Somehow, Billy the Kid, born in New York, ended up in the New Mexico Territory. We met up with his legend in the tiny museum town of Lincoln, New Mexico, in the county of Lincoln. The Lincoln County War, 1878 to 1881, brought some notoriety to the small town of Lincoln. Billy the Kid got mixed up in the War, which was actually a blood feud that got way out of hand.
James Dolan had cornered the market in dry goods, having the only store in Lincoln County. He did, however, until 1876, when John Turnstall and Alexander McSween, with financial backing from rancher John Chilsum, opened up a competing dry goods store in Lincoln. The competition wasn’t friendly. Both sides gathered a contingency of allies to harass each other.
Dolan was backed by Lincoln County Sheriff, Brady, and the Jesse Evans Gang. The Turnstall-McSween faction gathered a rival group that called themselves The Regulators. They included Town constable Richard Brewer and US Marshall Widenmann. Billy the Kid threw in his lot with The Regulators.
The Lincoln County War turned bloody when John Turnstall was gunned down by the Jesse Evans Gang. The Regulators retaliated by eliminating Sheriff Brady. That sparked a number revenge killings culminating in the Battle of Lincoln, a five-day gun battle (1878) that resulted in the death of McSween and the dispersing of The Regulators.
In 1880, Pat Garrett was named sheriff of Lincoln County. He hunted down and killed some of the dispersed Regulators, including Billy the Kid, who was a mere 21 years old. In all, 23 were killed and 23 were wounded in the War. The best I could gather, the Dolan faction came out on top.
Besides killing people, Billy the Kid was a very talented jail breaker. No jail could hold him. It took a bullet from Sheriff Garrett to finally stop Billy.
So, where do we come in? We drove the Billy the Kid Scenic Byway Loop. It pretty much included all of Lincoln County with the highlight being a stop in the town of Lincoln. The town is a combination of a handful of shops, bed and breakfasts, and a craft brewery plus a bunch of semi-restored buildings that were part of a network of museum pieces. We spent the most time in the Brewery. I had a wonderful Stout and Wanda enjoyed a glass of Jo Mamma’s Sweet Red Wine. She liked it so much that we bought a bottle of it. It was made just down the road in Alto, NM, a town also on the Loop.
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