The Lincoln County Battle wasn’t a struggle in any conventional sense. It was a vicious, drawn-out energy wrestle in southeastern New Mexico Territory that ran from 1878 to 1881, pushed by greed, political corruption, and private vendettas. It turned ranchers into gunmen, retailers into targets, and a teenage drifter named Henry McCarty into the legend we all know as Billy the Child.
Extra individuals have heard of Billy than have heard of the particular causes of the battle, which is a disgrace. The Lincoln County Battle is without doubt one of the finest examples of how the Previous West really labored — and the way it fell aside. The firearms these males carried formed each ambush, each final stand, and each road battle from Lincoln to Blazer’s Mills.
The Home: Murphy, Dolan, and the Root Trigger
To know the Lincoln County Battle, you need to perceive The Home. Lawrence G. Murphy and James J. Dolan, each Irish immigrants, operated a common retailer in Lincoln recognized domestically as “The Home.” It wasn’t only a retailer — it was the financial and political engine of Lincoln County.
Murphy and Dolan managed the profitable authorities beef contracts that equipped Fort Stanton and the Mescalero Apache reservation. They prolonged credit score to native ranchers at punishing phrases. That they had the county sheriff, William Brady, firmly of their pocket. Consequently, when you wished to do enterprise in Lincoln County, you went by way of The Home, otherwise you did not do enterprise in any respect.
Murphy was the senior associate, however by the mid-1870s his well being was failing — he was consuming closely and affected by what was possible most cancers. Dolan, youthful and extra aggressive, was more and more working the operation. Their strategies had been easy: political patronage, financial coercion, and when mandatory, violence. It was a system that labored so long as no one challenged it.
The Challengers: Tunstall, McSween, and Chisum
The problem got here from three very completely different males. John Henry Tunstall was a 24-year-old Englishman from London who’d come to New Mexico Territory together with his household’s cash and ambitions of constructing a cattle empire. Alexander McSween was a Canadian-born lawyer who’d initially carried out authorized work for The Home however had damaged with Murphy and Dolan over a monetary dispute. In the meantime, John Chisum was the largest cattle rancher within the area, working tens of hundreds of head throughout a territory the dimensions of some jap states.
In 1877, Tunstall opened a competing common retailer in Lincoln and, along with McSween, established a financial institution. This was a direct problem to The Home’s monopoly. Dolan and Murphy responded with authorized harassment, submitting lawsuits and getting courtroom orders to grab Tunstall’s property.
Tunstall, for his half, wasn’t notably diplomatic concerning the scenario. He brazenly introduced his intention to interrupt The Home’s grip on Lincoln County commerce. Poking that specific bear was going to have penalties.
The Homicide That Began It All
On February 18, 1878, a posse led by William Morton — working underneath a courtroom order to grab Tunstall’s cattle and horses — caught up with Tunstall on the highway to Lincoln. Tunstall was driving with a number of of his ranch arms, together with Billy the Child, Dick Brewer, John Middleton, and Fred Waite. Because the posse approached, the ranch arms scattered into the hills. Tunstall, apparently believing he may resolve the scenario peacefully, stayed on the highway.
He was incorrect. Members of the posse — together with Morton, Jesse Evans, and Tom Hill — shot Tunstall useless. He was struck by two rifle bullets, one within the chest and one within the head. The posse then shot Tunstall’s horse and positioned the useless man’s hat underneath the horse’s head, apparently as a gesture of contempt. A federal investigator, Frank Warner Angel, later decided that Tunstall had been murdered in chilly blood.
Tunstall’s homicide lit the fuse. His cowhands and supporters, together with Billy the Child, shaped a vigilante group known as the Regulators, with Dick Brewer as their chief. They obtained deputizations from a sympathetic justice of the peace and got down to arrest Tunstall’s killers — although “arrest” was an optimistic time period for what that they had in thoughts.
The Regulators Strike Again
On March 6, 1878, the Regulators captured William Morton and Frank Baker, two males recognized as members in Tunstall’s homicide. Each prisoners had been killed whereas allegedly “making an attempt to flee” on March 9. Moreover, a Regulator named William McCloskey, suspected of being a Dolan spy, was additionally killed through the incident.
On April 1, 1878, the Regulators ambushed Sheriff William Brady and his deputies on the primary road of Lincoln, firing from behind an adobe wall subsequent to Tunstall’s retailer. Brady was hit by at the very least a dozen rounds and died on the street. Deputy George Hindman was additionally mortally wounded. Billy the Child was later charged with Brady’s homicide — one of many few authorized penalties anybody confronted throughout your entire Lincoln County Battle.
