to Dudley’s camp, and Dudley orders Wilson to issue a warrant for the arrests of McSween and all the men in his house for the ‘attempted murder’ of Pvt. Robinson three days previous. Wilson refuses, however, saying he cannot just issue warrants on demand, but needs the correct affidavits and testimony first. Dudley then has Capt. Blair, Capt. Purington, and Lt. Appel sign an affidavit stating that, based on their investigation, the shots directed at Robinson had come from the McSween house. When Wilson still refuses to issue the warrants, Dudley threatens to write to Gov. Axtell to tell him that Wilson won’t do his duty and to have him placed in leg and wrist irons. Faced with these threats, Wilson gives in and issues arrest warrants for all the men in the McSween house, including McSween himself. Wilson gives the warrants to Dudley, who then gives them to Peppin. Peppin then deputizes Bob Beckwith and hands him the warrants. Immediatly afterward, Dolan and Peppin (and probably Dudley, too) decide to burn the Regulators out of the McSween house. Peppin tells Deputy Beckwith, John Kinney, and John Hurley to pile logs up against the eastern wing of the McSween house (which is the wing the Shield family lives in). Peppin then orders McSween house servants Joe Dixon, Sebrian Bates, and George Washington to help Beckwith, Kinney, and Hurley. When they protest, Peppin says he’ll arrest them if they disobey him. After this, they reluctanlty comply.
• Seeing how the Dolan men are getting ready to burn down her house, Sue McSween decides to ask Dudley in person for military protection for her home. As she leaves her home, she crawls on her hands and knees, due to the danger of random bullets. Once she is a safe distance away from her home, she stands up walks east, towards Dudley’s camp. By the torreon, she spots Sheriff Peppin and asks him why her servants are being forced to burn down her home. Peppin replies that if she doesn’t want her house burned down, she ought to kick out the men inside. She then angrily continues her walk to Dudley’s camp. Upon reaching the camp, she introduces herself to Dudley, who tips his hat to her. When she asks him why he and his men are in town, he replies they are in town only to protect women and children. She then asks why he won’t protect her, her sister, or her sister’s children, all of whom are still in the McSween house. Dudley replies that he won’t protect anyone who is willingly in the same building as ”such men as Billy Kid and Jim French.” So, basically, he’s treating the women and children inside the McSween house as collateral damage. When Sue then asks why Dudley has his soldiers surrounding her house, he simply replies he will send his men whereever he wants to. After more argument, Sue becomes completely convinced that Dudley is a Dolan man and leaves his camp to return to her own house. There, she informs her husband and the Regulators on what Dudley had to say. Around the same time, the Regulators who had fled from the Ellis and Montano houses reappear in the hills north of town and begin firing their rifles off at the Dolan men surrounding the McSween house. The soldiers then aim the howitzer on them and get ready to fire it, making the Regulators halt all fire and flee once again. Immediatly after this, Deputy Jack Long and the man known only as the Dummy approach the logs piled up against the McSween house and throw Deputy Beckwith’s bucket of coal oil on them. Long then lights the oil, making the logs and the house start on fire. Luckily, though, there are two full, fresh buckets of water in the house and Elizabeth Shield tosses them both on the flames, extinguishing them. Then, as Long and the Dummy attempt to make their retreat, they are fired on by George Coe, Henry Brown, and Sam Smith from the Tunstall store. The two Dolan men run for cover and find it in the most disgusting place imaginable: the McSweens’ privy, located in the McSween’s backyard. Both men jump into the privy hole and lay there while the three men from the Tunstall store begin blasting the privy walls to pieces. Only a few minutes later, Deputy Buck Powell, who is coming up from the river north of town, is spotted by the men in the Tunstall store and is also fired on. He too dives into the privy hole for cover, and for the next few hours, all three men will remain in the cramped, disgusting hole. At about two o’clock in the afternoon, Seven Rivers Warrior Andy Boyle sneaks into the McSweens’ yard and starts a small fire out of wood shavings and kindling on the western wing of the McSween home (which is the wing the McSweens live in). While making his retreat, Boyle’s neck is grazed by a bullet fired from one of the Regulators in the Tunstall store. Nevertheless, Boyle manages to make his escape and is not seriously wounded. The Regulators inside the McSween house attempt to put the fire out, but it grows to quickly (due to the fact that other Dolan men continue to toss buckets of coal oil on the flames) , squashing any hope that it could be extinguished. Thankfully though, the entire house is made of adobe, meaning it will burn very slow. Throughout the day, the fire continues to grow, consuming one room after another. As the fire grows, an increasing amount of gunfire is exchanged from both sides.
• Late in the afternoon, a small keg of gunpowder in the McSween house blows up after it catches fire. However, the only person hurt by the explosion is a John Kinney Gang member known only as Sanders, who takes a piece of debris to the head and is knocked unconscious. Around that time, Susan Gates leave the Tunstall store and carries a note to Dudley from Dr. Ealy, which asks Dudley to dispatch a group of soldiers to the Tunstall store in order to escort himself and his family from it and to safety. Although Dudley doesn’t like Ealy, he agrees and sends three soldiers and a wagon to the Tunstall store. Upon reaching the store, the soldiers fill the wagon with the Ealy family’s possessions. The Ealys, Susan Gates, and the soldiers then go to Dudley’s camp. About an hour later, Mrs. Ealy asks Dudley to have her family escorted to a safer place than his camp. Dudley agrees and sends Lt. Appel, Capt. Blair, Corp. Pergold, and five other men escort the Ealys to a safe location west of town. At the same time, with only the east wing of the house still standing (both the west wing and front, or south, wing of the U-shaped house are now completely gone), the Regulators and McSween decide it would be best if Sue and the Shield family left the house. As the soldiers escorting the Ealys pass by the front of her house, Sue McSween runs out and begs Capt. Blair to escort her and her sister’s family to a safe location. Blair agrees and escorts her, Elizabeth Shield, and her five children to the Patron house, which is by now in no danger of gunfire. Throughout the rest of the day, about 2,000 gunshots are fired throughout town. By nightfall, McSween suffers a complete mental breakdown. He simply sits with his head in his hands and mutters to himself. At this point, Billy Bonney, of all people, assumes command of the Regulators. He is very lively and tries to cheer the other depressed Regulators up by dancing and singing and assuring them that they’ll all make it through this. By around nine o’clock, only one room of the McSween house remains: the Shield kitchen, located at the eastern end of the building. It’s clear that the men inside (twelve Regulators, McSween, and law-student and noncombatant Harvey Morris) must make a break from the house. Billy quickly makes a plan of escape: he, and four others will run through the eastern gate, towards the Tunstall store, and draw their enemies’ fire as they go. This will create a diversion and allow McSween and the others to run north, through the back gate, and to the bank of the Rio Bonito, where they will be safe. Billy tells everyone to at first try to sneak out quietly, and only fire their guns if they are spotted. With that, Billy calls for four volunteers to go with him and Big Jim French, Tom Folliard, Jose Chavez y Chavez, and Harvey Morris all volunteer. They all make sure their guns are loaded and wait for Billy’s signal to start running. Billy looks outside, sees that the coast is clear, and signals the other men. With that, Morris, French, Folliard, Chavez, and Billy (in that order) run out of the house towards the Tunstall store. They make it only a few feet, however, when they are spotted and fired on by the Dolan men. Just as Morris reaches the eastern gate, a bullet hits him in the head, killing him instantly and dropping him to the ground. Billy, French, and Chavez jump over the man’s body and continue to run, although they now are firing their guns off at their enemies. Folliard stops to try to help Morris, but he sees he’s dead and continues only after Billy, French, and Chavez, possibly being shot in the shoulder as he goes. At the same time, McSween’s group makes their break from the house and head north. What none of the Regulators know is that about five or six Dolan men are behind the house already and are waiting for the Regulators to make their escape attempt.
• Meanwhile, as Billy’s group nears the Tunstall store, they discover three soldiers and a couple of Dolan men already there and firing on them. Billy, Folliard, French, and Chavez then shift course and head north, toward the Bonito, rather than trying to run right through the soldiers (and their bullets) in order to get to the Tunstall store. As Billy’s group changes course, Billy’s fires a shot with one of his pistols that hits John Kinney in the cheek and knocks him unconscious. At the same time, George Coe, Henry Brown, and Sam Smith see how their friends are trying to escape and also decide to give up their position in the Tunstall store and head for the Bonito’s bank. All three of them climb over the high adobe wall surrounding the northern side of the store and reach the river bank without being spotted or shot at. Billy’s group manages to make it to the river bank also. As for McSween’s group, they are fired on almost the second they leave the house. They all scatter in different directions, with McSween himself freezing in one spot. He then calls out that he wants to surrender. Deputy Beckwith, one of the men in the backyard of the house, calls out he will accept McSween’s surrender and starts to approach him. As he does, someone cries out that he will never surrender, and suddenly Beckwith takes a bullet in the right wrist and right eyeball, killing him instantly. The other Dolan men in the yard, John Jones, Marion Turner, Joe Nash, Andy Boyle, and the Dummy, respond by opening fire on McSween, shooting him five times in the torso. McSween’s body then falls to the ground right on top of Beckwith. Meanwhile, Francisco Zamora and Vincente Romero run for McSween’s chicken house, but both men are instantly gunned down once inside, with Zamora being shot eight times and Romero three. Young Yginio Salazar then takes a bullet in the back and in the shoulder, making him fall to the ground unconscious. Ignacio Gonzales takes a slug in the right arm, but keeps running. George Bowers, Joe Smith, Gonzales, Jose Maria Sanchez, and Florencio Gonzales are the only ones left and manage to make it through the Dolan men in McSween’s backyard and to the Bonito’s bank, where they find safety. With that, the gunfire comes to a halt. The McSween faction has been beaten, and the Dolan men throughout town celebrate it throughout the night by getting drunk, looting the Tunstall store, and terrorizing the town. At some point, Andy Boyle approaches Yginio Salazar, not dead, but pretending to be so by lying just where he had fallen when shot. Boyle kicks the boy and gets ready to shoot him again, when Milo Pierce yells at him and tells him that Salazar is surely dead. With that, Boyle does not shoot him. Hours later, after all the Dolan men are gone, Salazar crawls to his sister-in-law’s house, located a half-mile outside of Lincoln. There, he receives some medical attention. With McSween now dead and the Regulators thoroughly defeated, the Lincoln County War is now over.

July 20, 1878

• In the early morning, Dudley and some of his soldiers inspect the site of the burnt-out McSween house. Lying among the ashes and debris, and with chickens pecking at them, are the bullet-riddled bodies of McSween, Harvey Morris, Fransico Zamora, and Vincente Romero (Bob Beckwith’s body was taken to the House by some of his friends after the fight ended on the previous day). Dudley has his men cover the bodies with blankets while Sheriff Peppin organizes a coroner’s jury, led by Justice Wilson. The jury views the bodies and renders a verdict that McSween and his men were killed by law officers while resisting arrest and Beckwith was in turn killed in the line of duty. Following this, the bodies of Zamora and Romero and taken away by relatives, while former Justice of the Peace David Easton has a couple Mexicans take the bodies of McSween and Morris into the Tunstall store. As Easton and the Mexicans carry the bodies of the two men into the store, they find it is being looted by Jessie Evans, John Kinney, Jake Owens, Andy Boyle, and several others. Easton quickly tells Sam Corbet of this, and the two go to Peppin to complain. Peppin, however, says he is not responsible for the store or for what his men are doing to the property therein. However, with help from Lt. Appel and a few other soldiers, Easton and Corbet are able to drive out the looters. They then board up the store as best they can and quickly flee town, fearing for their lives. In the early afternoon, the bodies of McSween and Morris are buried, without coffins or a change of clothes, beside the Tunstall store, next to the graves of Tunstall and Frank MacNab. Meanwhile, John Kinney and three of his men discover the trail of blood left by the wounded Yginio Salazar as he crawled from the McSween yard late last night. They track the trail to the house of Salazar’s sister-in-law, where his wounds are being dressed by Lt. Appel. When Kinney threatens to kill Salazar and the house’s owner, Appel tells him that if he harms his patient, he will surely see him (Kinney) hanged. Faced with this, Kinney and his men begrudgingly leave. Shortly thereafter, Justice Wilson arrives to see Salazar and takes his statement regarding the end of the Five-Day Battle. Around four o’clock, Dudley’s men begin getting ready to return to Fort Stanton. Dudley does however leave a few men to stand guard at the Saturnino Baca house, since Baca feels the Regulators will want revenge on him for bringing the soldiers to town. Before departing, Dudley also gives an open invitation to anyone in town who wants to accompany him to the fort and receive protection there. The Ealy and Shield families, as well as Susan Gates, accept this offer, but Susan McSween refuses and elects to remain at the Patron house. With that, the soldiers leave Lincoln. Also going with the soldiers is the body of Bob Beckwith, which is buried with full honors in the fort’s military cemetery later that day.

