On February 18, 2019 it will mark the 141st anniversary of the brutal murder of John Tunstall at the hands of the Lincoln, New Mexico deputies. It would spark what has been called the bloodiest extended gunfight of the Old West. Over the next several months and even years, men were gunned down and violent stand offs were the norm. Before it was over dozens were dead. When all the desert dust has settled one man had gained infamy as either a hero or a villain, depending on whose side you were on. His name was Henry McCarty, but be would become better know as Billy the Kid.

I first became interested in the Lincoln County War and Billy the Kid years ago when I went to the theater to see a movie called Young Guns. Though it is pretty loose with a lot of the facts, it did provide a very basic background to the story. The premise of a war over cattle rights remained intact. Though flawed it gave me enough incentive to seek out more information and to seek a more historically accurate account of the events that changed the great Southwest.

Who Was John Tunstall?

In the 1870’s the New Mexico Territory was primarily populated by Hispanics and Mescalero Apache. White Anglos, many from Ireland had been moving there in droves, and they were hungry for land in order to raise cattle and make some serious money.

Two of those Irish Immigrants were Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan. They had both left the plague ridden land of Ireland in hopes of a better life in America. They held a huge monopoly on the industry for years. Their operation was run out of the largest building in Lincoln, known as “The House”. They hired a shrewd lawyer named Alexander McSween, whose spunky wife played an active role in his affairs. The House controlled everything in the county, including the politics. They also provided a nice sum of money to the local Sheriff William Brady to help sway the law into their favor whenever needed.

In 1876 a 23 year old englishman named John Tunstall arrived on the scene. He formed a business partnership with Alexander McSween, who had just left working for Murphy and Dolan. Together they sought to strike a deal with John Chism, who owned the biggest cattle ranch in the area. They opened a store across the street from The House and immediately began competing with the big boys.

Lawrence Murphy had become ill, so James Dolan took up most the day to day operations. Since Tunstall was making gains on The House and their control in the region, Dolan began using the law, and any other tactic to harass and bully Tunstall and McSween.

As time went on, the conflicts between the two businesses became more bitter and more confrontational. Dolan often used the law to back up his threats. Tunstall bagan to realize that a real danger was behind the competition. He started hiring young ranch hands who also happened to be quite good with the gun. The leader was Richard Brewer, a level headed man who had experience in dealing with cattle.

Tunstall Meets Billy the Kid

Tunstall also had to deal with the problem of cattle rustling. His business was still new enough that any loss of cattle was a real blow to his efforts to grow his company. In late 1877 a young rustler named William Bonney was arrested on his property. Instead of prosecuting him, Tunstall offered the teenager a job. That boy would later become known as “Billy the Kid”.

Billy was thankful for the opportunity that Tunstall had offered him. He grew to greatly respect the englishman. Finally, someone had given him a chance to straighten his life out and live a normal existence.

John Tunstall also gained a lot from this relationship. He gained a devoted employee who truly valued loyalty and friendship. It also benefited immensely seeing how Billy regularly could be found target practicing with his six shooter. Tunstall hoped that the disputes between him and the House would eventually calm down, but he had surrounded himself with a group of very capable young men just in case.

Day of Reckoning

Lawsuits and land disputes and allegations had flown back and forth for months. Tunstall learned that the sheriff of Lincoln was calling for Tunstall’s arrest. On the morning of February 18, 1878, hoping to straighten things out peacefully, the englishman decided to ride into town and turn himself in, and then allow his lawyer McSween to get things worked out.

The ranch hands, including Billy and Dick Brewer, accompanied him on his ride towards Lincoln. As the party came around a hill they spotted some wild turkeys in the distance. The idea of having a nice dinner that night courtesy of a raucous hunting excursion likely sounded delightful for the men. They all took off around the hill after the turkeys. At that moments a group of deputies sent by Sheriff Brady stepped in front of Tunstall. Approaching them, thinking he could reason with them, Tunstall started to talk. They didn’t give him a chance to say anything. The deputies gunned him down in a spray of bullets.

Tunstall was dead before his body hit the ground. They then shot Tunstall’s horse. Just to be mean, or in attempt to be funny, they put Tunstall’s coat under the dead horses head and moved the body close to the horse to make it look like the two were napping.