Three days later, on April 4, the Regulators killed Andrew “Buckshot” Roberts at Blazer’s Mills in a close-range gunfight that additionally value Dick Brewer his life. Roberts, regardless of being gut-shot within the opening volley, barricaded himself in a constructing and fought for hours with a Springfield rifle, killing Brewer with a shot to the pinnacle. It was one of the outstanding final stands in frontier historical past — a dying man who refused to give up.
Washington Intervenes
The bloodshed in Lincoln County ultimately obtained Washington’s consideration. The British authorities filed a proper grievance over Tunstall’s homicide — he was, in spite of everything, a British topic killed underneath questionable authorized authority. In response, President Rutherford B. Hayes dispatched a particular investigator, Frank Warner Angel, whose report documented a sample of corruption, homicide, and abuse of authorized course of by the Dolan-Murphy faction.
In September 1878, territorial governor Samuel Axtell was changed by Lew Wallace — sure, the identical Lew Wallace who wrote Ben-Hur. Wallace arrived with directions to revive order. He issued an amnesty proclamation and even met secretly with Billy the Child in March 1879, reportedly providing the Child a pardon in change for testimony in opposition to Dolan’s allies within the homicide of Huston Chapman, a one-armed lawyer who’d been gunned down on the streets of Lincoln.
Billy held up his finish and testified earlier than a grand jury, however the pardon by no means materialized. Wallace had a novel to complete and a territory to manipulate, and preserving guarantees to a teenage outlaw apparently ranked low on his listing.
The Lincoln County Battle reached its climax within the 5-Day Battle of Lincoln, fought from July 15 to July 19, 1878. Alexander McSween returned to Lincoln with roughly 41 supporters. He positioned about ten males in his own residence and distributed the remainder all through the city, together with on the Ellis retailer. Opposing them had been Dolan’s forces, bolstered by a contingent of Seven Rivers cowboys and backed by Sheriff George Peppin.
For 4 days, the 2 sides exchanged hearth throughout the city of Lincoln. Neither aspect may dislodge the opposite. Then, on the evening of July 18-19, Dolan’s males set the McSween home on hearth. Because the flames unfold room by room, the trapped Regulators had no alternative however to try a breakout.
McSween tried to give up. He was shot 9 instances and killed. A minimum of 4 different Regulators died within the escape try. Bob Beckwith, a Dolan supporter, was additionally killed within the chaos — reportedly hit by pleasant hearth, although accounts fluctuate. Nonetheless, Billy the Child and several other different Regulators managed to slide by way of the Dolan strains within the darkness and escape into the hills.
The 5-Day Battle successfully ended the organized part of the Lincoln County Battle, although the violence continued to sputter for years afterward. Billy the Child continued his profession of cattle rustling and gunfighting till Pat Garrett shot him useless at Fort Sumner on July 14, 1881. Lawrence Murphy died of most cancers on October 20, 1878, simply months after the battle. James Dolan was ultimately indicted for Tunstall’s homicide however acquitted; he later acquired Tunstall’s property and died on his ranch in 1898.
The Weapons of the Lincoln County Battle
The firearms carried through the Lincoln County Battle had been the usual arms of the late 1870s frontier. Understanding what these males carried helps clarify how the combating unfolded — and why sure engagements performed out the way in which they did.
Colt Single Motion Military
The Colt Single Motion Military — launched in 1873 and chambered mostly in .45 Colt — was the dominant revolver on the New Mexico frontier. By 1878, the Peacemaker (because it got here to be recognized) was accessible from Colt in a number of barrel lengths, from the short-barreled “Sheriff’s Mannequin” to the usual 7.5-inch cavalry size.
In 1878, Colt started providing the Single Motion Military in .44-40 Winchester because the “Frontier Six-Shooter,” which allowed a person to hold one caliber of ammunition for each his revolver and his rifle. On a frontier the place resupply was unsure, that mattered enormously.
Winchester Mannequin 1873
The Winchester Mannequin 1873 was the lever-action rifle of the period. Chambered in .44-40 Winchester (and later .38-40 and .32-20), it was a fast-handling repeater that could possibly be fed by way of a loading gate on the precise aspect of the receiver. It held as much as 15 rounds in its tubular journal within the full-length rifle configuration. For extra on Winchester’s historical past and the way they dominated the frontier market, see our detailed firm profile.
For males combating on the ranges typical of Lincoln County — throughout a road, throughout a corral, from behind an adobe wall — the Winchester ’73 was a perfect weapon. It wasn’t a long-range precision arm, however in a close-quarters gunfight in a frontier city, price of fireside mattered greater than ballistic efficiency at distance. Evaluate that to the broader position lever-action rifles performed throughout your entire American West.
