Grave Adventures
One thing a lot of our members like to do is hunt down the graves of people who were associated with Billy the Kid. we're thrilled when folks submit their photos of the graves they've found so if you've found any we're missing, please send them to us so we can add them to the page.
We're also working on a spreadsheet that will show all the grave locations from findagrave.com so check back soon for that!
New Mexico
Fort Sumner - Old Fort Cemetery
Henry McCarty, alias Kid Antrim, alias William H. Bonney, alias Billy the Kid
Over 130 years after his death, Billy the Kid is still the most well-known outlaw in Old West history. Killed in the darkened bedroom of Pete Maxwell by Sheriff Pat Garrett, he's buried in the Old Fort Cemetery in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico.
Cemetery Name: Old Fort Sumner Cemetery
Location: Fort Sumner, DeBaca County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Charles "Charlie" Bowdre
Not much is known about Bowdre’s life prior to his appearance during the Lincoln County War. He was born circa 1848-1849 in Georgia but moved to Mississippi while still young. At some point in the early 1870s he was in the area of Silver City before eventually moving to Lincoln where he was employed by Tunstall. After the Lincoln County War, Bowdre took Governor Wallace up on his offer of amnesty and moved up to Ft. Sumner where he married. Bowdre eventually fell back in to rustling with Billy and was killed by Pat Garrett in Stinking Springs when Billy was captured.
Cemetery Name: Old Fort Sumner Cemetery
Location: Fort Sumner, DeBaca County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Joe Grant
Grant had the misfortune of getting on the wrong side of Billy the Kid. While drunk one night in Beaver Smith’s saloon in Ft. Sumner, Grant threatened to kill Jim Chisum, whom Billy was sitting with, thinking it was John Chisum. Billy corrected him and Grant shouted that he was lying. Billy turned his back to Grant and Grant fired his gun at Billy’s back. What he didn’t know was that earlier, when Billy had asked to see the gun, he had spun the barrel to an empty chamber, anticipating something like this might happen. When Billy heard the “click” of an empty chamber, he spun around and fired at Grant—killing him.
In 2010 the BTKOG mapped out the cemetery and this marker wasn't there at the time--it's a recent addition. It's also worth noting that the location of the marker most likely isn't correct--it’s believed Grant was buried closer to the north wall nearer to Billy.
Cemetery Name: Old Fort Sumner Cemetery
Location: Fort Sumner, DeBaca County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Chris Shaw
Paulita Jaramillo (née Maxwell)
Paulita was born in Mora to Lucien and Luz Maxwell—one of their nine children—and was raised mostly in Ft. Sumner. It’s strongly believed that she was Billy’s sweetheart and the reason he went back to Ft. Sumner after making his escape in Lincoln. After Billy was killed, Paulita married José Jaramillo and moved to Los Lunas. They divorced and she died in Ft. Sumner where she’s now buried with most of her family and only steps away from the Kid.
Cemetery Name: Old Fort Sumner Cemetery
Location: Fort Sumner, DeBaca County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Ana Maria de la Luz Maxwell (née Beaubien)
Luz was the child bride of Lucien Maxwell and the daughter of his business partner, Carlos Beaubien. She moved with her husband and children from Cimarron to Ft. Sumner and took over as the head of the village when Lucien died.
Cemetery Name: Old Fort Sumner Cemetery
Location: Fort Sumner, DeBaca County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell
Maxwell started his career as a hunter with John Fremont’s western expeditions where he became friends with Kit Carson. In later years he became a wealthy rancher who, at one time, owned more than 1,700,000 acres of New Mexico and Colorado in what’s now known as the Maxwell Land Grant. After selling much of the land, Maxwell eventually bought the abandoned army post of Ft. Sumner where he died in 1875.
Cemetery Name: Old Fort Sumner Cemetery
Location: Fort Sumner, DeBaca County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Peter Menard Maxwell
Son of Lucien Maxwell, Peter took over his father’s declining businesses after Lucien’s death in 1875. After the Regulators left Lincoln County, many found their way into Ft. Sumner and began working for Maxwell. And while Billy never officially worked for Pete, his was friendly with the Maxwell family and visited their home often. On the night of July 14, 1881, Pat Garrett entered Pete’s bedroom to find out where Billy was hiding and as fate would have it, Billy also entered the bedroom to ask Pete who the strangers (Garrett’s deputies) sitting outside were. Pete told Garrett, “That’s him,” and Garrett shot and killed Billy.
Cemetery Name: Old Fort Sumner Cemetery
Location: Fort Sumner, DeBaca County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Tom O. Folliard
Tom was born in Ulvade, Texas and appeared in the Billy story after the murder of Tunstall and was arguably Billy’s best friend. He was at Billy’s side during the Five-Day Battle in Lincoln, when Huston Chapman was murdered, when they were both held under house arrest in the Patron Store, and stayed with Billy while they rustled cattle. Tom was killed by Garrett just hours before Billy was captured at Stinking Springs. For years it was believed his last name was O’Folliard but recently discovered records show his name as Tom O. Folliard.
Cemetery Name: Old Fort Sumner Cemetery
Location: Fort Sumner, DeBaca County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Download a map of the Old Fort Cemetery here:
Fort Sumner - St. Anthony Cemetery
Jesus Silva
Silva was a friend of Billy’s in Ft. Sumner and was one of the many who was witness to the Kid’s death. He built the coffin and helped dig Billy’s grave.