July 21, 1878

• Returning to town, David Easton discovers the Tunstall store is once again being looted, this time by a bunch of native Hispanics. When Easton questions them, they tell him Mrs. McSween told them they could have whatever they desired from the store. Easton then goes to speak with Mrs. McSween, who confirms this, saying she’d rather the Hispanics have the goods than Peppin’s men. She goes on to say, though, that if there is any hope that the store will not be burned down or that the property inside can be saved, she’d like Easton to board it back up. This Easton does, but shortly after he completes the job, it is broken into again. He sends for Sam Corbet to come help him board it back up, but Corbet, hiding in the small village of Magado, refuses to return to Lincoln. Faced with this, Easton, this time aided by Joe Dixon and Sebrian Bates, once again boards up the store. For the rest of the day, the store is left undisturbed.

July 22, 1878

• -Probably around this date, the varying members of the Regulators that were separated during the Five-Day Battle begin to reunite, probably at Frank Coe’s ranch. By now, they all know the outcome of the battle, that being McSween’s death and, ostensibly, the end of the war. Faced with this, they no-doubt realize they are no longer fighting a war with a cause, but are rather fighting for their survival. This drastic shift causes many of the recent additions to the Regulators to leave the group, specifically Martin Chaves and the vast majority of his Hispanic fighters, as well as certain Anglos such as Dan Dedrick and Joe Smith. Their ranks now depleted by more than half, the remaining Regulators (now led dually by Doc Scurlock and Billy Bonney), must now acquire new horses to compensate for those belonging to the men in the McSween house and Tunstall store, which were lost to Peppin and his men. Over the next few days, the Regulators make several quiet raids on the Casey ranch and steal several horses.

July 23, 1878

• -At Fort Stanton, Charlie Crawford, shot through his torso by Regulator Fernando Herrera on the 17th, finally dies of his wound. He will be buried the next day in the fort’s military cemetery.

July 24, 1878

• to be filled

July 25, 1878

• -Susan McSween begins to venture out of the Patron house for the first time since the Big Killing. She goes to the site of her former house and tries to salvage anything she can, only to be harassed by John Kinney, Andy Boyle, and others. Despite the threats against her, she decides to remain in town for the time being, staying at the Patron house. However, she does plan on leaving soon to escort her sister, Minnie Shield, and her family to Las Vegas, where Minnie’s husband, David, already is.

July 26, 1878

•  

July 27, 1878

• -Col. Dudley reports that the majority of the Dolan gunmen have left Lincoln on the trail of the Regulators.

July 28, 1878

• to be filled

July 29, 1878

• to be filled

July 30, 1878

• to be filled

July 31, 1878

• Charlie Bowdre and Jim French ride into Lincoln to guard Mrs. McSween in the Patron house for the evening. At some point, they cross paths with Saturnino Baca, who will claim that they threatened to burn down his house in retaliation for bringing the soldiers to town on July 19.

August 1 1878

• Outlaw Activities: After the Battle of Lincoln, Billy the Kid continues his outlaw activities, stealing cattle and horses, and evading law enforcement.
• August 5, 1878 – Billy the Kid is blamed for the murder of Morris Bernstein, although it was not him who pulled the trigger, and the shooter, Atanacio Martinez, said he acted in self-defense.

August 3 1878

• Mrs. McSween, the Shield family, and the Ealy family arrive in Las Vegas.
• Aug. 3, 1878—Mrs. McSween, the Shield family, and the Ealy family arrive in Las Vegas.
• Aug. 5, 1878—Probably with the intent of stealing new, better horses than the ones they managed to steal from the Caseys, the remaining nineteen or twenty Regulators ride to the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. They split into two groups, one made up of the Anglos, the other the Hispanics. Unexpectedly, the Hispanic group is met with resistance by a group of Apaches, and a gunfight ensues. When Agency clerk Morris Bernstein rushes into the battle, he is shot and killed by Regulator Atanacio Martinez. Meanwhile, the group of Anglo Regulators manage to get to one of the corrals unnoticed. Throwing open the gate, they make off with all the horses contained within. By this time, the Hispanic group flees from the scene of the gunfight and both groups of Regulators soon after rendezvous at the ranch of Frank Coe. Upon their arrival, they discover they have stolen many more horses than they needed. Faced with this, they decide to ride north, out of Lincoln County and into San Miguel County, where Sheriff Peppin’s posse can’t legally touch them, and sell the extra horses off.
• Aug. 6, 1878—Hearing of yesterday’s Regulator raid and murder of Bernstein, Col. Dudley sends fifteen soldiers and a Gatling gun to the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency to protect it against any further violence. Also, since it was government owned horses that were stolen, Dudley legally sends out a detachment of troops under the command of Lt. Millard Goodwin after the Regulators.
• Aug. 8, 1878—John Chisum begins making plans to move his cattle herds to Texas, in order to avoid what he feels are growing troubles in Lincoln County.
• Aug. 10, 1878—The Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican reports that Sheriff Peppin and the rest of the Dolan men are still in the field hunting for the Regulators. Ironically, probably on this day, Peppin, out of fear for his life, ostensibly relinquishes his position as sheriff and flees to Fort Stanton, where he gets a job as a butcher.
• Aug. 13, 1878—The Regulators, with their remuda of stolen horses, arrive at Bosque Grande, the site of the original Chisum ranch in southern San Miguel County. Near the ranch, they run into Jim and Pitzer Chisum, their families, and some cowboys driving a large herd of cattle north to Fort Sumner and from there to Texas. Since they are all heading in the same direction, the Regulators decide to ride with the Chisum caravan. As they ride, Billy Bonney converses frequently with Sallie Chisum, who has remained his friend since they first met in March, when the Regulators stayed at the Chisum ranch after catching Morton and Baker.
• Aug. 15, 1878—The District Commander of New Mexico learns of Dudley’s ordering soldiers to guard the house of Saturnino Baca and forces Dudley to cease this activity. Also around this time, Susan McSween returns to Lincoln from Las Vegas. As before, she remains at the Patron house.
• Aug. 17, 1878—The Regulators and the Chisums arrive at Fort Sumner, a predominantly Hispanic community. Not an actual government fort since the late 1860s, the small town is now basically owned by the Maxwell family (Luz, her son Pete, and several daughters). Liking the town and its people, the Regulators elect to stay for a few days and enjoy themselves at several nightly bailes, of which Billy Bonney is the most fond of. The Chisum party, meanwhile, continues on to Texas. On the same day, Agent Frank Angel is summoned to Washington, D.C. to report his findings of the Lincoln County War to Pres. Hayes. Also on the same day, the Seven Rivers Warriors begin to turn on themselves. Hugh Beckwith, father of the late Bob Beckwith, gets into an argument with William Johnson at Beckwith’s ranch in Seven Rivers. Beckwith blames Johnson for getting his son involved in the war, and thereby getting him killed. The argument escalates until Beckwith grabs a shotgun and, before Johnson can react, shoots him to death. Fellow Warrior Wallace Olinger is standing nearby, pulls out his pistol, and fires at Beckwith before the old man can fire at him. Olinger’s bullet hits Beckwith in the face and before Olinger can shoot him again, he saddles up on a nearby horses and rides north, towards Lincoln. When he eventually reaches Lincoln, he receives medical attention and turns himself in, but due to the lawlessness that’s running rampant, he is quickly released.
• Aug. 18, 1878—The Tunstall cattle are stolen by the John Kinney Gang, most likely in payment for serving Dolan’s side in the war. Shortly thereafter, Kinney and most of his gang leave Lincoln County and return to the more familiar Dona Ana County. However, a few of Kinney’s men remain in Lincoln County and hook-up with a gang new to the area, led by John Selman and his younger brother Tom. The gang, called Selman’s Scouts, the Rustlers, or the Wrestlers, and numbering about sixteen, are currently hiding out in Seven Rivers and have recently arrived from Texas with plans of taking advantage of the current state of anarchy in the county.
• Aug. 19, 1878 (approx.)—The Regulators decide to leave Fort Sumner and continue riding north, to the small communities of Puerto de Luna and Anton Chico, where they can finally sell off their stolen horses. Doc Scurlock and Charlie Bowdre, however, have each gotten jobs on Pete Maxwell’s ranch, located near Sumner, and decide to remain there as opposed to riding with their fellow Regulators. With Doc thereby completely relinquishing his role as the Regulator’s captain, Billy Bonney is now their undisputed leader.
• Aug. 20, 1878 (approx.)—The Regulators arrive in Puerto de Luna and sell a few of their horses. As in Sumner, they attend the local bailes and remain in town for the next two days.
• Aug. 22, 1878 (approx.)—The Regulators move on to Anton Chico, where they hear that San Miguel County Sheriff Desiderio Romero is looking for them. The Regulators, with Billy Bonney leading them, confront Romero and an eight-man posse in a local saloon and, greatly intimidated, Romero admits he has no warrants for their arrests. Remaining affable, Billy buys a round of drinks for the sheriff and his men and instructs them to leave the saloon when they’ve finished their drinks and not bother the Regulators anymore. Having no desire to test Billy, who is acquiring an infamous reputation throughout the territory, Romero and his men do just as they’re told and the Regulators are left undisturbed for the rest of their stay in Anton Chico.
• Aug. 25, 1878 (approx.)—Having been in Anton Chico for several days, and with their stolen horses all sold off, the Regulators have a meeting to discuss their next move. George and Frank Coe announce that with the war over, warrants out for their arrests, and both their ranches looted, there is nothing keeping them in New Mexico. They plan on riding north to Colorado to start over. Dirty Steve Stephens, Jose Chavez y Chavez, and John Scroggins also decide to call it quits and go their seperate ways. The remaining eight Regulators (Billy, Fred Waite, John Middleton, Jim French, Henry Brown, Tom Folliard, Sam Smith, and George Bowers), plan to ride back south to Sumner and, for the time being, continue to wage war on what remains of the Dolan faction. With all the decisions made, the Regulators all shake hands, say their goodbyes, and go their seperate ways.
• Late Aug. 1878—The Regulators arrive back in Fort Sumner and are reunited with Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock. Both men still have their jobs on the Maxwell ranch and have also obtained living quarters in the old Indian hospital located in the small town. They go on to inform their fellow Regulators that they plan on moving their families from their ranches on the Rio Ruidoso up to Sumner. Meanwhile, Big Jim French continues to ride on to Lincoln, where he resumes his role as Susan McSween’s bodyguard.

