The Lincoln County War

The Lincoln County War was a 19th century range war between two groups of men over ranching rights and dry goods stores. In Lincoln county Lawrence Murphy owned "thee" general store, The House, for the area. New Mexico had cheap land and a young Englishman, John Tunstall, wanted to make his own mark. He joined up with Alexander McSween, an attourney, and John Chisum, one of the west's most prosperous cattelmen. Together they started buying up land and livestock. The local ranchers didn't like Chisum's herds grazing on public lands because they took up most of the land. They ranchers sided with The House. JJ Dolan and John Riley had bought the House from Murphy and were not going to give up their monopoly.
Chisum did not like the fact that a couple of local businessmen controlled the government contracts on beef to supply Army posts and Indian reservations but the corrupted office holders sided with Dolan & Riley. Tunstall was being threatenend for building his ranch and general store. To protect his assets Billy the Kid joined him and Tunstall also hired a strong gunfighter, Dick Brewer, to protect his land. Other strong gunslingers were hired too.
The corrupt officials, the Santa Fe Ring, ordered Sheriff Brady, who was owned by The House, to get a court order to obtain some of Tunstall's livestock as payment of a "so called" unsettled debt. Sheriff Brady chose Billy Mortan, a hot tempered man, to get a posse together (which was the Jesse Evans gang) and go get the Tunstall's livestock. When Tunstall saw the posse coming he confronted them and ordered them off his land. Jesse Evans, part of the posse, shot Tunstall in the chest. When Tunstall fell to the ground Morton got off his horse, took Tunstall's own gun and shot him in the head. He then took his own rifle and with the butt of the rifle mashed Tunstall's skull. Billy the Kid and several of Tunstall's riders were witnesses to this murder. Dick Brewer, after the killing,was appointed a special constable by the Justice of the Peace to serve warrants against Tunstall's killers. He, Billy the Kid and the rest of the riders, called the Regulators, were ready to go. This was the start of back and forth revenge killings between the two gangs for the next several months.
The killings continued for several more months. Billy the Kid and the Regulators were going to track down and kill Tunstall's killers. The two gangs finally climaxed at what is known as the Lincoln County Battle. It was a four day gunfight and seige of the town which ended up killing several Regulators. Billy the Kid, with the rest of the Regulators, continued to haunt Tunstall's killers. In 1880 Pat Garrett was named Sheriff of the the county who then tracked down Billy the Kid and the leftover Regulators and killed them.
The Lincoln County War has been depicted in to movies, "Chisum" and "Young Guns". Tomorrow, I will have more information about Billy the Kid and why he is a local hero/villan in Lincoln County.