Cemetery Name: St. Anthony Cemetery
Location: Fort Sumner, DeBaca County, New Mexico
Corona
James Carlyle
After Billy and his gang stole some horses in Puerto de Luna, a posse was formed to chase after him. They followed him to the Greathouse stage stop and cornered him inside. Carlyle demanded Billy surrender and Billy refused. Greathouse agreed to go outside as a hostage while Carlyle came inside to parlay with the outlaws. But Billy had no intention of giving up and stalled instead. Accounts vary, but it’s believed that a gun misfired outside and Carlyle, thinking one of his men killed Greathouse, Carlyle jumped through the window to escape Billy’s retribution and was shot by his own men assuming he was Billy trying to escape. He buried near where the stage stop stood.
Cemetery Name: N/A
Location: Private Property
Photo courtesy of Lucas Speer
Carlsbad
Barbara "Ma'am" Jones (née Culp)
Known around Seven Rivers for her hospitality, Ma’am (as she was called) came across Billy the Kid when he quite literally stumbled onto her doorstep. He was half-starved and exhausted after having walked for three days after being attacked by Apaches. The Kid stayed with Ma’am and her family (husband Heiskell and ten children) for a few days and became good friends with one of their sons in particular.
Cemetery Name: Rocky Arroyo Cemetery
Location: Carlsbad, Eddy County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
John Jones
Son of Ma’am Jones, John was there when Billy stumbled into he Jones homestead, half dead. During the short time Billy stayed with the family, he and John became good friends—a friendship that lasted even though they participated in opposite sides of the Lincoln County War. John was brutally murdered by Bob Olinger (shot in the back twice and in the back of the head). It’s believed this is the biggest reason the Kid hated Olinger and was more than happy to kill him during his escape from the Lincoln courthouse.
Cemetery Name: Rocky Arroyo Cemetery
Location: Carlsbad, Eddy County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Fort Stanton
Robert Ameridth Olinger
Born in Indiana, Olinger moved with his family to Kansas and then to Missouri. He eventually wound up in the Seven Rivers and Lincoln area and was involved in the Lincoln County War—staunchly on the Murphy/Dolan side. Olinger was one of Garrett’s deputies and accompanied Billy on his way to Mesilla for trial and back to Lincoln for his hanging. Olinger found a particular joy in taunting Billy with his shot gun—daring him to escape—so Billy was likely more than happy to use Olinger’s own shotgun on him when he escaped from the courthouse on April 28, 1881.
According to the Rangers at the fort, Olinger's marker is missing but the base still exists.
Cemetery Name: Fort Stanton Cemetery
Location: Fort Stanton, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Glencoe
Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Coe
Frank Coe was born in Virginia and shortly after his family moved to Missouri. His brother Lou moved to New Mexico for a time and when he returned, the stores he told made Frank want to leave home and head to New Mexico himself. He wound up in Lincoln County with a ranch near Dick Brewer. He soon became embroiled with the Tunstall/McSween side of the Lincoln County War but parted ways with his fellow Regulators soon after the death of McSween. Frank returned to Lincoln after things died down, married, and bought Dick Brewer’s ranch (the Coe barn still stands today).
Cemetery Name: Brendle-Coe Cemetery
Location: Glencoe, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Richard Cordi
George Washington Coe
Along with his cousin, Frank, George Coe moved to Lincoln and got a place on the Ruidoso where he made friends with Dick Brewer, Tunstall, and Billy the Kid. He was drawn into the Lincoln County War on the side of Tunstall and McSween (losing his trigger finger in the shootout at Blazer’s Mill). After the war he left Lincoln returning in 1884 once the trouble died down. He spent the rest of his life in New Mexico as a farmer.
Cemetery Name: Coe Cemetery
Location: Glencoe, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Las Cruces
Albert Jennings Fountain
A genuine “good guy” Fountain was born in new york and migrated to New Mexico after serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. In Mesilla he was a lawyer, an assistant district attorney, and founded The Mesilla Valley Independent. He used his paper to call out “The Boys”, the notorious gang of cattle rustlers and murders who terrorized southern New Mexico and El Paso. Fountain also took on Billy’s murder case but unfortunately wasn’t able to fight the corrupt system in place. Due to his vendetta against rustlers, Fountain and his young son mysteriously disappeared on the road between White Sands and Las Cruces. It’s believed they were murdered by long-time enemies Oliver Lee and Albert Fall. Pat Garrett took on the case of hunting for the murderers but no one was ever convicted and bodies of Fountain and his son were never found. The headstone in the Masonic cemetery is only a memorial as no body has ever been found.
Cemetery Name: Masonic Cemetery
Location: Las Cruces, Doña Ana County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Patrick Floyd Garrett
Every fan of Billy the Kid knows the name Pat Garrett. Sheriff of Lincoln County, Garrett was the man responsible for capturing the notorious outlaw at Stinking Springs and later killing him after his escape from the hangman’s noose. But Garrett was more than just the killer of the Kid. Born in Louisiana and made his way west as a buffalo hunter. In 1878 he wound up in Ft. Sumner where he worked at Beaver Smith’s saloon and became friendly with Billy. In 1880 he became sheriff of Lincoln County and killed Billy the Kid on July 14, 1881. Afterwards, he (and ghost writer Ash Upson) published The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid from which we get a good deal of what we know about the last few years of Billy’s life. Eventually Garrett moved Uvalde, Texas but returned to New Mexico after the murder of his friend Col. A. J. Fountain. He investigated the murder and disappearance of Fountain and his young son but no one was ever found guilty of the crime. In 1899 Garrett became sheriff of Doña Ana County and in 1901 was appointed customs collector of El Paso by President Roosevelt. Garrett was murdered on February 29, 1908 while traveling from Organ to Las Cruces. Although a man named Brazel confessed to the murder, it’s thought he might have not actually been the killer.
