Reconsider Billy the Kid and learn the larger context

We’ve all read of the Lincoln County War. This little feud between merchant factions led to the deaths of 23 belligerents over the course of four months, numerous ancillary murders and gangs, the solidification of elite Republican power in New Mexico, and a legend that never dies. But there is a deeper understanding that we’ve lost in its nigh-constant reiteration. A greater understanding of the Lincoln County War may be gained by looking at it as a part of a network of violent events throughout southern New Mexico, interconnected through their results that tended toward incorporating the quickly developing section of the territory into the national body-politic. This network of violence illustrates how we may radically reconceptualize such bloodshed. ------------------------------------------------------------ Bibliography Paul Cool, Salt Warriors: Insurgency on the Rio Grande (College Station: Texas A and M University Press, 2008). https://amzn.to/3Do5luw Richard W. Etulain, Thunder in the West: The Life and Legends of Billy the Kid (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2020). https://amzn.to/3wM7BYE Maurice Fulton, History of the Lincoln County War (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1968). https://amzn.to/3Rld2aB Joel K. Jacobsen, “An Excess of Law in Lincoln County: Thomas Catron, Samuel Axtell, and the Lincoln County War,” New Mexico Historical Review 68, no. 2 (April 1993): 133-151. David Johnson, The Horrell Wars: Feuding in Texas and New Mexico (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2014). William A. Keleher, Violence in Lincoln County, 1869-1881, facsimile edition (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1957; Santa Fe, N.Mex.: Sunstone Press, 2007). Citations refer to the Sunstone Press edition. https://amzn.to/3kVJ7d5 Frederick Nolan, The Lincoln County War: A Documentary History, rev. ed. (1992; Santa Fe, N.Mex.: Sunstone Press, 2009). https://amzn.to/3WRfnvc Philip J. Rasch, “The Horrell War,” New Mexico Historical Review 31, no. 3 (July 1956): 223-231. ---, “The Rustler War,” New Mexico Historical Review 39, no. 4 (October 1964): 257-273. ---, “The Tularosa Ditch War,” New Mexico Historical Review 43, no. 3 (July 1968): 229-235. Corey Recko, Murder on the White Sands: The Disappearance of Albert and Henry Fountain (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2007). Gary Roberts, Death Comes for the Chief Justice: The Slough-Rynerson Quarrel and Political Violence in New Mexico (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1990). https://amzn.to/3kR8nB8 Robert M. Utley, High Noon in Lincoln: Violence on the Western Frontier (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1987). https://amzn.to/3kSXRt6 ------------------------------------------------------------ SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c... Support the channel through PATREON:   / cynicalhistorian   or by purchasing MERCH: https://cynical-historian-shop.fourth... LET'S CONNECT Twitch:   / cynicalhistorian   Facebook:   / cynicalcypher88   Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/cynicalhisto... Threads: https://www.threads.net/@cynicalhisto... Discord:   / discord   Twitter:   / cynical_history   ------------------------------------------------------------ Hashtags: #history #LincolnCounty #BillyTheKid #NewMexico #SantaFeRing