September 1878

• Murphy-Dolan Faction’s Control: The Murphy-Dolan faction reasserts control over Lincoln County with the Regulators severely weakened after the Battle of Lincoln. Billy the Kid becomes a wanted fugitive..

• Sept. 1, 1878—Doc and Charlie, with help from Billy and the other Regulators, begin moving their families and belongings from their Ruidoso ranch to Fort Sumner. Neither Doc nor Charlie attempt to sell the ranch, basically leaving it abandoned. Instead of riding back to Sumner with Doc and Charlie, Billy and the Regulators elect to return to Lincoln. They basically take over the town, with most of the Dolan gunmen either not present or unwilling to fight.
• Sept. 4, 1878—Gov. Axtell is suspended by Pres. Hayes. Meanwhile, Gen. Lew Wallace is on his way to New Mexico to take over Axtell’s position as governor.
• September 4, 1878 – Lew Wallace becomes governor, replacing Governor Axtell. Lew Wallace would become a key figure in Billy’s life
• Sept. 5, 1878—The Regulators decide to leave Lincoln and ride to the ranch of Charles Fritz, site of the murder of Frank MacNab in April. Possibly out of revenge for harboring MacNab’s killers or for his allegiance to Dolan, the Regulators plan to steal some of Fritz’s horses.
• Sept. 6, 1878—Around five in the afternoon, the Regulators arrive at the ranch of Charles Fritz. There, they discover two of Fritz’s sons herding a remuda of thirteen horses and 150 head of cattle. Sam Smith and George Bowers put guns to the two boys’ heads and order them to dismount their own horses. The Regulators then gather up the remuda, plus the two horses the Fritz boys were riding, and ride off with them. Charles Fritz himself witnesses the act, but is powerless to stop the theft.
• Sept. 7, 1878—Charles Fritz rides to Fort Stanton and reports the theft of his horses and cattle to Col. Dudley. Although Dudley would love to send troops after the Regulators, his hands are tied. What Fritz doesn’t know is that the Regulators are already herding his horses to the Texas Panhandle town of Tascosa, where they plan to sell them. Tascosa, located near the Canadian River and such ranches as the LX, LIT, and LS, is infamous as a place for dealing with stolen stock. Jim French, Sam Smith, and George Bowers, however, do not accompany the other five Regulators (Billy, Tom Folliard, Fred Waite, John Middleton, and Henry Brown) on the trip, but rather stay in Lincoln County, possibly to remain guarding Susan McSween.
• Mid-Sept. 1878—John Selman shoots and kills a member of his gang named Ed Hart, allegedly for trying to usurp his role as leader.
• Sept. 17, 1878—Susan McSween gets word from Dolan henchman Bill Gentry that her assassination is close at hand. Faced with this, she gathers whatever belongings she can and hitches a ride on the mail hack when it comes to Lincoln. She then begins her trek to Las Vegas to live with her sister’s family. With Mrs. McSween gone, Jim French and George Bowers also leave Lincoln, and possibly return to the area around Fort Sumner to stay with Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock and await the return of the other Regulators from Tascosa. Sam Smith also leaves Lincoln, but goes his own way in an attempt to lie low.
• Sept. 23, 1878—An announcement appears in the Mesilla Valley Independent from Judge Bristol, stating that there will not be an October term of court held in Lincoln.
• Sept. 25, 1878—At Red River Springs, near the Texas-New Mexico border, the Regulators encounter several Chisum men with a herd of cattle. With the Chisum cowboys is Sallie Chisum, and she and Billy once again renew their friendship. The number of horses in the Regulators’ herd has greatly increased from the fifteen they stole from Fritz. Most likely, they stole more horses from other horse thieves when they passed through Puerto de Luna and Anton Chico.
• Sept. 27, 1878—Selman’s Scouts buy 1,000 rounds of ammunition at Fort Stanton. When Col. Dudley hears of this, he finds the Scouts, takes back all they bought, and has them kicked off the fort. Angered, the Scouts ride to the nearby store and saloon of Will Hudgens, ransack it, abuse Hudgens’s wife and sister, and badly beat a man named Sheppard who tried to intervene. They then ride into Lincoln with the intention of looting the Ellis store, but upon finding armed guards there, they elect to break into various homes throughout town instead. Around this same time, the Regulators cross the Texas line. As they ride to Tascosa, they encounter a lone rider on the plains who introduces himself as Dr. Henry Hoyt. Hoyt is a young man ”adventuring in the west” as he puts it and is also riding towards Tascosa. Though he knows the Regulator’s reputation, they are friendly to him so he decides to ride to the town with them. Almost immediately, Hoyt developes a friendship with Billy Bonney.
• Sept. 28, 1878—At the small Hondo village of La Junta, Selman’s Scouts loot the store of Avery Clenny of $800. They then ride down to the old ranch of Frank Coe and Ab Saunders, loot it, then burn it to the ground. Continuing down the Hondo, they arrive at the Chaves ranch, where they find four young boys cutting hay and a nearby remuda of ten horses. Without warning, the Scouts kill three of the boys, Clato and Desiderio Chaves and Lorenzo Lucero (who is retarded) and steal the horses. Further down the river, near Picacho, they steal several horses from the ranch of Martin Sanches and murder his fourteen-year-old son Gregorio. Possibly on this same day, the Regulators and Hoyt enter Tascosa, where word is quickly spread of their arrival and intentions. When the local cattlemen hear of this, they send LIT Ranch wagon boss C. S. McCarty to speak to the Regulators and find out their real purpose for being in town. McCarty meets with Billy and asks him why he and his men are in Tascosa, to which Billy responds that they have some cattle and horses they wish to sell. McCarty most likely knows that the animals are stolen, but tells Billy that the Regulators can stay in town as long as they want, provided they cause no trouble. Billy gives McCarty his word that there will be no trouble from he nor any of the other Regulators. With that settled, the Regulators quickly begin selling off their livestock. They make their camp at a creek located just outside of town and hang out often at the Howard & McMasters store and saloon. They also enjoy the town’s hospitable atmosphere and nightly bailes. Quickly, they make friends with the town’s various inhabitants.
• Sept. 29, 1878—Gen. Wallace arrives in Santa Fe. On the same day, Jimmy Dolan, who has been staying at Fort Stanton, leaves the fort for Santa Fe himself.
• Sept. 30, 1878—Lew Wallace is sworn in as the Governor of New Mexico Territory. On the same day, Selman’s Scouts ride to Bartlett’s Mill near Lincoln. There, they rape the wives of two millworkers.
• Late Sept. 1878—Rob Widenmann leaves La Mesilla (where he has been since the middle of June) for Las Vegas. He does not stop anywhere near Lincoln on his way.

October 5, 1878

• Tunstall’s Murder Trial: The trial for those accused of John Tunstall’s murder begins, but due to corruption and intimidation, the defendants are acquitted, further fueling Billy the Kid’s sense of injustice.
• October 1878 – Billy the Kid had moved on from the Lincoln County War and was now located in Texas. While in Texas, he becomes good friends with a young doctor named Henry Hoyt. He gives Hoyt Sherriff Brady’s horse, and Hoyt gives him a watch.

• Early Oct. 1878—While Fred Waite, John Middleton, and Tom Folliard remain in Tascosa, Billy and Henry Brown ride to the LX Ranch to try to sell some of their remaining horses. The LX’s superintendent, W. C. Moore, has made it clear over the last few days that he holds some disdain for the Regulators, believes they are common thieves, and should be chased out of town. Upon arriving at the ranch, Billy and Brown quickly realize they won’t be selling off any of their horses here. Nevertheless, they eat dinner and spend the night and in the morning, Billy and Brown confront Moore in private. With their guns out, the two Regulators tell Moore to keep his mouth shut regarding their activities from now on…or else. With that, they ride back to Tascosa and meet back up with their three comrades.
• Oct. 5, 1878—A party led by Isaac Ellis and Sam Corbet is organized in Lincoln to pursue Selman’s Scouts, which are again heading for Seven Rivers. Along the way, gang member Roscoe ‘Rustling Bob’ Bryant is shot and killed by his own gang and his body is dumped somewhere along the banks of the Pecos River.
• Oct. 7, 1878—Pres. Hayes issues a proclamation, informing all parties in Lincoln County to cease their fighting and return to their homes before noon on Oct. 13, or else martial law will be declared.
• Oct. 9, 1878—Rob Widenmann arrives in Las Vegas from Mesilla. He meets with Susan McSween and gives to her $500, a gift from John Tunstall’s family in England. She quickly writes a letter to the Tunstalls thanking them and asks them, if they can spare it, to send her an additional $500. Shortly thereafter, Widenmann leaves New Mexico for his family home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and then onto England, where he stays for a time with the Tunstall family.
• Oct. 10, 1878—Dudley writes a letter to Gov. Wallace, detailing to him the recent murders in Lincoln County. Meanwhile, a party from Lincoln led by Juan Patron catches up to and kills three of Selman’s Scouts, two of which possibly being John Nelson and V. S. Whitaker. Shortly thereafter, most of the gang return to Texas.
• Mid-Oct. 1878—With the money she now has, Susan McSween hires local one-armed lawyer Huston I. Chapman and with him, plans to prosecute Col. Dudley for the death of her husband and the burning of her home. Chapman suggests they return to Lincoln to better prepare the case and he writes a letter to Col. Dudley asking him for military protection for himself and Susan while they are in Lincoln. Dudley refuses to do so. At the same time, Chapman writes several letter to Gov. Wallace, bashing Dudley and claiming he is criminally responsible for Alex McSween’s death. Furious over this, Dudley mounts his own attack Susan, by trying to paint a picture of her as a dishonest, immoral woman. His first course of action is to get affidavits from her enemies attesting to this. Elsewhere in New Mexico, a group of Mexicans to Texas to sell some crops kill a man known as Hart, who had been a friend of the Jones family of Seven Rivers. When the Mexicans near Black River, they are ambushed by John, Jim, and Bill Jones, Marion Turner, and other Seven Rivers Warriors. In the melee, between three and nine of the Mexicans are killed, while a few others manage to escape. Meanwhile, back in Tascosa, the Regulators continue to enjoy themselves. With most of their stolen horses and cattle now sold, they gamble frequently in the local saloons. Dr. Hoyt has remained a companion of theirs since they arrived in town and attends the local dances with them. The Regulators eventually get banned from the dances, however, when they smuggle firearms inside the dance-hall. Still, the good times persist and at one point, Billy engages in a shooting contest with Temple Houtson and famous visiting lawman Bat Masterson. The Regulators continue to make the Howard & McMasters store and saloon their primary headquarters and, one day, Folliard and a local he’s gambling with get into an altercation in the store. The two nearly draw their guns, but Billy, standing nearby, comes between them, pulls Tom away and calms him down.
• Oct. 20, 1878—In Santa Fe, L. G. Murphy succumbs to his terminal cancer at the age of forty-four. He is shortly thereafter buried in the Masonic & Odd Fellows Cemetery.
• Oct. 22, 1878—Gov. Wallace writes a letter to Carl Schurz, informing him that since Pres. Hayes issued his proclamation, the violence in Lincoln County has subsided considerably.
• Oct. 24, 1878—In Tascosa, Billy and Henry Hoyt are hanging out in the Howard & McMasters store. Ever since their arrival in Tascosa, Hoyt has made it known that he admires one of the few Fritz horses Billy still hasn’t sold, an Arabian sorrel named Dandy Dick. As they lean across the bar, Billy grabs a piece of paper and pen and hastily scribbles a bill of sale, thereby giving possession of the horse to Hoyt. Forever grateful for this present, Hoyt shortly thereafter says goodbye to Billy and the other Regulators and rides out of Tascosa, onto a new adventure. Several years later, Hoyt will discover that the horse Billy gave him was actually owned by Sheriff William Brady and had been the one he had ridden into Lincoln on the day he was assassinated. Shortly thereafter, Billy announces to his fellow Regulators that it’s time to return to New Mexico. To his surprise, Fred Waite, John Middleton, and Henry Brown announce they don’t want to return. Waite plans to return to his family home in Indian Territory, Middleton wants to ride over to Kansas to start a new life, and Brown tells of his plan to remain around Tascosa and get a job on one of the local ranches as a cowboy. Tom Folliard, however, remains loyal to Billy and tells him he will follow him wherever he goes. Waite, Middleton, and Brown all try to convince Billy and Tom to also decide against returning to New Mexico, to no avail. With that, the five remaining Regulators disband and Billy and Tom begin riding back to New Mexico.

