Editing Billy the Kid (section)

==Lincoln County War==
{{Main|Lincoln County War}}

===Prelude===
[[File:John Tunstall seated pose cropped and retouched.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[John Henry Tunstall]], 1872|left]]
After returning to New Mexico, Bonney worked as a cowboy for English businessman and rancher [[John Henry Tunstall]] (1853–1878), near the Rio Felix, a tributary of the [[Pecos River]], in Lincoln County (now in [[Chaves County]]). Tunstall and his business partner and lawyer [[Alexander McSween]] were opponents of an alliance formed by [[Irish-American]] businessmen [[Lawrence Murphy]], [[James Dolan (Lincoln County War)|James Dolan]], and John Riley. The three men had wielded an economic and political hold over Lincoln County since the early 1870s, due in part to their ownership of a beef contract with nearby [[Fort Stanton]] and a well-patronized dry goods store in the town of [[Lincoln, New Mexico|Lincoln]].

By February 1878, McSween owed $8,000 to Dolan, who obtained a court order and asked Lincoln County Sheriff [[William J. Brady]] to [[Attachment (law)|attach]] nearly $40,000 worth of Tunstall's property and livestock. Tunstall put Bonney in charge of nine prime horses and told him to relocate them to his ranch for safekeeping. Meanwhile, Sheriff Brady assembled a large posse to seize Tunstall's cattle.{{sfn|Nolan|2009a|pp=188–190}}<ref name=tunstallfamily />

On February 18, 1878, Tunstall learned of the posse's presence on his land and rode out to intervene. During the encounter, one member of the posse shot Tunstall in the chest, knocking him off his horse. Another posse member took Tunstall's gun and killed him with a shot to the back of his head.<ref name="tunstallfamily">{{Cite magazine |last=Boardman |first=Mark |date=September 25, 2010 |title=The Tunstalls Return – John Tunstall's kin traveled from England to fathom death in Lincoln. |url=http://www.truewestmagazine.com/the-tunstalls-return/ |url-status=live |magazine=True West Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216031421/http://www.truewestmagazine.com/the-tunstalls-return/ |archive-date=February 16, 2016 |access-date=February 10, 2016 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>{{sfn|Utley|1989|p=46}} Tunstall's murder ignited the conflict between the two factions that became known as the [[Lincoln County War]].<ref name=tunstallfamily />{{sfn|Nolan|2009a|pp=23–55}}

===Build-up===
[[File:Dick Brewer cropped b&w.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Richard M. Brewer|Dick Brewer]], {{circa|1875}}]]
After Tunstall was killed, Bonney and [[Richard M. Brewer|Dick Brewer]] swore affidavits against Brady and those in his posse, and obtained murder warrants from Lincoln County justice of the peace John B. Wilson.{{sfn|Utley|1989|pp=48–49}} On February 20, 1878, while attempting to arrest Brady, the sheriff and his deputies found and arrested Bonney and two other men riding with him.<ref name="TWfebarrest">{{Cite magazine |last=Bell |first=Bob Boze |date=April 1, 2004 |title=I Shot the Sheriff (and I Killed a Deputy, Too) – Billy Kid and the Regulators vs Sheriff Brady and His Deputies |url=http://www.truewestmagazine.com/i-shot-the-sheriff-and-i-killed-a-deputy-too/ |url-status=live |magazine=True West Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216031605/http://www.truewestmagazine.com/i-shot-the-sheriff-and-i-killed-a-deputy-too/ |archive-date=February 16, 2016 |access-date=February 10, 2016 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Deputy [[United States Marshal Service|U.S. Marshal]] [[Robert Widenmann]], a friend of Bonney, and a detachment of soldiers captured Sheriff Brady's jail guards, put them behind bars, and released Bonney and Brewer.<ref name="TWtunstallambush">{{Cite magazine |last=Bell |first=Bob Boze |date=September 11, 2015 |title=Tunstall Ambushed – Regulators vs Dolan's Henchmen |url=http://www.truewestmagazine.com/tunstall-ambushed/ |url-status=live |magazine=True West Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216032547/http://www.truewestmagazine.com/tunstall-ambushed/ |archive-date=February 16, 2016 |access-date=February 11, 2016 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Bonney then joined the [[Lincoln County Regulators]]; on March 9 they captured Frank Baker and William Morton, both of whom were accused of killing Tunstall. Baker and Morton were killed while allegedly trying to escape.{{sfn|Utley|1989|pp=56–60}}

On April 1, the Regulators ambushed Sheriff Brady and his deputies; Bonney was wounded in the thigh during the battle. Brady and Deputy Sheriff [[George W. Hindman]] were killed.{{sfn|Nolan|2009a|pp=233–49, 549}} On the morning of April 4, 1878, [[Buckshot Roberts]] and Dick Brewer were killed during [[Gunfight at Blazer's Mill|a shootout at Blazer's Mill]].<ref>Rickards, Colin. ''The Gunfight at Blazer's Mill'', 1974 – pp. 36–37.</ref> Warrants were issued for several participants on both sides, and Bonney and two others were charged with killing Brady, Hindman and Roberts.<ref name="nmdotorg"/>

==== Battle of Lincoln (1878) ====
{{Main|Battle of Lincoln (1878)}}
On the night of Sunday, July 14, McSween and the Regulators—now a group of fifty or sixty men—went to Lincoln and stationed themselves in the town among several buildings.{{sfn|Jacobsen|1994|p=173}} At the McSween residence were Bonney, Florencio Chavez, [[Jose Chavez y Chavez]], Jim French, Harvey Morris, [[Tom O'Folliard]], and [[Yginio Salazar]], among others. Another group led by Marin Chavez and [[Doc Scurlock]] positioned themselves on the roof of a saloon. [[Henry Newton Brown]], Dick Smith, and [[George Coe (Lincoln County War)|George Coe]] defended a nearby adobe bunkhouse.{{sfn|Nolan|1992|pp=312–313}}{{sfn|Utley|1987|p=87}}

On Tuesday, July 16, newly appointed sheriff [[George Peppin]] sent sharpshooters to kill the McSween defenders at the saloon. Peppin's men retreated when one of the snipers, Charles Crawford, was killed by Fernando Herrera. Peppin then sent a request for assistance to Colonel [[Nathan Dudley]], commandant of nearby [[Fort Stanton]]. In a reply to Peppin, Dudley refused to intervene but later arrived in Lincoln with troops, turning the battle in favor of the Murphy-Dolan faction.{{sfn|Nolan|1992|p=513}}<ref name="nmdotorg"/>

A gunfight broke out on Friday, July 19. McSween's supporters gathered inside his house; when Buck Powell and Deputy Sheriff Jack Long set fire to the building, the occupants began shooting. Bonney and the other men fled the building when all rooms but one were burning. During the confusion, McSween was shot and killed by Robert W. Beckwith, who was then shot and killed by Bonney.{{sfn|Nolan|1992|pp=322–331}}{{sfn|Utley|1987|pp=96–111}}