Billy the Kid Slept Here ... and Died Here

Image by Jim Schnur

The westward drive from Clovis to Fort Sumner along US Highway 60 passes through generally flat, agricultural land that averages 4,100 feet above sea level. Aside from the constant convoys of railroad cars traversing the well-worn tracks alongside the highway, drivers experience few distractions for nearly 60 miles. 

Those heading east-southeast from Vaughn to Fort Sumner experience grasslands, very few trees, and a gentle drop in elevation of nearly 1,900 feet over 55 miles, before a few rolling hills bring them into the Pecos River valley at Fort Sumner.

Approaching the Village of Fort Sumner from the west, from Vaughn. Photo by Jim Schnur.

With fewer than 900 people, the Village of Fort Sumner serves as county seat for De Baca County. Created in 1917, this county that covers 2,334 square miles--nearly the size of Everglades National Park in Florida--has a population of fewer than 1,700 residents.

On an arid stretch of road two miles east of Fort Sumner's village limit, signage and a historical marker encourage vehicles to take a turn to the south, and transport themselves back to a wild time in New Mexico's territorial history. 

Billy the Kid Drive, on the outskirts of Fort Sumner. Photo by Jim Schnur.

A Road Less Traveled, A Sight Worth Seeing

Those who make the turn find themselves on a narrow, two-lane road named "Billy the Kid Drive." Fields and small farms sit along each side of the roadway during a short 3.5 mile drive to one of the region's most popular tourist attractions: a cemetery with some of the headstones imprisoned by bars.

Entrance of the military post cemetery at the former Fort Sumner. Photo by Jim Schnur

A Painful Past

Located approximately 4.5 miles southwest of the village that carries its name, the original Fort Sumner site along the Pecos River carries a sad history. Authorized during the Civil War in 1862, this outpost became part of the Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation.

The former Fort Sumner site now honors those forced to relocate there. Photo by Jim Schnur.

Federal officials relocated approximately 10,000 Native Americans to Fort Sumner. Between 1863 and 1868, the fort served as internment camp where troops forcibly worked and imprisoned the Navajo and Mescalero Apache people extracted from their settlements. Similar to the relocation of eastern tribes, the "Long Walk" that forced Indians from their ancestral grounds also represented a form of genocide.

A New Kid in Town

Born in New York in 1859, Henry McCarty ended up in the Territory of New Mexico in 1873. His parents passed away and his stepfather had abandoned him before his 15th birthday. He committed robbery and fled to Arizona Territory in 1875, at the age of 16. While there, he assumed the alias "William H. Bonney" sometime during 1877. He returned to territorial New Mexico after killing a blacksmith later that year. 

The only known image of Billy the Kid. Image courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.

In addition to rustling cattle and other crimes, Bonney joined a group known as the Regulators that became involved in New Mexico's Lincoln County War of 1878, a violent episode in what was then the largest county in the United States. Bonney gained infamy for his involvement in the war, including the murder of law enforcement officals.

Billy the Kid worked at the Coe Ranch in Hondo during the Lincoln County War. Image courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.

No Kidding Around

From late March to mid-June 1879, Billy the Kid sat in Lincoln County's jail. He escaped, but once again gained attention for shooting and killing Joe Grant, a Fort Sumner newcomer, in January 1880. He subsequently engaged in shootouts with sheriff's posses that tracked him. Territorial Governor Lewis "Lew" Wallace, a former Union general during the Civil War, issued a bounty in December 1880 for Bonney's capture.

Joe Grant, who was shot by Billy the Kid on 10 January 1880, rests in the Fort Sumner Cemetery. Photo by Jim Schnur

Caught in late December, Bonney was held at Fort Sumner before spending time in custody in Las Vegas, NM, and Santa Fe, where he was found guilty of the murder of a sheriff during the Lincoln County War. After his conviction, while shackled and in custody in Lincoln, Bonney somehow slipped out of his handcuffs and shot a deputy in April 1881. He later killed another deputy before riding out of town.

Governor Wallace placed another bounty on Billy the Kid. Once again a fugitive, Bonney returned to the outskirts of Fort Sumner. He had associates in the area, including Peter "Pedro" Maxwell, a Taos native and son of Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell, a prominent landowner. The elder Maxwell had purchased the former fort after the federal government decommissioned it in 1869 and lived there until his death in 1875.

A landowner and investor, Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell acquired the former Fort Sumner military complex for $5,000. Photo by Jim Schnur.

A Shot at History

On 14 July 1881, Billy the Kid came to Maxwell's home, where Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett had interviewed Maxwell earlier in the day. Garrett shot Billy the Kid, killing him. A coroner's jury covened to interview Garrett and Maxwell, as well as examine Billy the Kid's body. Shortly after that, the famous bandit was buried in the cemetery of the former military outpost.

Barely a month after his death, legendary stories circulated in publications. Image from Library of Congress.

Former Gov. Lewis "Lew" Wallace shared his Billy the Kid memories with the Albuquerque Daily Citizen in July 1902. Image from Library of Congress.

Controversy surrounded Billy the Kid in life, as well as death. Sheriff's deputies tried to stay on his trail, as journalists in distant cities wrote stories about his lawless adventures. His date of birth remains uncertain, with different records placing it months apart in 1859, yet his headstone in the cemetery claims he entered the world in 1860. 

Billy the Kid's disappearing headstone. Photo by Jim Schnur.

Having launched his criminal career as a robber, it is certainly fitting that Billy the Kid's headstones have been stolen on a few occasions. 

Bonney was buried near his "pals," Charlie Bowdre and Tom O'Folliard. Photo by Jim Schnur.

Only 21 at the time of his death, rumors circulated for years that Billy the Kid had survived Garrett's gunfire. Buried alongside a couple of his "pals" in crime, Bonney left a legacy that shaped the frontier of territorial New Mexico. Today, the Fort Sumner area continues to share memories of Billy the Kid's adventures.

Building adjacent to the cemetery at the Fort Sumner outpost. Photo by Jim Schnur.