The Lincoln County War was a conflict between
rival cattle barons in 19th century
New Mexico Territory.
the early 1870's two men by the names of Lawrence Murphy and
owned the only store in
Dolan Mercantile and Banking. Soon, another man named
John Riley also entered into the business. At the time, Lincoln
County was the largest county in the nation, covering 1/5 of
territory. In addition to the store,
Dolan also owned large cattle
Having influential territorial ties to
Santa Fe, the merchants were able to obtain several lucrative
contracts with the military at
The old courthouse in Lincoln,
now serves as a museum. Photo around 1930.
Mercantile and Banking monopolized the trade of the county,
controlling pricing, making immense profits on their goods, and
virtually having a hand in nearly every part of the economy of the
large county. The merchants, along
with their allies, which included local law enforcement, were
familiarly known as "The House.”
For obvious reasons,
Murphy and his allies were
disliked by the small farmers and ranchers in Lincoln County as they
were forced to pay high costs for their goods, while at the same time,
accepting low prices for their cattle.
Alexander McSween, a lawyer, and
John Tunstall, a wealthy 24-year old English cattleman and banker,
set up a rival business called H.H. Tunstall & Company near the one
Murphy and Riley.
Supporting them was a
large ranch owner named
John Chisum, who owned more than 100,000 head of cattle.
Furious at this
Dolan attempted to goad
Tunstall into a gunfight. However,
Tunstall refused to use
violence himself but soon recruited
Billy the Kid, officially, as
a "cattle guard.”
In February, 1878, "The House” proprietors
obtained a court order to seize some of
Tunstall's horses as payment for an outstanding debt. When
Tunstall refused to surrender the horses, Lincoln County Sheriff,
William Brady, formed a posse led by deputy William Morton to
seize them. After protesting the presence of the posse on his land,
Tunstall was shot in the head on February 18, 1878. This incident
started what became known as the Lincoln County War.
the Kid was deeply affected by the murder,
Tunstall was one of the only men that treated him like he was
"free-born and white." After
Billy swore: "I'll get every
son-of-a-bitch who helped kill John if it's the last thing I do."
Adding fuel to the fire, it was rumored
Tunstall had been murdered on the orders of
Billy would not be able to immediately exact
his revenge as he, along with Fred Waite, were briefly jailed by
William Brady. After he was released,
Billy soon joined a posse led by
Tunstall's Ranch Foreman, called the
Regulators. The group's primary aim was to hunt for
Tunstall's killer, William Morton.
On March 6, 1878, the
Regulators tracked Morton in the countryside near the Rio Peñasco.
After a five mile running gunfight, Morton surrendered on the
condition that his fellow deputy sheriff,
Frank Baker, would be returned alive to
However, on the third day of the journey back to
Lincoln, on March 9th,
Billy and another
killed the prisoners, along with one of their fellow
Regulators that had tried to stop them.
Three weeks later
Billy and several other
Regulators holed up in
Tunstall's store while Sheriff
for the killers of his deputies. They ambushed the sheriff and his men on
April 1, 1878, killing Sheriff
and mortally wounding one of his