Garrett was originally buried in the Barela Catholic Cemetery in Las Cruces but was moved across the street to the Masonic Cemetery where he’s buried with his wife and several children.
Cemetery Name: Barela Catholic Cemetery (left)
Masonic Cemetery (below)
Location: Las Cruces, Doña Ana County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Apolinaria Garrett (née Gutierrez)
Apolinaria was a resident of Ft. Sumner when she met and married Pat Garrett in Anton Chico. It’s believed that Billy the Kid was friendly with her and her family and may have attended the wedding.
Cemetery Name: Masonic Cemetery
Location: Las Cruces, Doña Ana County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
William Logan Rynerson
Originally from Kentucky, Rynerson moved west to California and tried his hand at mining before studying law. When the Civil War started, he enlisted and wound up in Mesilla. He permanently moved to Las Cruces where he was appointed district attorney in Doña Ana and Lincoln by his law-school friend (and territorial Governor) Samuel Axtell. He sided with the Murphy/Dolan faction and was a chief opponent of the Kid, moving his trial from Lincoln County to the unfriendly county of Doña Ana.
Cemetery Name: Masonic Cemetery
Location: Las Cruces Doña Ana County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Lincoln
Saturnino Baca
Baca served as a first lieutenant in the New Mexico Cavalry during the Civil War and was stationed at Ft. Wingate, Ft. Bascom, Ft. Defiance, and Ft. Stanton. He was one of the first settlers of Lincoln and one of its most prominent citizens. Baca had a large family and even though he leaned more towards the Murphy Dolan side, Billy had no problems going to dances Baca hosted if it meant dancing with one of his pretty daughters.
Cemetery Name: Lincoln Cemetery
Location: Lincoln, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Eddie Taylor
William J. Brady
An Irishman by birth, Brady moved to the U.S. when he was twenty-two and enlisted in the Army, serving in Texas. After being discharged he joined the First New Mexico Volunteer Infantry and after a time assumed command of Fort Stanton. After leaving Stanton, he became sheriff of Lincoln County where he was deeply routed in the Murphy/Dolan faction. While not present during the murder of Tunstall, Brady’s refusal to arrest the guilty men he was considered complicate by the Regulators. On April 1, 1878, while he walked down the street with his deputies, Brady was ambushed by six Regulators (including Billy the Kid) and was killed. Billy was tried and convicted for Brady’s murder three years later.
Cemetery Name: Brady-Hindman Burial Site
Location: Lincoln, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
James Joseph Dolan
Dolan was born in Galway, Ireland in 1848 and his family moved to New York in 1854. He enlisted in the Thirty-seventh Infantry and fought Indians in Kansas before being mustered on at Fort Stanton in 1869. Shortly after he became a clerk for L. G. Murphy and quickly became his partner. Along with Murphy (and later his new partner Edward Riley) Dolan had a stranglehold on Lincoln and was chiefly responsible for instigating the events that led up to the Lincoln County War. Long after the War ended, Dolan moved to John Tunstall’s ranch where he died in 1898.
Cemetery Name: Fritz Cemetery
Location: Lincoln, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Eddie Taylor
Alexander A. McSween
Born in Canada, McSween studied theology but eventually became a lawyer in Kansas. He married Susan Homer in 1873 and the couple made their way to Lincoln. McSween was at first the lawyer for L. G. Murphy and J. J. Dolan and was in charge of handling the will of their business partner Emil Fritz. He was accused of embezzling the funds from Fritz’s insurance policy and became enemies of Murphy and Dolan. Because of this, and his ties with John Tunstall, McSween became embroiled in the Lincoln County War. He was killed outside his home during the Five-Day Battle in Lincoln and his death brought an end to the War.
Cemetery Name: N/A (Behind Tunstall Store)
Location: Lincoln, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
George Warden Peppin
Peppin became sheriff of Lincoln County after Billy and several Regulators killed Brady on April 1, 1878. Peppin was a Dolan sympathizer during the Lincoln County War and is the one who sent men to set fire to McSween’s house during the Five-Day Battle. He was indicted for the fire as well as the murder of Frank MacNab. Along with his lawman duties, Peppin was also a stonemason and built many of the buildings in Lincoln including the Murphy/Dolan store (also known as the “House”, Dr. Wood’s house, Dolan’s house, and the San Juan Church.
Cemetery Name: Lincoln Cemetery
Location: Lincoln, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Eddie Taylor
Yginio Salazar
At fifteen years old, Salazar was the youngest member of the Regulators fighting for the Tunstall/McSween side of the Lincoln County War. During the Five Day Battle in July 1878, Salazar was with Billy and the others in the McSween house as it burned. He was badly wounded when the men escaped and survived by pretending he was dead when the Murphy/Dolan side came to look for McSween’s body. In 1881 after Billy escaped from the Lincoln courthouse, he went straight to Salazar’s house and Salazar helped removed his shackles and gave him a horse. Salazar died an old man in Lincoln in 1936 and if anyone’s headstone deserved to read, “Pal of Billy the Kid” it’s his.
