Frontier Forts and Outposts of New Mexico by Donna Blake Birchell

Author:Donna Blake Birchell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2019-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

The South Springs house was the headquarters of the Jingle-Bob Ranch and home to the largest cattle rancher in Southeast New Mexico, John Chisum. Courtesy of the Southeastern New Mexico Historical Society.

Fort Sumner, which was mainly built using adobe bricks, was washed completely away when the Pecos River changed its course and flooded the region in 1904. Courtesy of the Southeastern New Mexico Historical Society.

After the Civil and Indian Wars, in 1869, Fort Sumner was abandoned and purchased by the largest land owner in the New Mexico Territory, Lucien Maxwell, who enlarged the officer’s quarters to become his sprawling twenty-one-room home. It was at this home, in 1881, that Billy the Kid would meet his doom. Mrs. Lucien Maxwell and her son, Pete, disposed of the remaining fort buildings in 1884, and the fort fell to adobe ruins. It is unfortunate that the ruins of Fort Sumner were destroyed in the floods of 1921 and 1932.

Billy the Kid

Today, Fort Sumner’s claim to fame centers on a popular, but controversial, character in New Mexico history: the outlaw William H. Bonney, who is more commonly known as Billy the Kid. Billy’s short life ended in Fort Sumner at the home of his good friend, Pete Maxwell on July 14, 1881. This fact is still being debated today.

During his career as a cowboy, Billy acquired the reputation of being an outlaw, gunslinger and all-around bad hombre. Was he as bad as they said? Probably not, but now there is no one left alive to dispute the accusations. Billy was said to be a fun-loving soul who was fluent in Spanish and Gaelic; he was also known to be lucky with the ladies and quite a good dancer. The local Hispanic population was known to enjoy Billy’s company greatly, and they were extremely tight-lipped when asked about his location by lawmen.

The “luck of the Irish” did not seem to follow Billy, for he seemed to have some of the worst luck around, depending on perspective. The following are the events of Billy the Kid’s short life in a nutshell.

It is thought by some historians that Billy started his life in New York City on November 23, 1859. He was born William Henry McCarty Jr., but not much else is known of his early life and childhood. His mother, Catherine McCarty, decided to move west, where it is thought she met William Antrim in Indianapolis, Indiana. The couple continued traveling and were married in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with Billy and his brother, Joseph, in attendance. The newlyweds then followed the gold trail to Silver City, New Mexico, where Antrim mined.

Tragically, Billy lost his mother in 1874 to tuberculosis, rendering him and his brother orphans at a young age. After her death, Billy and his brother were shuffled through foster homes, since his stepfather, William Antrim, showed no interest in raising the boys. Billy soon fell in with a rough crowd and under the influence of a petty thief by the name of Sombrero Jack. The Kid was arrested for stealing clothes from a Chinese laundry and thrown in jail.

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