Hearing shots, the ranch hands hurried back to find their employer murdered in cold blood. The deputies were gone. The young men brought Tunstall’s body into Lincoln to McSween. They vowed vengeance against the Murphy Dolan faction. Attempts were made to strip Sheriff Brady of his authority. A magistrate was able to deputize Brewer, Billy and the rest of the men as deputies in order to bring in those responsible for the murder, so they could stand trial. Calling themselves the Regulators, the men began scouring the mountainsides to issue the arrest warrants.

All Out War

The intention at first might have been to issue the arrest warrants legally, but it seems that idea fell away quite quickly. The Regulators probably knew that with the way Lincoln’s local government was set up, there was a small chance that the killers would actually be brought to justice. At some point, the jaunts to bring in the accused turned to an opportunity to bypass the courts. The Regulators decided to kill those involved instead of risking the plausible outcome. Once they did that, the legality of what they were doing was stripped They had elected to dole out their own brand of justice, and they had a new hit list…and the name on the top of that list was none other than Sheriff William Brady.

A bloody shootout at Blazer’s Mill left Buckshot Roberts, one of the men responsible for Tunstall’s murder, dead. Dick Brewer, the leader of the Regulators was also killed in that skirmish. The conflict was getting deadlier. The Regulators were now on a course they couldn’t reverse. On April 1, 1878 Sheriff William Brady and five of his deputies were walking along the main road in Lincoln. The Regulators were waiting behind an adobe wall. They opened fire, killing Brady instantly. The war had now gone to a new level with the assassination of a public official. Billy the Kid and the other Regulators were once again wanted men.

The Battle of Lincoln

Three months later violence would escalate again, and reach a turning point in the war. Following the murder of Sheriff Brady, the Regulators retreated to the hills. In an effort to return Alexander McSween to his home in Lincoln the Regulators sneaked into the McSween residence. Word spread fast. Within hours Billy and the others were trapped inside of the house, while McSween supporters hid in adjacent buildings. The other side of the street lined with supporters of the House, which included the new sheriff Peppin. There were periodic bursts of gunfire as the conflict stretched into four days.

The military, stationed about fifteen miles away at Fort Stanton, entered the town on the premise they were trying to keep the peace. In reality the leader Brigadier General Nathan Dudley was firmly on the Murphy/Dudley side. The army’s arrival severely tipped the scales in the direction of the House.

On July 19th the McSween house was set on fire. The group inside sent Susan McSween and all the other women and children out. McSween, Billy and several other Regulators remained inside. It was a slow moving fire since the home was built of adobe and burned very slowly. Still, the blaze moved from room to room, devouring the home as it went. Being the middle of summer and the temperatures were scalding, it became harder and harder to hold out. As the sun began to set, it looked like the inhabitants were going to have to try something.

The Rio Bonito River runs along the north end of Lincoln. Billy believed it would be their only chance at survival. Always a smart strategist, the Kid knew that they had an element of surprise, but they had to move fast. As the sky began to darken, he persuaded the others to follow him out the back and run straight for the river. He went first. His planned worked in that no one was expecting it. He and a few regulators made it to the river with a hail of gunfire eventually catching on. By the time McSween exited, the surprise element was over. He was surrounded in the back where he was shot down.

This drew the Battle of Lincoln to its close. The violence over the four days seemed to exhaust the town as things quieted for a time. The war would continue on for some time, but never as bloody as it had been.

Going Out with a Fizzle Rather Than a Bang

Billy and the Regulators would mostly go their separate ways, though he would continue riding with a few of them, but the band was done. Of course Billy would only gain in infamy. His exploits would continue and we would return to Lincoln on several occasions, but not by his own volition.

In a few months I will be traveling to the town of Lincoln, New Mexico, as well as several other Old West locales. I hope to blog about my trip and the places that are still there from this time. Lincoln itself has changed very little from the days of Billy the Kid. It essentially exists because of its legacy in the Lincoln County War.

I am writing this blog on February 14, 2019. In just four days it will be the 141st anniversary of the John Tunstall’s murder. It was this event more than any other that sparked the hatred and passions that led to the Lincoln County War.