Henry Newton Brown - Lincoln County War

Lincoln County War

In 1877, Brown landed in New Mexico and became embroiled in the Lincoln County War, a battle of wills for economic domination of the region between two opposing factions. The first was the association of Attorney Alexander McSween and John H. Tunstall; generally noted as “the good guys.” They had the support of cattle baron John Chisum and a company of young working cowboys that were to become proficient gunmen known as “The Regulators.” Brown joined Billy the Kid and others of this group as a cowboy working on Tunstall’s Rio Feliz ranch.

Usually regarded as the “bad guys,” the opposing faction known as “The House” was the partnership of Major Lawrence G. Murphy and James J. Dolan, bolstered by a powerful political machine known as the “Santa Fe Ring.” Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady, and his deputies as well as a cadre of gunmen were loyal to the “House.”

On April 1, 1878, Brown, Billy the Kid, Jim French, Frank McNab, John Middleton and Fred Waite ambushed and murdered Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady, who was indirectly responsible for the death of the Regulators' employer, John Tunstall. Three days later, at the famous Blazer's Mill fight, Brown and the Regulators engaged in a gunfight with Buckshot Roberts, another man they believed involved in Tunstall's murder. Roberts received a serious gunshot wound from Charlie Bowdre which later proved to be fatal, but not before he managed to kill the Regulators' nominal leader, Richard M. Brewer. Retreating into proprietor Blazer's office, Roberts continued a prolonged firefight with Brown and the Regulators. He died the next day.

The Regulators—fugitives now for the Brady killing—spent the next several months in hiding. Then on July 15, 1878, they became trapped, along with one of Tunstall's partners, Alexander McSween, in McSween's home in Lincoln by members of "The House" and some of Brady's men. Henry Brown was one of three Regulators not actually in McSween's house at the time, but instead was sniping at Brady's men from a grain warehouse behind the Tunstall store. He escaped with Billy the Kid and the others when the siegers set fire to the house. McSween was shot down while fleeing the blaze, and his death essentially marked the end of the Lincoln County Cattle War.