November 1878

• Pardons and Politics: In the aftermath of the Lincoln County War, political maneuvering and promises of pardons for various participants, including Billy the Kid, create a tense and uncertain atmosphere in the territory.
• November 13, 1878 – Governor Wallace issues a proclamation of amnesty for parties involved in the Lincoln County War. Billy returns to Lincoln County to make peace with his enemies. It seemed as if this truce would work until a couple of months later.
• Early Nov. 1878—Billy and Tom return to New Mexico and once again make Fort Sumner their headquarters. There, they are reunited with Charlie Bowdre and Doc Scurlock, as well as Jim French and George Bowers. Not having their own place, they spend their nights in the homes of Doc, Charlie, or one of Billy’s many girlfriends, or at one of the sheep ranches located outside of town. Billy, who frequently gambles in the town’s two saloons of Beaver Smith and Bob Hargrove, soon meets a buffalo hunter who arrived from Texas about a year ago. The man, standing almost six-and-a-half feet tall, goes by the name of Pat Garrett and is a bartender in Smith’s saloon. He had previously worked on Pete Maxwell’s ranch, but had been fired, allegedly for stealing some of his employer’s cattle. Billy, as well as his fellow former Regulators, quickly get to know Garrett and become quite friendly with him. Allegedly, Billy developes the closest relationship with Garrett, as the two attend the local bailes together, gamble together, and are basically often seen in each other’s company.
• Nov. 3, 1878—Hearing that Billy is back in New Mexico, Sheriff Peppin, still at Fort Stanton, requests military assistance to arrest him, as well as any other Regulators still in the territory.
• Nov. 6, 1878—Col. Dudley has by now acquired affidavits from Sheriff Peppin, Saturnino Baca, Francisco Gomez, John Priest, and Jack Long, as well as Lt. Dr. Dan Appel, Lt. Samuel Pague, and Lt. George Smith supporting Dudley’s assertion that Susan McSween is a lewd, dishonest woman with a bad reputation.
• Nov. 13, 1878—Gov. Wallace issues a proclamation stating that all persons who committed a crime in Lincoln County from Feb. 1 through the current date are officially pardoned. Wallace also adds a stipulation stating that military personnel stationed within Lincoln County may also partake of the amnesty. However, the amnesty does not apply to anyone already facing indictments for crimes committed during the war. So, basically, this is no help to Billy Bonney, who has already been indicted for the murders of Sheriff Brady and Buckshot Roberts. When Col. Dudley hears of this amnesty proclamation, he is outraged. He resents Wallace for specifically stating that soldiers may also be pardoned, thereby implying they are guilty of something. He immediately begins writing a letter to the Santa Fe New Mexican, in which he blasts Wallace and the amnesty.
• Nov. 21, 1878—Dudley’s letter appears in the New Mexican. The letter condemns Wallace for alligning Dudley and his soldiers with the killers and thieves throughout the county. The letter also demands that Dudley be made aware of any crimes he is being accused of. Throughout the letter, it is made perfectly clear that Dudley will not partake in the pardon out of pride, even though it was possibly Wallace’s intent to help him with the proclamation, by a way of giving him an easy way out.
• Nov. 23, 1878—Susan McSween and Huston Chapman return to the town of Lincoln. Susan has had the family of Saturnino Baca officially evicted from their house, which was on the McSweens’ property, and so her and Chapman take up residence there.
• Nov. 30, 1878—In La Mesilla, John Kinney is arrested for the 1877 murder Ysable Barela. When the principal witnesses of the murder hear of this, they all either leave the area or claim they have more important matters than to testify at Kinney’s trial. Due to this, Kinney asks for, and receives, a change of venue to Grant County.
• Late Nov. 1878—Five of the remaining members of Selman’s Scouts, Frank Wheeler, Charlie Moore, H. J. Bassett, Jake Owens, and John Irvin, steal several head of cattle from Pat Coghlan’s Tularosa ranch. Coghlan, with help from several military troops, pursues the outlaws for three days until they capture all of them. When they appear in court a few days later though, Coghlan does not appear to testify against them, and all five are then released. Owens, Bassett, and Wheeler go their own ways, but Irvin and Moore decide to ride together to Las Cruces. Also around this same time, Col. Dudley has a private meeting at Fort Stanton with a recently arrived Texas hardcase named Billy Campbell. What’s discussed in the meeting, and how the two even know each other, is unknown.

• Dec. 1, 1878—Huston Chapman posts a notice in Lincoln requesting a town meeting to discuss the county’s current state of affairs.
• Dec. 7, 1878—Chapman’s town meeting is held, but no record exists of what was discussed therein. On the same day, Gov. Wallace writes to Gen. Edward Hatch, commanding officer of New Mexico Territory, and asks him to remove Col. Dudley from his position as Fort Stanton’s commanding officer. For some reason though, Hatch does not.
• Dec. 11, 1878—The bodies of Selman’s Scouts Jack Irvin and Charlie Moore are discovered in the White Sands. They have been shot several times and robbed by two unknown men who are never caught. It’s doubtful a full-fledged effort was made to find the killers in the first place.
• Dec. 12, 1878—Billy Bonney, Tom Folliard, Jim French, and Doc Scurlock ride into Lincoln, probably with the intent to partake of Wallace’s amnesty. What Billy and Doc apparently don’t realize is that since they are already under indictment, the amnesty is null to them.
• Dec. 13, 1878—Sheriff Peppin, still at Fort Stanton, hears of the four former Regulators’ presence in Lincoln. Normally, he would just ignore this, but unfortunately for him, he must be present at Lincoln today to attend probate court. Fearing what would happen to him if he were to enter town alone, Peppin requests a military escourt to accompany him to Lincoln and guard him while he’s there. Lt. James H. French is given this duty, along with two noncommissioned officers and fifteen soldiers. Peppin, French, and the soldiers arrive in Lincoln around noon and, when Peppin goes to the courthouse, French and the soldiers stand guard outside. When court adjourns around five o’clock, Peppin asks French to stay the night in Lincoln, to guard him again tomorrow. French complies and, after quartering his men, joins Peppin for a few drinks at the Montano store and saloon. Around nine o’clock, Peppin and French, the latter very drunk, hear that the ex-Regulators are hiding out in the western end of town. When Peppin refuses to go after them, French says he will go if he is deputized. Peppin immediately deputizes French, who then takes three men with him and goes to the house of Maximiano de Guevara, a known Regulator hangout. After harassing the house owner, French realizes that there are no Regulators here and proceeds onto the house of former sheriff John Copeland. At Copeland’s, French discovers and arrests a young boy carrying a pistol and takes him to the Baca house. At the Baca house, French encounters Susan McSween and Huston Chapman. French, no doubt knowing who Chapman is, becomes increasingly hostile, threatens him with his pistol, and ends up challenging Chapman to a fight. Chapman, however, wisely declines. Furious, French leaves the Baca house and retires for the night. Later on, John Copeland gets into an argument with nineteen-year-old Juan Mes. The argument comes to an abrupt end when Copeland shoots Mes in the stomach. While Mes is only wounded, Copeland immediately turns himself in to Deputy James Tomlinson. Tomlinson then wakes Lt. French so that he can give Copeland military protection.
• Dec. 14 , 1878—In the morning, Huston Chapman and fellow lawyer Sidney Wilson, who has recently set up practice in Lincoln, travel to Montano’s where Lt. French is holding Copeland. When Chapman and Wilson requests to see Copeland, French (again drunk) refuses to allow them to do so. After some more insults, French finally relents and the two lawyers meet with Copeland. Later in the day, Chapman and Wilson reprsent Copeland at his hearing for shooting Juan Mes. Copeland pleads self-defense and is quickly acquitted. Following the hearing, Chapman and French once again get into an argument, one that again involves French challenging the one-armed lawyer to a fight. Following this incident, Chapman avoids French for the rest of the day. What French is unaware of is that later this afternoon, Chapman, Mrs. McSween, and Maximiano de Guevara swear out warrants for his arrest for felonious entry and assault with intent to kill. When French returns to Fort Stanton this evening, Col. Dudley promptly places him under military arrest and meanwhile, assembles a board of inquiry to convene the next day to investigate French’s actions in Lincoln.
• Dec. 15, 1878—In the morning, the board of inquiry travels from Stanton from Lincoln. In Lincoln, the board gathers statements regarding French’s actions from Chapman, Mrs. McSween, Guevara, Sebrian Bates, Bonnie Baca, Sidney Wilson, Justice of the Peace John Wilson, Juan Patron, Jose Montano, Sheriff Peppin, and George Barber. When the board returns to Stanton that evening, French gives his own account of the events.
• Dec. 16, 1878—A civil warrant for the arrest of Lt. French is served on Col. Dudley, who refuses to turn him over to the civil authorities in Lincoln. Lt. Appel is sent to Lincoln to investigate and upon his return to Stanton, Dudley changes his mind and sends French to Lincoln under the escort of Lt. Byron Dawson. Meanwhile, Will Hudgens rides into Stanton from Lincoln and informs Dudley that a mob (believed to be Billy Bonney and the other ex-Regulators) is gathering with the intent to kill the wounded Juan Mes, as well as Johnny Hurley, who is guarding him. Dudley sends Lt. Appel back to Lincoln to bring Mes and Hurley to the fort for protection. On the same day, Gen. Hatch forwards Wallace’s letter to him requesting the removal of Dudley to the assistant adjutant general, Philip Sheridan, Department of the Missouri. Also on this day, Charles Fritz requests Dudley give military protection to his ranch, which he fears will be plagued by rustlers again. Dudley refuses.
• Dec. 20, 1878—Dudley rules Lincoln off-limits to all soldiers at Stanton, and at the same time declares Stanton off-limits to anyone from Lincoln who does not arrive at the fort accompanied by a military escort. Dudley goes one step further to specifically forbid Billy Bonney, Tom Folliard, Doc Scurlock, Jim French, and ”all other parties recognized as the murderers of Roberts, Brady, Tunstall, Beckwith, and Bernstein” from seeking sanctuary at the fort.
• Dec. 21, 1878—At Fort Stanton, the board of officers investigating Lt. French rule that ”no further action” should be taken against him and the case is dropped. On the same day in Grant County, John Kinney is acquitted of the murder of Ysabel Barela. He quickly reunites with his gang and they continue their depredations in Dona Ana County, while Kinney also finds a job as an army scout.
• Dec. 22, 1878—Allegedly, Billy Bonney and Tom Folliard, still hoping to partake in Wallace’s amnesty proclamation, ride into Lincoln, surrender, and are placed in Lincoln’s jail/pit. After a couple of hours though, the pair lose their nerve and easily escape.
• Dec. 27, 1878—With Peppin back at Stanton, Billy Bonney, Tom Folliard, Doc Scurlock, and probably others such as Charlie Bowdre, Yginio Salazar, George Bowers, and Jose Chavez y Chavez (Jim French is not present because he recently left New Mexico Territory for Indian Territory) , again ride into Lincoln and take over the town. Jimmy Dolan, John Long, and Billy Mathews all flee Lincoln in fear for their lives and take refuge at Stanton, despite Dudley’s recent proclamation forbidding civilians from seeking sanctuary at the fort.
• Late Dec. 1878—George Peppin officially resigns as sheriff and decides to remain at Stanton working as a butcher. With his resignation, the status of all his deputies is now null as well.
• Dec. 31, 1878—Gen. Sheridan forwards Wallace’s request that Dudley be removed to his superior, Gen. William Sherman. Sherman then passes the request onto the Secrtary of War, with his own recommendation that Dudley not be removed. Meanwhile, at Fort Stanton, a party is held to celebrate the new year.