Colt Mannequin 1877 “Thunderer” — Billy the Child’s Sidearm
The Colt Mannequin 1877 “Thunderer” deserves particular point out as a result of it was Billy the Child’s recognized sidearm. The 1877 was Colt’s first double-action revolver. The “Thunderer” variant was chambered in .41 Lengthy Colt, whereas the “Lightning” was in .38 Lengthy Colt.
When Pat Garrett killed Billy the Child at Fort Sumner in 1881, the outlaw’s pistol was examined and described as “a self-cocker, calibre .41” with “5 cartridges and one shell within the chambers.” That is a Thunderer with 5 reside rounds and one spent case — a gun that had just lately been fired, or at the very least loaded on an empty chamber for security.
Springfield Mannequin 1873 “Trapdoor”
The Springfield Mannequin 1873 “Trapdoor” additionally noticed use within the Lincoln County Battle, notably amongst members with army connections. The only-shot .45-70 Authorities was the usual U.S. Military longarm of the interval, and surplus or stolen examples had been frequent on the frontier. On the battle at Blazer’s Mills, Buckshot Roberts used a Springfield rifle to devastating impact from a barricaded place.
Sharps Carbines and Frontier Logistics
Sharps carbines had been additionally current in Lincoln County, although much less frequent than the Winchester repeaters. The Sharps was a single-shot breechloader constructed for accuracy and energy at longer vary — a essentially completely different device than the fast-cycling Winchester. Some members carried Sharps .50-caliber carbines, surplus from the buffalo looking commerce and Indian Wars. For context on how Sharps rifles formed different frontier battles, see our protection of Billy Dixon’s legendary shot at Adobe Partitions.
However the actual story with firearms on the New Mexico frontier wasn’t which weapons males carried — it was preserving them fed. Lincoln County in 1878 had no railroad and restricted common shops. Ammunition needed to be freighted in by wagon from Las Vegas, Santa Fe, or additional.
A person carrying a Winchester in .44-40, a Colt in .45, and a Springfield in .45-70 wanted three completely different cartridges, and working dry on any one among them turned an costly weapon right into a membership. That logistical actuality is a giant a part of why the .44-40 “Frontier Six-Shooter” pairing was so widespread — slicing your ammunition wants from three calibers to 2 was a real tactical benefit when the closest resupply level was a three-day trip.
Shotguns on the Frontier
Shotguns had been current as properly. Double-barreled shotguns loaded with buckshot had been frequent frontier weapons, notably helpful for close-range combating in and round buildings. Throughout the 5-Day Battle, with males taking pictures from homes and shops at targets throughout slim streets, a shotgun loaded with buckshot was arguably extra sensible than a rifle.
What It Truly Meant
The Lincoln County Battle wasn’t a easy story of fine guys and dangerous guys, although Hollywood has tried to make it one for over a century. Tunstall and McSween had been difficult a corrupt monopoly, however their very own strategies weren’t all the time noble. The Regulators dedicated murders that had been justified as regulation enforcement however seemed loads like revenge killings. Dolan’s faction was corrupt and violent, however they operated with the quilt of authorized authority for a lot of the battle.
What the Lincoln County Battle actually illustrated was the fragility of regulation and order in a territory the place political energy, financial management, and authorized authority had been all concentrated in the identical arms. When that system was challenged, there was no impartial establishment able to resolving the dispute peacefully. The outcome was three years of bloodshed in a county that had possibly 2,000 residents.
That is what occurs when the regulation and the monopoly are the identical factor. Right this moment, Lincoln, New Mexico, nonetheless stands as a State Historic Web site the place you may stroll the identical streets and see the firing positions for your self.
Additional Studying
If the Lincoln County Battle grabbed your consideration, these books go deeper than any article can. Robert Utley’s Excessive Midday in Lincoln is the definitive educational historical past of the battle — meticulously sourced and truthful to all sides. His Billy the Child: A Brief and Violent Life is the perfect biography of McCarty/Bonney, slicing by way of a century of delusion to get on the documented report.
Frederick Nolan’s The Lincoln County Battle: A Documentary Historical past compiles main sources — letters, courtroom paperwork, depositions — that allow you to learn what really occurred within the members’ personal phrases. His The West of Billy the Child is a photographic companion piece with over 250 photos, many printed for the primary time, that places faces and locations to the names within the story.
For a extra narrative strategy, Mark Lee Gardner’s To Hell on a Quick Horse reads like a thriller whereas sticking to the historic report — it is the primary twin biography of Billy the Child and Pat Garrett, and Robert Utley himself known as it “very good narrative historical past.” Michael Wallis’s Billy the Child: The Infinite Trip takes a revisionist angle, exploring why the Child grew to become one among America’s most enduring folks figures.
For broader context on the firearms and conflicts of the American frontier, our articles on Jesse James’s weapons, Annie Oakley, and Sam Bass cowl different key figures of the identical period and the weapons they relied on.
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