Cemetery Name: Lincoln Cemetery
Location: Lincoln, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Nicholas Narog
John H. Tunstall
Tunstall was born in England but moved to Victoria, British Columbia when he was nineteen to run a business for his father. After three years he decided to start a ranch and after a chance meeting with Alexander McSween, he moved to Lincoln where he opened a store and ranch and became rivals and enemies with L. G. Murphy and J. J. Dolan. On February 18, 1878, a posse sent by Dolan chased down Tunstall and murdered him. His death sparked the Lincoln County War during which his cowboys, including Billy the Kid, exacted revenge.
Cemetery Name: N/A (Behind Tunstall Store)
Location: Lincoln, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Mescalero
Joseph Hoy "Doc" Blazer
Blazer came to Lincoln County in 1869 and bought into a ranch and sawmill with George on the Tularosa in what would eventually become part of the Mescalero Indian Reservation. Blazer and his wife hosted the Regulators when they were passing through searching for Tunstall’s killers. It was here that they had the shootout with Buckshot Roberts, during which both Buckshot and Dick Brewer were killed.
Cemetery Name: Blazer Cemetery
Location: Mescalero, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Eddie Taylor
Richard M. Brewer
Dick Brewer was born in Vermont but grew up in Wisconsin. He left home in 1870 and eventually wound up in Lincoln County where he bought a ranch on the Ruidoso. Brewer worked as a foreman for John Tunstall, hiring many of the cowboys who would later become the Regulators. After Murphy/Dolan men murdered Tunstall, Brewer was made a deputy constable and led the Regulators in tracking down the men responsible. He was killed in a shootout at Blazer’s Mill by Buckshot Roberts.
Cemetery Name: Blazer Cemetery
Location: Mescalero, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Andrew L. "Buckshot" Roberts
Roberts was believed to be one of the men in the posse that killed John Tunstall at the start of the Lincoln County War. When the Regulators had warrants for the men responsible for their boss’s murder, his name was on the list. On the day of April 4, 1878, the Regulators rode into Blazer’s Mill and came across Roberts. They ordered he surrender and he refused, engaging them in a gun battle. Roberts was known to be a deadly shot and his reputation was proven in this fight. After being shot in the gut, Roberts barricaded himself in Doc Blazer’s office and continued to fire at the Regulators. In one lucky shot he was able to blow the top of Dick Brewer’s head off—successfully killing the leader of the Regulators.
Cemetery Name: Blazer Cemetery
Location: Mescalero, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Milagro
José Chávez y Chávez
Chávez y Chávez moved to Lincoln from Valencia County when he was about eighteen. He was elected constable of San Patricio and a year later was made justice of the peace. Chávez y Chávez fought on the Tunstall/McSween side of the Lincoln County War and was one of the lucky ones who escaped from the burning McSween home during the Five-Day Battle. In 1881 he moved to Las Vegas, New Mexico and served as a deputy for three different sheriffs but in 1892 he was involved in two murders and was arrested and sentence to hang in 1895. He managed to get his sentence commuted to life imprisonment and went to the Santa Fe penitentiary in 1897; he was paroled in 1909. He claimed that he was the one who killed Sheriff Brady (the crime Billy the Kid was tried for) and also claimed to be the one responsible for A. J. Fountain’s murder though no proof was ever found.
Cemetery Name: Unknown
Location: Milagro, Guadalupe County, New Mexico
Picacho
George Kimbrell
Kimbrell came out west from Arkansas because of the Colorado Gold Rush and eventually moved to Lincoln County. He served as sheriff of Lincoln after the war and was trusted enough by Billy the Kid to participate in the mock arrest when the Kid surrendered to testify against Colonel Dudley. Pat Garrett ran for sheriff against Kimbrell and won (despite Billy campaigning for Kimbrell). Afterwards he served as justice of the peace and died in Picacho in 1925.
Cemetery Name: Picacho Cemetery
Location: Picacho, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Puerto de Luna
Alexander Grzelachowski
Born in Poland, Grzelachowski was affectionately known as “Padre Polaco” because he had once been a Catholic Priest, assigned to various parishes in northern New Mexico. Grzelachowski left the priesthood and started a successful enterprise in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Eventually he moved to Puerto De Luna with his wife and children and opened a general store. It was said that he told his clerks not to refuse Billy the Kid anything he wanted when he rode in. Some think it was because he was afraid of the Kid but others believed it was because he liked him. There’s a story of Billy enjoying talks with Grzelachowski because he spoke a myriad of languages, which delighted Billy to hear. When Pat Garrett captured Billy in December 1880, they rode through Puerto de Luna and Billy had his last Christmas dinner at Grzelachowski’s house. Grzelachowski eventually died in 1896 but wasn’t allowed to be buried in the consecrated part of the Catholic cemetery because he left the priesthood. However, the fence to the cemetery was moved some years later and his grave in now within the consecrated bounds.
Cemetery Name: Nuestra Senora De RefugioCemetery
Location: Puerto de Luna, Guadalupe County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Rociada
Milnor Louis Rudulph
Born in Maryland in 1826, Rudulph was living in Sunnyside (a town just outside of Ft. Sumner) when Billy the Kid was killed. On the morning of July 15, 1881, after Garrett shot Billy, a coroner’s jury was called and Rudulph served as foreman.
Unfortunately his headstone has toppled over.