Summary of 1878

• 1878 was a crucial year in the life of Billy the Kid, dominated by the violent and chaotic events of the Lincoln County War. The murder of John Tunstall, the formation of the Regulators, and the various battles and skirmishes, including the significant Battle of Lincoln, marked this year. Despite the conflict and turmoil, Billy the Kid’s legend as an outlaw and gunfighter continued to grow.

Billy the Kid Timeline for 1879

January 1, 1879

• Outlaw Activity: Billy the Kid, now an infamous outlaw, continues his activities in the New Mexico Territory, moving between hideouts and evading law enforcement.

• Jan. 1, 1879—Lincoln resident George Kimbrell is appointed as the new sheriff to replace Peppin.
• Jan. 3, 1879—John Truesdale, Acting Chief Clerk of the War Department, issues a statement stating that the Secretary of War is declining to remove Col. Dudley.
• Jan. 11, 1879—Justice Wilson writes to the Mesilla Valley Independent, stating that Lincoln County is currently peaceful.
• Jan. 13, 1879—With the help of Huston Chapman, Susan McSween gets appointed as the administratix of the estates of her late husband, John Tunstall, and Dick Brewer. Shortly thereafter, Chapman goes before Justice Wilson and swears out a warrant against Col. Dudley for arson and complicity in the murder of Alex McSween.
• Jan. 18, 1879—According to the Mesilla News, Mrs. McSween and Jimmy Dolan strike a peace treaty, but judging from later events and the lack of details, this seems to be an unfounded rumor.
• Jan. 20, 1879—In a buggy owned by Mrs. McSween, Chapman leaves Lincoln for his offices in Las Vegas.

February 18, 1879

• Feb. 7, 1879—Upon hearing of George Peppin’s resignation as Lincoln County’s sheriff, U. S. Marshal John Sherman rescinds Peppin’s appointment as a deputy marshal as well.
• Feb. 10, 1879—From Las Vegas, Chapman writes a letter to John Tunstall, Sr., in London. In the letter, Chapman informs the elder Tunstall that his son’s estate is now being handled by Mrs. McSween. Also in the letter, Chapman tells of how the Regulators have been indicted for murder and have no money to defend themselves. It is Chapman’s hope that Tunstall, Sr. will send some money to pay the Regulators for their service in avenging his son’s death.
• Feb. 11, 1879—Chapman, along with David Shield, travel to Santa Fe to meet with Gov. Wallace himself. The two wish to inspect the affidavits Dudley has acquired charging Mrs. McSween as a dishonorable woman, but when they ask Wallace to allow them to do this, he refuses. Although Chapman is angry over this, Wallace does promise him that he now intends to visit Lincoln himself in the near future to better investigate. After this, Chapman decides to return to Lincoln alone. Before he leaves, his friends Ira Leonard, a fellow attorney, and J. H. Koogler, the Las Vegas Gazette‘s editor, beg him not to go, telling him he’ll surely be killed if he does. Chapman tells them that he agrees there’s a chance he could be harmed, but that, no matter what, he must continue his case against Col. Dudley. With that, Chapman departs Vegas, once again in Mrs. McSween’s buggy. On the same day, Mrs. McSween hears that Tunstall cattle are being held in Seven Rivers by Bob Speakes, Seven Rivers Warrior and former member of Selman’s Scouts. She quickly writes a letter to Col. Dudley requesting military assistance in reacquiring the cattle.
• Feb. 12, 1879—Dudley, not wanting to look partisan, writes a response to Mrs. McSween, assuring her he’ll help in the retrieval of the cattle. He also writes letters to the commanding officer of Fort Bliss and the Texas Rangers, asking them to make sure the Tunstall cattle are not moved over the Mexico border. Meanwhile, Capt. Henry Carroll and a detachment of troops, who have been in the Seven Rivers area with Sheriff Kimbrell, locate and recover 275 head of stolen cattle, about which half are Tunstall’s. Carroll and most of his men then begin herding the animals to Roswell, while six of the troops are sent to the nearby Tom Catron cow camp (formerly Dolan & Co.’s) to help herd 2,100 head of cattle to the Mescalero-Apache Reservation Agency. What Carroll is unaware of is that the cattle are actually being herded to Catron’s Carrizozo ranch (formerly Murphy’s Longview Ranch), and that Jimmy Dolan and several outlaws, including Jessie Evans and several of his gang, are doing the herding. One of the new additions to Jessie’s gang who is also present is Billy Campbell, the same man who has some past with Col. Dudley and had a private meeting with him back in November.
• Feb. 15, 1879—The herd of 2,100 cattle reaches Fort Stanton. Word of this quickly reaches Lincoln, where Billy Bonney currently is. Tired of running and fighting Dolan men, Billy writes a letter to Jessie Evans conveying this and expressing a wish to meet and make peace. Billy then has someone from town carry the note over to Stanton and deliver it to Evans. Evans reads the note and shows it to Dolan and the other men with him, all of whom would also like to cease the fighting once and for all. It’s decided that a meeting will be held in Lincoln on the night of the 18th to discuss the terms of the peace.

• February 18, 1879 – The Kid meets up with Evans in Lincoln to propose a truce. A peace treaty is formed, and both sides forget their differences. Later that evening, the party of men comes across Susan McSween’s attorney, Huston Chapman. While the Kid stood by watching uneasily, Evans and his men harass and then shoot the attorney.

• Feb. 18, 1879—In the afternoon, Huston Chapman, suffering from a case of neuralgia, returns to Lincoln and visits Mrs. McSween, informing her of Gov. Wallace‘s impending visit to Lincoln. Shortly after dark on the first anniversary of the murder of John Tunstall, Billy Bonney, Tom O’Folliard, Doc Scurlock, George Bowers, Yginio Salazar, and maybe Jose Chavez y Chavez, hide behind an adobe wall on one side of Lincoln’s only street. On the other side of the street, behind their own adobe wall, hide Jimmy Dolan, Jessie Evans, Billy Campbell, Billy Mathews, and Edgar Walz (Tom Catron’s brother-in-law). No one on either side is stepping into the open, for fear they’ll be shot. Finally, Jessie Evans yells out that his party should kill Billy on site, to which Billy responds ‘’I would prefer not to open negotiations with a fight, but if you come at me three at a time, I’ll whip the whole damned bunch of you!’’ Walz then bravely steps out into the middle of the street and manages to calm both parties down and convince them all to come out in the open. All the men shake hands and elect to go to one of the town’s saloons to formally discuss the terms of the treaty. In the saloon, a written treaty is made, with six conditions. First, no one from either party may kill someone from the other party without first giving notice of his withdrawal from the treaty. Second, anyone who has acted as an ally to either side is not to be harmed. Third, no harm is to come to any military personnel who aided either side in the war. Fourth, no member of either side is to testify against someone from the other side in court. Fifth, if any member from either side is to be arrested, other members from both sides must do all they can to aid in his resistance, or even his release if he does get arrested and jailed. Sixth, if anyone partaking in the treaty fails to live up to its conditions, he must be killed. With the treaty completed, all participants decide to celebrate and order several drinks in the saloon. Meanwhile, Sheriff Kimbrell rides to Fort Stanton and requests that Col. Dudley grant him military assistance in arresting Billy Bonney and Yginio Salazar. Dudley does this and sends Lt. Byron Dawson and twenty troops with Kimbrell to Lincoln. Back in town, the Billy-Dolan party, most of the members of which are now drunk, head over the house of Juan Patron, recently arrived from a trip to Las Vegas. Upon entering the house, Billy Campbell, who is very drunk and quite dangerous when sober, pulls his pistol on Patron. Luckily, Patron jumps behind other members of the group and Campbell holsters his gun. Shortly thereafter, the party leaves Patron’s and heads to Frank McCullum’s Oyster House and saloon, which was recently built adjacent to the McSween house ruins. On their way to McCullm’s, the party runs into Huston Chapman in the street. Campbell stops Chapman and begins antagonizing him, until at one point Campbell pulls his pistol and sticks it into the lawyer’s chest, ordering him to dance. Chapman refuses to dance however, and asks Campbell if he is Jimmy Dolan, to which Jessie Evans interrupts that Campbell is not Dolan, but a ‘’damned good friend of his.’’ Suddenly and without provocation, Dolan fires his Winchester rifle (either into the ground or into Chapman) and Campbell simultaneously fires his pistol. The bullet from Campbell’s gun strikes Chapman in the chest and the close proximity of the muzzle flash sparks his clothes on fire. The lawyer cries out that he has been killed, staggers a few feet, and falls dead in the street. Thinking nothing of it, Dolan and his men continue to McCullum’s. Billy and his men, probably shocked at what has just happened, are also forced to go along. In the saloon, Campbell boasts ‘’I promised my God and Gen. Dudley I would kill Chapman and now it’s done!’’ During the feast of oysters and alcohol, Dolan states aloud that Chapman didn’t have a gun on him and gives Walz a pistol to go place on the corpse. When Walz demurs though, Billy says that he’ll do it. Taking the pistol, Billy, along with his men, leave the saloon and immediately head for their horses, which are corralled at the Ellis house. They then quickly ride out of Lincoln for San Patricio. Shortly thereafter, the Dolan men return to their homes and are apparently too drunk to realize that Billy didn’t plant the gun on Chapman. Around 11:30, Sheriff Kimbrell, Lt. Dawson, and the twenty troops enter Lincoln and search several homes for Billy and Salazar, and although they do not find them, they do discover the body of Chapman, still lying in the street. When Kimbrell and Dawson located Justice Wilson and inform him of this, he says he already knows, but could find no one to help him move the body. Dawson and his men then carry the body into the courthouse.
• Feb. 19, 1879—Fearing the murder of Chapman will respark a shooting war, Sheriff Kimbrell sends a note to Fort Stanton requesting that troops be stationed in town. Accompanying the note is a petition signed by every citizen of Lincoln. Upon receiving the note, Dudley sends Lt. Millard Goodwin, twelve troops, and a Gatling gun to Lincoln. Mrs. McSween, saddened and angered over the murder of her lawyer, allows the soldiers to use the Tunstall store as barracks while they stay in town. No attempt is made to arrest the murderers of Chapman.
• Feb. 20, 1879—The body of Chapman is buried besides the Tunstall store, with the bodies of John Tunstall, Alex McSween, Frank MacNab, and Harvey Morris. On the same day, Justice Wilson drops the lawsuits brought against Dudley by Chapman. Also on the same day, Dudley himself visits Lincoln and attends a town meeting.
• Feb. 23, 1879—Sheriff Kimbrell asks Lt. Goodwin to have some of his men accompany him to San Patricio to try to arrest Billy Bonney and Yginio Salazar. Goodwin consents and sends six troops along with Kimbrell, but once again, they fail to locate either former Regulator and return to Lincoln empty-handed.
• Feb. 27, 1879—By now having heard of Chapman’s murder, Gov. Wallace makes a formal request to Washington to allow him to impose martial law in Lincoln County. His request is denied. Nevertheless, he decides that he must travel to Lincoln quicker than originally planned to investigate the murder himself. Around this same time, Mrs. McSween hires Ira Leonard to replace Chapman as her lawyer. Leonard quickly gets to work and draws up charges against Dudley for having aided and abetted in the murder of Alex McSween, the arson of the McSween house, the looting of the Tunstall store, threatening to place Justice Wilson in irons on July 19, and slandering Mrs. McSween.

