The Lincoln County War

The Lincoln County War was a small skirmish between civilian factions in the New Mexico territory in 1978. It started as a feud between two rival general stores in Lincoln County. It was plagued by poor dissemination of information because, both sides were deputized and assumed they were operating with the law. By the end of the conflict twenty-two people had died, and with the exception of Billy the Kid, both sides were pardoned for their actions. There was no clear winner, and due to questionable tactics, distrust in the local government was the main result of the conflict. Table of Contents

i. Introduction___________________________________________4 ii. Strategic Setting_______________________________________5 iii. Tactical Situation______________________________________6

The war originated from a feud between two rival stores in Lincoln County, which encompassed about one fifth of the land mass of the New Mexico territory. In 1874, Lawrence Murphy opened a general store and partnered with James Dolan. Their store was the only general store in Lincoln County and price-gouged the cost of goods to local inhabitants and bought cattle well below market value from local ranchers. In 1876 Alexander McSween and John Tunstall opened a rival store nearby. Tensions grew over the next two years and on February 18, 1878 Tunstall was killed, allegedly by hands hired from Dolan and Murphy. This officially started the Lincoln County War (Weiser, 2012).

Infuriated by the cold blooded killing of their employer, Tunstall’s cattle hands, including the infamous Billy the Kid, swore vengeance. The cattle hands started a posse named The Regulators and hunted Tunstall’s murderers. After several run-downs and questionable killings the decisive point of the war came down to a three day standoff between the two factions. By the time the war ended on July, 20th 1878, twenty-two people had died and twenty-three were wounded (Nolan