Cemetery Name: Rudulph Family Cemetery
Location: Rociada, San Miguel County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Melba Valdez
Roswell
Jacob Basil "Billy" Mathews
Mathews came to New Mexico by way of Tennessee where he was enlisted in the cavalry and Colorado where he worked as a miner. After moving to Lincoln County he partnered with J. J. Dolan and was a deputy for Sheriff Brady. Mathews was a member of the posse that murdered Tunstall and was also present when Brady was ambushed and killed. Billy the Kid hated Billy Mathews and always insisted that it was Mathews he was trying to kill when Brady was shot. He assisted in the transport of the Kid after his trial in Mesilla after which he settled onto Tunstall’s former ranch on the Peñasco. Mathews finally wound up in Roswell where he died of pneumonia in 1904.
Cemetery Name: South Park Cemetery
Location: Roswell, Chavez County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
John William Poe
Poe was born in Kentucky in 1851 and traveled west, becoming the town marshal of Fort Griffin, Texas and later a deputy for Pat Garrett. He was one of the deputies Billy met on the porch of Pete Maxwell’s house the night he was killed and one of the few eyewitnesses to write down his recollections of the night the Kid died.
Cemetery Name: South Park Cemetery
Location: Roswell, Chavez County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Eddie Taylor
Sallie Lucy Robert (née Chisum)
Sallie was the niece of cattle baron John Chisum and lived at his South Springs Ranch in Roswell. The Kid was a frequent visitor and the two were friendly, possibly sweethearts. It’s rumored that while Billy was in McSween’s house during the Five Day Battle, he wrote a letter to Sallie—sadly no letter has ever surfaced.
Cemetery Name: South Park Cemetery
Location: Roswell, Chavez County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Santa Fe
Thomas B. Catron
Catron is one of the most notorious members and leader of the corrupt political group known as the Santa Fe Ring. Nearly all of his friends had a hand in what happened to the Tunstall/McSween side of the Lincoln County War and Billy in particular. Murphy, Dudley, Rynerson, Bristol…all of them were cronies of Catron and each had a vendetta against the Kid.
Cemetery Name: Fairview Cemetery
Location: Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Lawrence Gustave Murphy
Born in Ireland, Murphy came to the U.S. in time to enlist in the Civil War, eventually becoming a major. After the war he served as quartermaster and regimental adjunct at Ft. Sumner and Ft. Stanton. After leaving Ft. Stanton he partnered with Emil Fritz and built a business in Lincoln, effectively building a monopoly in town. Murphy and his cronies ran the business and politics in Lincoln and anyone who opposed them felt their wrath (e.g. Tunstall and McSween). In 1877 he was diagnosed with cancer and eventually drank himself to death leaving his business to be run by his new partner J. J. Dolan. He died nearly destitute in Santa Fe in 1878.
Cemetery Name: Santa Fe National Cemetery
Location: Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Robert Ross
Miguel Antonio Otero, Jr.
Appointed by President McKinley, Miguel Otero is known for being one of New Mexico’s most honest governors. He fought for statehood and fought against Catron and the Santa Fe Ring. He also was fortunate enough to meet Billy the Kid on the train in Las Vegas after Billy’s capture at Stinking Springs. His train ride and conversation with the Kid struck him so much that in 1936 he wrote a biography of Billy with the goal to write something honest and accurate about the boy he met on the train that day in 1880.
Cemetery Name: FairviewCemetery
Location: Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Thomas Simpson
Silver City
Louis Abraham
The Abraham family was neighbors with the Billy the Kid's family in Silver City and Louis was a good friend of the the Kid.
Cemetery Name: Masonic Cemetery
Location: Silver City, Grant County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of George Bacon
Carlotta Brent (née Baca)
Carlotta was one of the daughters of Saturnino Baca and of the many dance partners of Billy the Kid in Lincoln County. She once said of him that he was kind and gentlemanlike with her and the other inhabitants of Lincoln.
Cemetery Name: Memory Lane Cemetery
Location: Silver City, Grant County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Mary Phillipa Casey (née Richards)
Mary was born in England and eventually emigrated to Texas. After her parents died, she moved back to England (while her brothers stayed in Texas) where she was educated at a private college. She moved to Germany and France before becoming a teacher and returning to the U.S. to be with her brothers. In 1874 she moved to Silver City where she taught Billy the Kid. It’s said that Billy believed he was related to Mary because they were both ambidextrous. When asked about her infamous student, Mary replied that he was no worse than any of the other boys and that Billy enjoyed performing in school plays and was always willing to help out around the school house. Mary gave up teaching in 1875 when she married Daniel Casey. The family moved to Georgetown but Mary was buried in Silver City.
Cemetery Name: Memory Lane Cemetery
Location: Silver City, Grant County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Catherine McCarty
Catherine McCarty, the mother of Billy the Kid, was known as "a jolly Irish woman". In Wichita, Kansas (the first time she and her sons appear in historical record) she was the only woman to sign the petition that helped incorporate the town. She owned her own property and ran a laundry but soon moved her family to New Mexico. In Santa Fe she married William Antrim and moved again to Silver City. Catherine suffered from tuberculosis and succumbed to the disease on September 16, 1874 when Henry was about fourteen years old. She was originally buried in a cemetery in town but was moved to the Memory Lane Cemetery years later and given a new headstone (unfortunately her name was misspelled).
