The Legend of Billy the Kid

February 18, 1878. A group of men is leading their horses along a New Mexico mountain trail. This is the Wild West, and danger is never that far away. In fact, before they reach their destination, the leader of their group will be shot. The rest of the cowboys watch the scene unfold in horror, including a future notorious outlaw: Billy the Kid. Over their boss’s dead body, Billy and the others vow to avenge his murder. In the next five months, as much as a quarter of the county's population will be killed. How did this murder turn a community into a battlefield? And what does this conflict reveal about how we understand the Wild West?

Special thanks to Gwendolyn Rogers, president of the Lincoln County Historical Society, and Paul Hutton, whose most recent book, The Apache Wars, tells the story of another war that played out during this time in the Southwest.

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