March 13, 1879

• Mar. 2, 1879—Wallace and Gen. Edward Hatch leave Santa Fe for Lincoln.
• Mar. 4, 1879—Ira Leonard forwards his charges against Dudley to the secretary of war.
• Mar. 5, 1879—Wallace and Hatch arrive in Lincoln. Hatch continues on to Stanton, while Wallace makes his quarters in the Montano house. The governor then interviews several town citizens and learns that Dolan, Evans, Campbell, and Mathews are hiding out at the Carrizozo ranch of Tom Catron. Wallace hastily sends a letter to Stanton, requesting that the military arrest the Chapman murderers at the Catron ranch.
• Mar. 6, 1879—A detachment of troops arrives at the Carrizozo ranch and arrest Jessie Evans, Billy Campbell, and Billy Mathews; Jimmy Dolan is left behind. The three men are then taken to Fort Stanton and kept in the guardhouse. Sidney Wilson of Lincoln is appointed as the trio’s lawyer. On the same day, Wallace hears that Billy Bonney and Tom Folliard are at the house of Yginio Salazar, near Las Tablas. The rumor going around is that Billy and Tom plan to flee New Mexico and are only resting at Salazar’s. Not wanting the pair to escape his jurisdiction, Wallace sends another letter to Stanton, this time requesting that troops be sent to arrest the ex-Regulators. A small detachment is soon sent to Salazar’s home, but neither Billy nor Tom are there. That evening in Lincoln, Wallace holds a town meeting and announces that he plans to again request Col. Dudley’s removal.
• Mar. 7, 1879—Wallace travels to Fort Stanton and once again asks Gen. Hatch to remove Dudley, this time giving Dudley’s apparent connection to the Chapman murder as a reason. Hatch consents and Dudley is stripped of his status as Stanton’s commanding officer; Capt. Henry Carroll is now given that responsibility. When Dudley, who is currently in La Mesilla, hears of this, he demands a court of inquiry (which is meant to investigate his case to see whether a court martial is warranted).
• Mar. 8, 1879—Jimmy Dolan turns himself in at Fort Stanton. However, unlike Evans, Campbell, and Mathews, he is not placed in the guardhouse and is allowed to travel between the fort and Lincoln.
• Mar. 11, 1879—Wallace makes a list of thirty-seven men who have committed crimes in Lincoln County that he wants arrested and sends the list to Capt. Carroll at Stanton. Of the thirty-seven, nine are Regulators and most of the rest are various members of the Jessie Evans Gang, Seven Rivers Warriors, and Selman’s Scouts. The first name on the list though, is John Slaughter, a rancher who managed to remain neutral during the war and is wanted on a murder charge predating the conflict.
• Mar. 13, 1879—Billy Bonney writes a letter to Wallace. In the letter, Billy states that he was a witness to the murder of Chapman and would have come forward sooner if he weren’t already facing indictments. He also says that he would be willing to testify in court against Dolan and the others if the governor could help him with his indictments. On the same day, Wallace forms the Lincoln County Mounted Rifles, a militia group organized for the purpose of arresting the men wanted throughout the county. The group is led by Juan Patron, along with 1st Lt. Ben Ellis and 2nd Lt. Martin Sanches and over two dozen others serving as the troops, nearly all of which are Hispanic. Former Regulators Jose Chavez y Chavez, Yginio Salazar (who himself was on Wallace’s wanted list), Fernando Herrera, Jose Maria Sanchez, Martin Chaves, Florencio Chaves, Jesus Rodriguez, and Eusebio Sanchez are among the ranks of the obvious pro-McSween cause group.

• March 13 – 21, 1879 – In response to the shooting, Billy the Kid writes Governor Lew Wallace saying that he will testify against Chapman’s killers. This would break the treaty he had made with Evans and Doland.  The governor receives his letter and says he is willing to meet to discuss the terms. He closes the letter by saying, “If you can trust Jesse Evans, you can trust me.”The Kid and the governor meet, and an arrangement is made. If the Kid submits to a fake arrest and testifies in court against Dolan, Evans, and Colonel Dudley, he would be pardoned. Billy is then arrested and brought to Lincoln to testify.

• Mar. 14, 1879—The secretary of war agrees to allow a court of inquiry into Dudley’s actions on July 19, 1878.
• Mar. 15, 1879—Wallace writes a response letter to Billy Bonney. In the letter, Wallace tells Billy to come alone to the house of Justice Wilson in Lincoln on the night of the 17th to meet with him. The purpose of their meeting will be to discuss the terms of Billy’s testimony against Dolan and his men involved in the Chapman murder.
•  March 15- The governor writes to the Kid telling him that he would meet with him to discuss the terms. In closing he writes, “If you can trust Jesse Evans, you can trust me.”
• March 17- The Kid and the governor meet and an arrangement is made. If the Kid submits to a fake arrest and testifies in court against Dolan, Evans, and Colonel Dudley, he would be pardoned.

• Mar. 17, 1879—Shortly after dark, Wallace and Justice Wilson hear a knock at the door of the latter’s house. Afterwards, in steps Billy Bonney, with his pistol in his left hand and his Winchester in his right. Wallace stands up and introduces himself and assures Billy that he is in no danger, to which Billy puts away his firearms. The two then sit at a table and discuss the Chapman murder. The governor proposes that if Billy will undergo a faux arrest and testify before a grand jury about what he saw on the night of Chapman’s murder, he will then be allowed to ‘’go scot free with a pardon in your pocket for all your misdeeds.’’ Needless to say, Billy likes the sound of this and even suggests that he should be placed in shackles before he testifies in order to keep Dolan and the others from suspecting anything. With that, Billy stands, saying he will think over the matter more closely and write Wallace a response in a couple days. He then rides out of Lincoln for San Patricio.
• Mar. 18, 1879—With the help of a soldier known as Texas Jack, Jessie Evans and Billy Campbell manage to escape from the guardhouse at Fort Stanton and the three take to the hills. The Lincoln County Mounted Rifles go off in pursuit of the escapees. When Billy hears of this, he writes a letter to Wallace, asking him if the deal is still on with Evans and Campbell now running free again.
• Mar. 19, 1879—From Stanton, Wallace writes a response to Billy, telling him that if Billy will still follow his end of the bargain, then he will still follow his.
• March  20 or 21- The Kid and Tom O’Folliard are arrested and brought to Lincoln

• Mar. 20, 1879—Billy writes another letter to the governor, telling him that he will still testify before the grand jury. He instructs Wallace to send Sheriff Kimbrell and his men a mile south of San Pat to arrest him. In the letter, Billy also advises Wallace on where to look for Evans and Campbell.
• Mar. 21, 1879—Near San Pat, Sheriff Kimbrell and a small posse find and arrest Billy, along with Doc Scurlock. The pair are brought back to Lincoln and, much to the chagrin of Billy and Doc, are placed in the jail/pit. On the same day, Dudley is transferred from Stanton to Fort Union.
• Mar. 22, 1879—In La Mesilla, John Kinney opens up a butcher shop. No doubt, this is a manner for him to dispose of the cattle he and his gang rustle.
• Mar. 23, 1879—Billy and Doc are moved from the jail/pit to Juan Patron’s house, where they are still kept in shackles and guarded by Deputy T. B. Longworth. While staying in the Patron house over the next few weeks, Billy and Doc are frequently visited by friends, such as Tom Folliard and Dan Dedrick, as well as many of the local Hispanics, who bring them food, drinks, cigars, and play music for them. At some point during his confinement, Billy writes a letter to Wallace detailing to him some of the local rustling operations and naming specific rustlers.
• Mar. 28, 1879—Wallace visits Billy and Doc at the Patron house. During the visit, Billy tells the governor of more details regarding the county’s rustling activities. Probably also during this visit, Billy takes Wallace to the riverbank and demonstrates his shooting skills, to which the governor is very impressed.
• Mar. 31, 1879—Once again, Wallace telegraphs Washington and requests that he be allowed to declare martial law in Lincoln County and, once again, his request is denied.

April 1879

• Apr. 10, 1879—Dudley arrives back at Fort Stanton from Fort Union in order to prepare for his upcoming court of inquiry.
• Apr. 12, 1879—A patrol of troops led by a Pvt. Fletcher find and capture Texas Jack at Dowlin’s Mill. They also confiscate the horses of Evans and Campbell, who manage to escape into the hills on foot. Texas Jack is taken back to Stanton and placed in the guardhouse with fifteen other outlaws (mostly Dolan men) that have been recently captured.
• Apr. 13, 1879—On their way to Lincoln from Mesilla, Judge Warren Bristol, D. A. William Rynerson, and others arrive at Stanton. There, Judge Bristol releases the prisoners in the guardhouse (except Texas Jack), due to petitions of habeas corpus that were brought upon by the prisoners’ collective lawyer, Sidney Wilson. Needless to say, Wallace is not pleased with this.

• April 14 – June 17, 1879 – Billy does what he agreed to do. He testifies in court against Chapman’s murderers and then again against Colonel Dudley and his involvement in the siege of McSween’s home. After three months, the governor did not issue a warrant, and Billy was scheduled for trial. He feels betrayed, walks out of jail, and rode off. There was no opposition.

• Apr. 16, 1879—At Fort Stanton, the Dudley Court of Inquiry (DCOI) convenes.
• Apr. 18, 1879—Gov. Wallace leaves Lincoln County and returns to Santa Fe. Due to this, the DCOI is post-poned, to allow Wallace to return to Stanton and be present for the preceedings.
• Apr. 20, 1879—Before the court in Lincoln, Billy’s hearing is held, in regards to the indictments he faces in the murders of Sheriff Brady and Buckshot Roberts. Expecting this to simply be a formality in order for him to receive his pardon from Wallace, he is quite surprised when D. A. Rynerson, one of his mortal enemies, decides to press the charges. Rynerson applies for, and receives, a change of venue for the trial to be held in Dona Ana County, Rynerson’s home turf. Rynerson is no fool and knows that if the trial were to be held in Lincoln, Billy would easily be acquitted by a jury made up of his friends, but if it were held in Dona Ana County, where only Billy’s reputation was known, he would quickly be found guilty. Nevertheless, Billy remains hopeful that Wallace will still come through for him. Ira Leonard, who has been acting as Billy’s counsel of sorts, writes a letter to the governor, detailing him of this and of Rynerson’s staunch support of Dolan and his men.
• Apr. 25, 1879—Two unidentified outlaws race through Lincoln on horseback and fire two shots through the window of the house where Ira Leonard is staying. Luckily, no one is hit by the bullets, but it’s made clear that this was an assassination attempt.
• Apr. 30, 1879—The grand jury adjurns and makes no attempt to conceal its biasness when of the 200 indictments that are issued, only two are for Tunstall-McSween men. These two are against Tom Folliard and Sam Smith for the rustling of Charles Fritz’s livestock back in September. Smith has fled the area months ago, but Tom simply claims Wallace’s amnesty and the charges against him are dropped. Of the other indictments, George Peppin and nineteen others are indicted for the murder of Frank MacNab. Of these men, several are already dead (i.e. Bob Beckwith and William Johnson) and several others have fled the territory (i.e. Charlie Kruling and Tom Cochran). Most of those still remaining in Lincoln County, such as Buck Powell, Billy Mathews, John Long, and Johnny Hurley, claim the amnesty and the charge against them is dropped. Peppin is also indicted, along with John Kinney and Col. Dudley, for the burning of the McSween house. Peppin refuses to take part in the amnesty on either charge though, preferring to be fully exonerated in court. Dudley also shares this sentiment. John Selman and eight of his henchman are indicted for several of the crimes they committed during their reign of terror in September. Seven Rivers Warriors John Jones and Marion Turner are indicted for the actual murder of Alex McSween. In the case of the Chapman murder, Billy Campbell and Jimmy Dolan are indicted as principals, with Jessie Evans indicted as an accessory. Dolan, Mathews (still facing indictment as an accessory to the Tunstall murder), Peppin, and Col. Dudley all apply for, and are granted, a change of venue to Socorro County for their trials.