Cemetery Name: Memory Lane Cemetery
Location: Silver City, Grant County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Harvey Howard Whitehill
Whitehill was one of the first Anglo settlers of Silver City, staking claim to several mines in the area. He was the first coroner and eventually became sheriff. Whitehill has the distinction of being the first to arrest and lose Billy the Kid. The Kid was holding shirts that a local thief had stolen and when Whitehill found out he arrested Billy to scare him. Billy didn’t realize it was just a scare tactic and escaped through the chimney and ran to Arizona. Whitehill had a respectable career as a lawman—assisting in the capture and arrest of several outlaws.
Cemetery Name: Masonic Cemetery
Location: Silver City, Grant County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
White Oaks
James W. Bell
Bell first crossed paths with Billy the Kid when he was a member of the White Oaks posse that cornered him in the Greathouse stage stop. Later, as a Deputy U.S. Marshall, he escorted Billy and the others he was captured with to the train station in Las Vegas. By the time Billy was being held in Lincoln after his trial, Bell was one of Garrett’s deputies charged with guarding the Kid. When he escaped, Billy somehow got a hold of Bell’s gun and shot him—later admitting regret that he had to do so.
Cemetery Name: Cedarvale Cemetery
Location: White Oaks, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Susan McSween Barber (née Hummer)
Born in Pennsylvania, Susan ran away from home to live with her sister and was disinherited by her father. She met Alexander McSween in Illinois and the two were married in Kansan before heading to New Mexico. After her husband was killed during the Lincoln County War she married George Barber (who she later divorced) and was gifted 40 head of cattle from John Chisum to start her own cattle business. She was extremely successful but also had expensive tastes. After making a fortune, she eventually lost it and had to be supported by her nephew. Susan died penniless in White Oaks at the age of eight-five. (Her name was misspelled on her headstone.)
Cemetery Name: Cedarvale Cemetery
Location: White Oaks, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Unknown
Juan Batista Patrón
Patrón was a well-respected citizen of Lincoln: a schoolteacher, probate judge, and storeowner. It was in his house Billy the Kid was held under house arrest while testifying against Dolan. Patron fought against the infamous Santa Fe Ring and the Murphy/Dolan side of the Lincoln County War. During the War he fled to Las Vegas, New Mexico and eventually settled in Puerto de Luna. He was murdered in 1884 by Michael Maney—possibly in a plot designed by the Ring.
If you have information or a photo of Patrón's grave, please let us know.
Arizona
Frank "Windy" Cahill
Cahill has the distinction of being the being the first man ever killed by Billy the Kid. A blacksmith, a bully, and a blowhard (hence the nickname “Windy”) Cahill and Billy (known than as Henry Antrim) first crossed paths in Camp Grant, Arizona, shortly after Henry fled from Silver City. The two disliked each other immediately, possibly because Cahill fitted Henry for shackles after he was arrested stealing horses. Whatever the reason, Cahill never missed an opportunity to bully Henry—frequently knocking him over into the dirt and roughing him up. On the night of August 17, 1877, the two were playing cards at Atkin’s Cantina. They got into an argument; Cahill called Billy a “pimp” and Billy called him a “son of a bitch”. Cahill attacked Billy, throwing him to the ground and beating him. But Henry had a gun in the waistband of his trousers and was able to use a free hand to reach for it. Henry shot Cahill in the stomach and scrambled out from under him before stealing one of the fastest horses and running back to New Mexico. Cahill died the next day.
The location of Cahill’s grave isn’t certain. Only two markers remain from the row that he was buried in and the other marker distinctly says “WILLIE” on it. This marker is in the approximate location of where he should be and seems to have a faint “CAHILL” etched in the stone.
Cemetery Name: Bonita Cemetery
Location: Bonita, Graham County, Arizona
Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Goodloe
Augustus "Gus" Montaigne Gildea
Becoming a cowboy at the age of twelve, Gus traveled from Texas to Camp Grant, Arizona where he witnessed the Kid’s first kill (Frank Cahill). Gus later found himself in Lincoln, after the war, and became a member of Selman’s Scouts—a group of rustlers who terrorized Lincoln County. He later moved back to Arizona, married, had four daughters, and died of natural causes.
Cemetery Name: Evergreen Cemetery
Location: Bisbee, Cochise County, Arizona
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
John William Young Kinney
Kinney was a notorious cattle rustler in southern New Mexico and an associate (if not leader) of The Boys (the gang of rustlers including Jesse Evans, Frank Baker, and for a short time, Billy the Kid). Kinney sided with the Murphy/Dolan faction during the Lincoln County War and was one of Garrett’s deputies who escorted Billy back to Lincoln after his trial in Mesilla. Kinney was arrested for rustling in 1883 and was imprisoned in Kansas. After his release he served in the Spanish-American War and eventually wound up in Prescott, Arizona.
Cemetery Name: Oddfellows Cemetery
Location: Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
California
William Henry Harrison Antrim
Antrim was born in Hunstville, Indiana in 1842 and moved to Wichita in 1870. Here his story connects with Catherine McCarty and her two sons, Henry and Joseph. Antrim moved with Catherine and her boys to New Mexico and the couple was married in Santa Fe. Shortly after, they moved to Silver City where Catherine died of tuberculosis in 1974. Rather than care for his stepsons, Antrim sent them to live with friends of the family while he tried his hand at prospecting. Antrim was friendly with Joe but wanted nothing to do with Henry (and the feeling was mutual)—especially after Henry became the notorious Billy the Kid. Antrim eventually moved to California to live with his niece and died in 1922.