May 1879

• May 10, 1879—With Gov. Wallace back at Fort Stanton, the DCOI convenes. Presiding over the proceedings is a tribunal consisting of Col. Galusha Pennypacker (one of Dudley’s closest friends), Maj. Nathan Osborne, and Capt. Henry Brinkerhoff. Henry Waldo serves as Dudley’s counsel and Capt. Henry Humphreys serves as recorder, or prosecutor, along with Ira Leonard.
• May 12, 1879—In La Mesilla, John Kinney gets word of the indictment he now faces for the burning of the McSween house. He immediately gathers his belongings and flees for Arizona Territory. On the same day, Gov. Wallace is called as the first witness in the DCOI. The governor tries to justify his removal of Dudley as the commanding officer of Stanton, but nearly everything he says is objected to by Dudley and Waldo.
• May 16, 1879—Gov. Wallace finishes his testimony at the DCOI. Shortly thereafter, he returns to Santa Fe, without waiting for the proceedings to be completed.
• May 23, 1879—Susan McSween takes the stand at the DCOI and gives her testimony, detailing how, during the end of the Five-Day Battle, she was verbally abused by Col. Dudley and how the colonel obviously supported the Dolan men in their illegal acts.
• May 24, 1879—Word spreads that Jessie Evans and Billy Campbell are hiding out at the Pecos ranch of John Slaughter.
• May 26, 1879—Former McSween house servants Joe Dixon, Sebrian Bates, and George Washington take the stand at the DCOI and testify against Dudley.
• May 28, 1879—Billy Bonney is brought from Lincoln, where he’s still being held at the Patron house, to Fort Stanton, where he takes the stand at the DCOI. Billy testifies that three of Dudley’s soldiers shot at the Regulators as they fled the burning McSween home. Ex-Regulator Jose Chavez y Chavez, who fled from the McSween house with Billy, also testifies that he was fired on by three soldiers.
• May 29, 1879—Billy finishes his testimony and is dismissed from the stand. He is then returned to the Patron house in Lincoln. Over the next few days, Ira Leonard calls more anti-Dudley witnesses to the stand. 

• May 28- The Kid testifies against Colonel Dudley for his involvement in the siege at McSween’s home.
• Murphy-Dolan Faction: Billy the Kid is targeted by the Murphy-Dolan faction, who seek to eliminate him due to his involvement in the Lincoln County War and his continued defiance of their control.

June 1879

• Contact with Governor Lew Wallace: Billy the Kid reaches out to Governor Lew Wallace, seeking a pardon in exchange for testimony against other criminals involved in the Lincoln County War. Negotiations begin but are fraught with mistrust and delays.

• June 4, 1879—Evans and Campbell are reported to be at La Cienega, near Tuscon, Arizona.
• June 6, 1879—Henry Waldo begins calling witnesses to testify in behalf of Dudley. Over the next few weeks, Jimmy Dolan, Saturnino Baca, George Peppin, Andy Boyle, John Long, Billy Mathews, Buck Powell, Dr. Appel, Bob Olinger, Johnny Hurley, Marion Turner, and others take the stand and praise Dudley for his actions in Lincoln on the final day of the Five-Day Battle.
• June 14, 1879—Deputy U.S. Marshal Charles Conklin brings a shackled Frank Coe, who he recently arrested in Colorado, to La Mesilla to stand trial for the murder of Buckshot Roberts. Apparently, Conklin mistook Frank for his cousin George, who was indicted for the Roberts murder, whereas Frank was not. Faced with this, Frank is allowed to go free and returns to Colorado. On the same day, it’s announced by the court that since U.S. Marshal John Sherman did not go to Lincoln and bring Billy Bonney and Doc Scurlock down to Mesilla by now, they cannot be tried in this term.

• June 17- After three months of jail, the Kid had enough. He kept his end of the bargain and there was no pardon for him, and now he was scheduled for trial. Feeling betrayed, he simply walked out of jail and rode off.

• June 17, 1879—Fed up with waiting for Gov. Wallace to come through for him with the pardon he was promised, Billy Bonney, accompanied by Doc Scurlock, walk past their guards and out of the Patron house. Waiting for them outside is Tom Folliard with their horses. The men saddled up and ride out of town, heading north towards the familiar area around Fort Sumner.
• June 24, 1879—A rumor begins to spread that ex-Regulator ‘Big Jim’ French has been shot and killed by unknown rustlers near Lincoln. However, this seems very unlikely.
• June 27, 1879—Brought down to La Mesilla for a hearing over the murders of Tunstall and Chapman, Jimmy Dolan is allowed by Judge Bristol to post $3,000 bond and remain free.

July 

• July 1, 1879—In Las Vegas, a person identified only as ”The Kid” is arrested for illegally operating a monte table. This in all likelihood is Billy Bonney, who arrived in Vegas recently with Tom Folliard and Doc Scurlock and has been making a living as a gambler.
• July 4, 1879—The first New Mexico & Southern Pacific train pulls into Las Vegas, and a massive party is held to celebrate it and the Independence Day. With the railroad’s arrival, the town basically splits in two, with one section called New Town, or East Las Vegas, due to the new businesses the railroad has brought, and the other division called Old Town, or West Las Vegas. Also following the railroad into Vegas is a plethera of gamblers, thieves, killers, gunfighters, and desperados including ‘Dirty Dave’ Rudabaugh, John ‘Doc’ Holliday, Tom Pickett, ‘Mysterious Dave’ Mather, J. J. Webb, Joe Carson, and dozens more. Due to the fact that the majority of these men hail from Dodge City, Kansas, the locals dub them the Dodge City Gang. The leader of this so-called gang is Hyman G. Neill, also known as Hoodoo Brown, who manages to get elected justice of the peace. With this role, he basically takes over the town and appoints fellow Dodge City Gang members to serve as the town’s police force. The town quickly turns into one of the deadliest in America.
• July 5, 1879—With all the testifying at the DCOI now completed, Henry Waldo delivers his closing statement. In his very long statement, he personally insults and degrades just about everyone who testified against Dudley.

July 8th 1879

• New Documentation never disclosed before thanks to Steve Sedarwall COLD WEST Detective Agency
• The board of Lincoln County Commissioner’s meet and allocated $64 dollars to Isaac Ellis to house William Bonnie and Thomas

  Folliard along with their horses. See full documents here  Page 1  Page 2

•  

• July 13, 1879—At the home of A. J. Ballard, Jimmy Dolan marries Caroline Fritz, with John Long serving as best-man. Following the ceremony, Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Dolan leave New Mexico for a two-month honeymoon in Texas.
• July 16, 1879—Former Seven Rivers Warrior Sam Perry shoots and kills former Selman Scout Frank Wheeler at Perry’s ranch near Tularosa. Wheeler had been working for Perry and had apparently been stealing his employer’s cattle.
• July 18, 1879—The tribunal presiding at the DCOI rule in favor of Dudley and declare that a court martial is not necessary.
• July 22, 1879—Dudley is transferred from Fort Stanton to Fort Union.
• July 26, 1879—Allegedly, Billy Bonney has dinner at the Adobe Hotel near Las Vegas. Joining Billy for dinner his old friend from Tascosa, Dr. Henry Hoyt, who is now working at the Exchange Hotel in Vegas. According to Hoyt, also eating dinner with them is new friend Billy just met that Billy introduces as Mr. Howard. Later, when Billy and Mr. Howard go their seperate ways, Billy confides in Hoyt that the man was really the infamous Jesse James, who was investigating New Mexico as a new place to move his family to. Apparently, Jesse liked Billy so much he asked him to return with him to Missouri and join a new gang he was forming. Billy turned him down though, saying he wasn’t much for bank and train robbing.

August 1879

• Testimony and Betrayal: Billy the Kid provides testimony against former associates involved in the Lincoln County War, but his hopes for a pardon are dashed as political and legal complications arise.
• August 9th Sheriff Kimball and his men think they have Billy cornered in a little cabin near Lincoln. They surrounded the building, waited until dawn, only to find the cabin empty. Later the Ft. commander reported, “escaped by climbing up a chimney, leaving his arms behind, and escaping under cover of night.”