Cemetery Name: San Miguel District Cemetery
Location: San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County, California
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Dan Dedrick
Born in Indiana, Dedrick encountered Billy the Kid while living in White Oaks with his brothers Sam and Mose. He lived on a ranch previously owned by Chisum and it was a good spot for Billy to bring his stolen herds through on his way to the Panhandle. Dedrick is probably most well known for being one of the four recipients of the only verified photo of Billy the Kid. The Kid gave it to him after having it taken in Ft. Sumner and it’s the only known surviving copy of the tintype that was passed through his family.
Cemetery Name: Weaverville Cemetery
Location: Weaverville, Trinity County, California
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Henry Hoyt
Henry Hoyt was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and was well known in the Old West for being a frontier doctor and rubbed elbows with many historical figures including Calamity Jane, John Bull, John Chisum, Lucien Maxwell, Charles Siringo, President Grant, and Billy the Kid. While Hoyt was working in Tascosa, he met up with Billy and his gang when they were selling stolen horses to the cowboys in the area. He and the Kid became friends and in his book, Hoyt tells the story of Billy selling him a horse named Dandy Dick (a horse that once happened to belong to Sheriff Brady). The bill of sale for the horse is one of the few examples of Billy’s handwriting still in existence. After traveling through the frontier, Hoyt volunteered for the Spanish American War and spent several years in the Philipines. After retruning home, Hoyt wrote his autobiography, detailing all of his adventures through the West and the war. At the age of seventy-five, Hoyt traveled back to Manila but died on the voyage back home. His body was taken back to Long Beach and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean as he requested.
Cemetery Name: N/A
Location: Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California
Barney Mason
Born in Virginia, Mason drifted into New Mexico and settled in Ft. Sumner where he eventually became a spy for Garrett when he was tracking Billy the Kid. Mason was one of the posse who captured Billy at Stinking Springs and wanted to kill the Kid after he already surrendered. After Billy escaped from the courthouse in Lincoln, Mason was afraid the Kid would come after him and ran to Roswell. Legend has it Billy met them on the road to Ft. Sumner but let him pass because he was with his family. After Billy was killed, Mason worked again with Garret, chasing rustlers and was deputy to John Poe when he was sheriff of Lincoln County. Eventually Mason moved his family to California where he died in 1916.
Cemetery Name: UnionCemetery
Location: Bakersfield, Kern County, California
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
James Albert "Ab" Saunders
Saunders was a cousin of the Coes and fought with them on the Tunstall/McSween side of the Lincoln County War. After the gunfight at Blazer’s Mill, Saunders, Frank Coe, and MacNab rode into the Fritz ranch where they were ambushed by the Seven Rivers Gang. Saunders was shot in the thigh and MacNab was killed. After the war, Saunders moved with his cousins to Colorado and eventually went to San Francisco where he died undergoing surgery for his previous gunshot wound.
Cemetery Name: Lompoc Cemetery
Location: Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Charles Siringo
Charles Angelo Siringo was born February 7, 1855 on the Matagorda Peninsula in southeast Texas. In his long life he was a cowboy, a merchant, a Pinkerton Detective, a rancher, a ranger, a writer, and a celebrity. In the fall of 1878 Charlie Siringo was working as a cowboy at the LX Ranch in Texas where one night during supper, he found himself seated next to Billy the Kid and other Lincoln County “warriors” Henry Brown, Fred Waite, and Tom O. Folliard. Siringo and Billy became fast friends and passed the time playing cards and shooting at marks. Soon after, Billy left the ranch and the two wouldn’t meet again. But in 1880, Siringo was ordered by his boss to lead a posse into New Mexico and retrieve LX cattle that Billy had stolen. Garrett was also searching for Billy and requested help from Siringo’s posse. Siringo declined, either because he didn’t want to see Billy get caught or he felt duty-bound to retrieve the stolen cattle.
Cemetery Name: Inglewood Park Cemetery
Location: Inglewood, Los Angeles County, California
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Colorado
Joseph McCarty Antrim
Just like with Billy’s early life, not much is known about his brother Joe—not even if he was the older or younger brother. “Josie” signed his mother’s marriage license in Santa Fe and eventually drifted around New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado as a professional gambler. He died destitute in Denver and his body was donated to the Colorado Medical School.
Cemetery Name: N/A
Location: Denver, Denver County, Colorado
Indiana
Lewis "Lew" Wallace
Born in Indiana in 1827, Wallace studied law before serving in the Mexican and Civil War where he became a major general. In 1878 President Hayes appointment him as governor of New Mexico with the hope that he would stamp out the crime that his predecessor, Governor Axtell, hadn’t been able to control. Immediately he took aim at the violence in Lincoln County and offered amnesty to those involved. He also offered Billy the Kid a pardon for Billy’s testimony in the murder of Susan McSween’s lawyer, Huston Chapman. But after Billy testified, Wallace turned his attention to the writing of his second novel, Ben Hur. Billy wrote Wallace numerous letters from jail in Santa Fe but the governor ignored the outlaws reminders of his promise for a pardon. After leaving New Mexico, he returned to Indiana and continued to write. Wallace died in 1905.
Cemetery Name: Crown Hill Cemetery
Location: Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Kansas
Henry Newton Brown
Born in Cold Spring Township, Missouri, Brown was a Regulator on Tunstall/McSween side of Lincoln County War and was present at the ambush of Sheriff Brady. He was appointed deputy constable after Tunstall’s murder and after the war traveled to Texas where he was made deputy sheriff of Oldham County, and deputy constable of Tascosa. He eventually moved again to Caldwell, Kansas where he was made marshal. But he didn’t stay on the right side of the law and was shot by lynch mob after he and several others robbed a bank and killed the bank president and cashier
Cemetery Name: Caldwell City Cemetery
Location: Caldwell, Sumner County, Kansas
New Jersey
Samuel Beach Axtell
Axtell was governor of New Mexico during the most violent part of the Lincoln County War. As a member of the Santa Fe Ring, he was known as one of the most corrupt governors of the territory and after an investigation was suspended and replaced by Lew Wallace.
Cemetery Name: First Presbyterian Churchyard
Location: Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey
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New York
Robert A Widenman
Widenmann left his home in Michigan to move to Atlanta where he met a rich benefactor who helped pay his way out west. Once in New Mexico he took a job as one of Tunstall’s cowboys and was later a Regulator on Tunstall’s side during the Lincoln County War. He served for a time as a Deputy U. S. Marshall—a position that was revoked by Governor Axtell after Tunstall’s murder. After the war, Widenmann left New Mexico and, after a visit to Tunstall’s family in London, settled in New York where he married and had four children.
Cemetery Name: Mount Repose Cemetery
Location: Haverstraw, Rockland County, New York
Photo courtesy of Cindy Burns
Oklahoma
Fred Tecumseh Waite
Waite was born in Fort Arbuckle, Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) and attended university and worked for his father before heading to Colorado and eventually New Mexico. He became a cowboy for Tunstall and sided with him and McSween during the Lincoln County War. Waite was involved in the shooting of William Brady but left New Mexico shortly after and was never charged for the murder. After Waite returned to Indian Territory, he became a member of the Trial police force, a speaker of the Chickasaw house, and was elected attorney general of the Chickasaw Nation. He was serving as the national secretary when he died in 1895.
Cemetery Name: Pauls Valley Cemetery
Location: Pauls Valley, Garvin County, Oklahoma
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Texas
Josiah Gordon "Doc" Scurlock
Scurlock was born in Alabama and was thought to have studied medicine (hence his nickname) in New Orleans. In 1871 he went to New Mexico and worked as a Chisum cowboy but after being double-crossed by Chisum, he quit and bought a ranch on the Ruidoso with Charlie Bowdre. After fighting in the Lincoln County War on the Tunstall/McSween side, he moved his family up to Ft. Sumner and eventually migrated to Texas where he had several more children. Scurlock died at the age of eighty (quite a feat for a Regulator) in Eastland, Texas.
Cemetery Name: Eastland City Cemetery
Location: Eastland, Eastland County, Texas
Photo courtesy of Eddie Taylor
John Simpson Chisum
Born in Tennessee, Chisum moved to Texas when he was thirteen. By the age of thirty he had started his own ranch and sold beef to the Confederacy during the Civil War. Chisum partnered with Charles Goodnight for a time before relocating to New Mexico where he quickly took control of the Pecos River Valley and became a target for rustlers throughout the Territory. Chisum sided with the Tunstall/McSween faction in their fight against Murphy/Dolan and reportedly offered to pay the Regulators for their service (a deal he later reneged on). After the war, when Billy turned to rustling, he frequently stole from Chisum’s herds, feeling it was his way of getting the money Chisum owed.
Cemetery Name: Chisum Family Cemetery
Location: Paris, Lamar County, Texas
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Samuel Robert Corbet
Corbet became John Tunstall’s clerk in 1877 and was Isaac Ellis’ clerk after Tunstall was killed. He also served as postmaster in Lincoln and tended bar in White Oaks. After his first wife died he married Josefa Baca (one of Saturnino Baca’s daughters) after her husband, George Washington, was hanged for killing his first wife and child. After relocating briefly to Mexico, Corbet returned to Lincoln County and ran for superintendent. After Josefa died in 1892, Corbet move to Texas and married for a third time. Here in Miller Grove, he ran a drugstore until his death in 1923.
Cemetery Name: Miller Grove Cemetery
Location: Miller Grove, Hopkins County, Texas
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Virginia
Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley
Dudley was born in Massachusetts where he was a member of the state militia until he married and moved west to Oregon to become the chief clerk in the quartermaster’s department of the U.S. Mounted Rifles. He eventually moved to Lincoln County where he served as commander of Fort Stanton. Dudley sided with Dolan, bringing his troops to Lincoln during the Five-Day Battle and refusing to help save McSween’s house from burning. Susan McSween made it her mission to have Dudley pay for his involvement in her husband’s death and he was indicted for arson but was acquitted once the case went to trial. Dudley left New Mexico and eventually retired as a brigadier general and died in Boston in 1910.
Cemetery Name: Arlington National Cemetery
Location: Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia
Photo courtesy of Brian Otto
Contributors:
Brian Otto
Dan Jones
Chris Jones
Lori Ann Goodloe
Sources:
The Lincoln County War, Frederick Nolan
The West of Billy the Kid, Frederick Nolan
My Nine Years as Governor of the Territory of New Mexico, 1897-1906, Miguel Antonio Otero Jr.
"A Wild Night in Old Fort Sumner", Outlaw Gazette 2013, Daniel Conrad Jones
"Charles Siringo: Keeping the Kid's Legend Alive", Outlaw Gazette 2013, Lori Ann Goodloe
"Henry Hoyt: More Than a Frontier Doctor", Outlaw Gazette 2015, Lori Ann Goodloe
"Paulita Maxwell Family History", Outlaw Gazette 2014, Chris Jones