• Aug. 10, 1879—A ”Billy Kid” appears in the San Miguel County District Court, charged with illegally keeping a gaming table. However, if the ”Billy Kid” surrounded by Kimbrell’s posse yesterday was really Billy Bonney, that it would be near impossible for this ”Billy Kid” to be Bonney, due to the far distance between the two locations.
• Mid. Aug. 1879—Gold is discovered in the hills thirty miles or so northwest of Lincoln. A boomtown quickly springs up, called White Oaks. A young man around age nineteen and calling himself Billy Wilson (which may or may not be his real name) opens a livery stable in the booming town. Billy Bonney and his friends begin frequenting White Oaks in order to gamble and end up becoming acquainted with Wilson. Billy also gets to know ‘Whiskey Jim’ Greathouse and Fred Kuch, two men who own and operate a way station/ranch/saloon located about forty miles northeast of the Oaks. Also around this time, Billy gets the idea to organize a rustling gang as another way to support himself besides just gambling. With the gangs of John Kinney and Jessie Evans now long gone, and the Seven Rivers Warriors basically disbanding, there will be next to no competition for Billy. His idea is to steal cattle and horses from John Chisum, who he feels wronged him for not paying him for fighting in the Lincoln County War, and the Mescalero-Apache Reservation, then sell the animals in White Oaks, Las Vegas, or the Texas Panhandle. After selling the animals in Texas, Billy’s plan continues, he will steal livestock from the LX, LS, and LIT ranches and drive them back to New Mexico to be sold. The first to join Billy in this endeavor and make up his gang are former Regulators Tom Folliard, Doc Scurlock, and Charlie Bowdre, as well as Sam Cooper of White Oaks, Texas outlaw Joe Cook, horse thief Buck Edwards, Charlie Thomas, Paz Chaves, and Barney Mason of Fort Sumner. Also joining the gang is Mose Dedrick, the youngest brother of former Regulator Dan Dedrick, who now owns the former John Chisum ranch at Bosque Grande, where the gang’s stolen animals will be held. Billy Wilson also gradually starts riding with the gang and allows them to store their animals in his livery stable in White Oaks. The gang also begins storing their stolen livestock at the Greathouse-Kuch ranch and in a large, natural cave located east of Fort Sumner known as Los Portales. Scurlock still works as a ranchhand for Pete Maxwell and Bowdre now works as ranch foreman for Thomas Yerby at his ranch several miles out of Sumner, and the two ride with Billy more out of loyalty to him than out of any necessity for extra income.
• Aug. 13, 1879—A rumor circulates that Jessie Evans has been shot and killed near Fort Stockton, Texas. Although the part about Jessie being killed is false, it is correct in stating that he is in Texas now. In Texas, he puts together another rustling gang. Billy Campbell has already seperated from Jessie and disappeared, and the only member of the old Evans gang to join Jessie’s new one is Dolly Graham, also known as George Davis. The rest of the gang is made up of native Texans, as well as John Selman, former leader of Selman’s Scouts who also fled to Texas following the atrosities his gang committed in Lincoln County. Also around this time, Billy and Tom Folliard ride into Lincoln to visit Susan McSween. Also visiting Mrs. McSween is Frank Coe, who has returned to Lincoln County to retrieve an old haymaking machine of his and take it back to Colorado. A small baile is held that night, with Frank playing the fiddle. Also present at the baile is a sergeant from Fort Stanton, sent to arrest the Kid. Billy confronts the sergeant about this, and the soldier promptly backs down. Later, Frank warns Billy that more soldiers are on their way. Faced with this, Billy and Tom ride out of Lincoln and return to their adopted home of Fort Sumner, where they live with the Bowdres, the Scurlocks, or any of Billy’s local Hispanic friends or girlfriends.
• Aug. 18, 1879—A stagecoach near Las Vegas is held up and robbed by three members of the Dodge City Gang, one of which is possibly policeman ‘Dirty Dave’ Rudabaugh.
• Aug. 26, 1879—At the Seven Rivers ranch of Joe Nash, former Seven Rivers Warriors John Jones and John Beckwith get into a heated argument over stolen cattle. The argument ends when both men pull their pistols and Jones kills Beckwith with one shot. On the same day, Oliver Pleasent Roberts, later Billy the Kid claimant, is born.
• Aug. 29, 1879—Planning on turning himself over to law in Lincoln for the murder of Beckwith, Jones begins riding north from Seven Rivers. On the way, he stops at the ranch of Milo Pierce and Louis Paxton, who are there along with Bob Olinger, Buck Powell, Jim Ramer, and Bill Smith. What Jones does not know is that word of the Beckwith slaying has already reached the ranch and that retribution has been planned. Seeing Pierce lying on a cot on his porch, Jones walks over to shake his hand. When Pierce has his got Jones’s hand in a firm grip, Olinger appears from behind Jones, pulls his pistol, and fires four quick shots. Two of the bullets hit Jones in the back, the other two in the back of his head, killing him instantaneously. One of the bullets, however, passes right through Jones and slams into Pierce’s hip, giving him a pronounced limp for the rest of his life. When Billy Bonney hears of this cowardly killing, he allegedly swears vengeance on Olinger.
• Aug. 30, 1879—Another stagecoach near Las Vegas is robbed, this time by six members of the Dodge City Gang. Dave Rudabaugh is again linked to the crime.
• Late Summer/Fall 1879—The Apaches and their leader, Victorio, engage in a campaign of terror throughout the Southwest. Sometime in this period, Billy Bonney encounters John Chisum at Fort Sumner and orders him to pay him for fighting in the Lincoln County War. Chisum staunchly refuses though, even when Billy threatens to kill him. Billy eventually decides that Chisum is not worth killing and that he’ll just continue to take the payment he deserves out of Chisum’s cattle.

September 1879

• Return to Outlaw Life: Disillusioned by the failed negotiations for his pardon, Billy the Kid returns to his outlaw ways. He and his gang continue rustling cattle and horses, often engaging in shootouts with law enforcement.

October 5, 1879

• Cattle Rustling: Billy the Kid and his gang are involved in a significant cattle rustling operation near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. This event further cements his reputation as a notorious outlaw.

• Oct. 14, 1879—Members of the Dodge City Gang, once again including Dave Rudabaugh, rob a train near Las Vegas of about $4,000.
• Mid. Oct. 1879—Billy Bonney, along with Tom Folliard, Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, and two unidentified Hispanics steal 118 head of Chisum cattle near Bosque Grande. The gang rebrands the cattle then manages to sell them for $800 to some Colorado cattle men. Shortly thereafter, Doc gets word that the law is after him. Getting tired of being constantly hounded, Doc gathers his family and belongings and flees New Mexico to the Texas Panhandle.

November 1879

• Increased Law Enforcement Pressure: Sheriff Pat Garrett is appointed by the newly elected sheriff of Lincoln County, John Poe, with the specific task of capturing Billy the Kid. Garrett begins to systematically track down Billy and his associates.

• Nov. 10, 1879—Col. Dudley appears in La Mesilla to stand trial for the burning of the McSween home. However, the trial is suspended when Susan McSween herself does not appear. The court issues a bench warrant for her arrest.
• Mid. Nov. 1879—Jimmy Dolan, back from his honeymoon, Billy Mathews, and George Peppin appear in Socorro for their trials. Representing them all is Tom Catron, who manages to get the murder case of John Tunstall dismissed for both Mathews and Dolan. The charge of the murder of Huston Chapman facing Dolan is also dismissed, making Dolan a completely free man. The charges of the murder of Frank MacNab and the burning of the McSween home facing Peppin are also dismissed.
• Nov. 16, 1879—George Coe marries Phoebe Brown.
• Nov. 17, 1879—Mrs. McSween finally arrives in Mesilla for the Dudley trial.
• Nov. 20, 1879—Three days after the commencement of his trial, Dudley is acquitted on the charge of arson.

December 10, 1879

• Arrest and Escape: Billy the Kid is briefly captured near Anton Chico, New Mexico, but manages to escape custody once again, further enhancing his legend.

• Dec. 18, 1879—Former Regulator John Middleton marries Maria Colcord.

December 30, 1879

• Hideout in the Capitan Mountains: Billy the Kid finds refuge in the Capitan Mountains, evading law enforcement and planning his next moves with his loyal gang members.

Summary of 1879

• 1879 was a pivotal year for Billy the Kid, marked by attempts to negotiate a pardon with Governor Lew Wallace, continued outlaw activities, and increasing pressure from law enforcement led by Sheriff Pat Garrett. The year’s events set the stage for the final chapter of Billy the Kid’s life, leading to his eventual capture and death in 1881.

1880

• (Jan.10th) Joe Grant challenges the Kid in Ft. Sumner. He pulls a gun on the kid, it misfires (earlier the Kid pretended to admire it, all the while positioning the chamber so the hammer will fall on an empty round) and the Kid shoots him dead, with 3 rounds to Grants chin.
• June- In Fort Sumner, the Kid has some fun with a census taker; he gives his age as twenty-five and he was born in Missouri, as well as both his parents, and listed his occupation as: “working in cattle.”
• Increased Outlaw Activity: Billy’s gang is involved in various robberies and skirmishes with law enforcement. His notoriety grows, and he becomes one of the most wanted men in the New Mexico Territory.
• October 6- Once again, the Kid is tried of dodging the law and he writes to Ira Leonard saying that he wants to try straightening things out again with Governor Wallace. Leonard agrees to meet in him in White Oaks within the week. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the Kid comes six weeks later, so by then the deal is off.
• November 2- Pat Garrett is elected sheriff of Lincoln County.
• November 27- The White Oaks posse surrounds the Kid and his gang at the Greathouse Ranch. During a standoff Deputy James Carlyle is accidentally killed by his own men. Afterwards the posse leaves the ranch and the outlaws escape. The Kid is accused of the deputy’s death, but as he would say “There’s more about that killing then people known.”
•  December 12- The Kid writes to Governor Wallace pleading his innocence concerning the Deputy Carlyle killing and rustling actives in the territory.
• December 14- Sheriff Garrett and his posse begin the hunt for Billy the Kid.
• December 15- The governor puts outs a $500 reward for the Kid’s capture.
• December 19- In Fort Sumner, Garrett and his posse ambush the Kid and his gang. Tom O’Folliard is killed, but the Kid and the others escape.
• December 23- The Sheriff tracks the Kid and his gang to a rock house in  Stinking Springs. When Charlie Bowdre appears in the door, they think it’s the Kid and open fire, Bowdre is killed and there’s a standoff.  After a couple of hours, the Kid and his men surrender.
• December 24- The lawmen bring their prisoners back to Fort Sumner. Charlie Bowdre’s body is delivered to his wife, and the Kid and Rudabaugh are shackled together. The posse then load up the prisoners in a wagon and head for Las Vegas.
• December 25- The posse and their prisoners have Christmas dinner at Padre Polaco’s store in Puerto de Luna. Later that evening they head out and travel all night to Las Vegas.
• December 26- Garrett’s posse and the prisoners arrive in Las Vegas. The town is curious about Billy the Kid, but hostile towards Dave Rudabaugh -several months earlier Rudabaugh had killed one of their deputies.
• December 27- The next morning Sheriff Garrett and his men take the prisoners to the depo, where they are met by a mob who are after Rudabaugh. The lawmen hold the mob back until the train leaves. They then arrive in Santa Fe where the prisoners are placed in jail.

1881

• January 1- The Kid writes to Governor Wallace to come down to the jail to see him.  The governor at the time is out of town.
• February 28- The Kid and his cohorts try to dig their way out of jail, but they are caught. The prisoners are separated and the Kid is chained to the floor in a dark solitary cell.
•  March 2- Getting impatient, the Kid writes another note to the governor, but there is no reply.
•  March 4- The Kid writes another letter, this one with a hint of frustration by threatening to make public the letters they had exchanged back in March of 1879, showing how the governor was in cahoots with him. It was probably an empty threat, because the Kid never did so.
• March 27- Time’s running short and the Kid writes his last note to the governor, but like all the rest, it was ignored.
•  March 28- The Kid is taken to the depot to be transported to La Mesilla for trial.
• March 30- The Kid’s first trial for the killing of Buckshot Roberts commences.
• April 6- The Buckshot Roberts case is dismissed due to a technicality.
• April 8- The Kid’s second trial commences for the killing of Sheriff Brady.
• April 9: Billy is tried and convicted of the murder of Sheriff William Brady. He is sentenced to hang. April 9- The Kid is found guilty of first-degree murder and faces the death penalty. Out of all the men who killed during the Lincoln County War, the Kid was the only one to ever be convicted and punished. The few that were tried in court were all acquitted or pardoned.
• April 13 –The Kid is sentenced to hang on May 13th between the hours of 9am and 3pm.
• April 15- In the morning the Kid writes a letter to attorney Edgar Caypless, concerning the suit for his mare that was confiscated from him when he was arrested by Sheriff Garrett. His attorney Albert Fountain is willing to carry the case further if the Kid could come up with money to pay him, so the Kid is depending on reclaiming his horse to sell her for attorney fees. There is no response from Caypless. Later at 10pm, the Kid is loaded up in an coach and heads out to Lincoln where he is to be hanged.
• April 20- Newman’s Semi Weekly See PDF
• April 21- The Kid arrives in Lincoln and is jailed in the courthouse.
• April 28: Billy escapes from the Lincoln County Courthouse, killing deputies James Bell and Bob Olinger in the process. His daring escape further cements his legendary status.
• July 14: Sheriff Pat Garrett tracks Billy the Kid to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. In a surprise encounter in the dark, Garrett shoots and kills Billy the Kid, ending the life of the notorious outlaw at the age of 21. July 14-  Late at night in Fort Sumner, the Kid is shot and killed by Sheriff Garrett at Pete Maxwell’s house. The Kid was only nineteen or twenty years old.
• July 15- Milnor Rudolph organized a coroner’s jury and makes out a verdict, stating the death of Billy the Kid was justifiable homicide. In the afternoon, the Kid’s body is laid to rest next to his friends, Charlie Bowdre and Tom O’Folliard.
• February or March- Pat Garrett’s book The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid is published. Although the book is more myth than fact, it immortalized Billy the Kid in legend.

1882

• Pat Garrett publishes: “The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid,” written by Pat Garrett and Ash Upson, is published, contributing significantly to Billy the Kid’s legend.