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The Day Billy the Kid Crossed the Line: Lincoln’s Deadliest Ambush

April 1, 1878. Sheriff William Brady walks down the main street of Lincoln, New Mexico with four deputies—not knowing that six armed men are hiding behind an adobe wall just thirty feet away. Within seconds, Brady and one of his deputies lie dead in the street, cut down by at least a dozen bullets. One of the shooters is a nineteen-year-old ranch hand named Billy the Kid, and this moment will define the rest of his short, violent life.

This is the true story of the most brazen assassination in Wild West history—the day Billy the Kid and the Regulators ambushed Sheriff Brady in broad daylight. Was it justice for the murder of their employer John Tunstall? Or was it cold-blooded murder that turned Billy from a ranch hand into an outlaw?

We explore the events leading up to that fateful morning: Tunstall's murder six weeks earlier, the formation of the Regulators, and the impossible position Sheriff Brady found himself in—caught between powerful cattle barons and young men seeking revenge. Using historical sources and eyewitness accounts, we reconstruct what happened on that muddy April morning, including Billy's reckless dash into the open street that nearly got him killed.

This wasn't just another gunfight in the Lincoln County War. This was the moment Billy the Kid crossed a line he could never uncross, setting him on a path that would end three years later when Pat Garrett shot him dead at Fort Sumner.

#BillyTheKid #WildWest #LincolnCountyWar

SOURCES CITED

Primary Historical Sources:
Garrett, Pat F. & Upson, Ash (1882). The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid, the Noted Desperado of the Southwest. New Mexican Print and Publishing Co., Santa Fe.

Sheriff Pat Garrett's firsthand account, published one year after Billy the Kid's death.
Fulton, Maurice G. (1968). History of the Lincoln County War. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. ISBN 8165-0052-5

Comprehensive academic history based on contemporary documents and testimony.
Angel, Frank Warner (1878). Report on the Killing of John H. Tunstall. Special investigator for the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

Government investigation that determined Tunstall was killed "in cold blood."
Modern Historical Works:
Utley, Robert M. (1989). Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-9558-4

Definitive modern biography by former chief historian of the National Park Service.
Nolan, Frederick (1992). The Lincoln County War: A Documentary History. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2465-5

Extensively researched documentary history using primary sources.
Ball, Larry D. (1992). Desert Lawmen: The High Sheriffs of New Mexico and Arizona, 1846-1912. University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0-8263-1346-9

Detailed biographical information on Sheriff William Brady.
Lavash, Donald R. (1986). Sheriff William Brady: Tragic Hero of the Lincoln County War. Sunstone Press, Santa Fe. ISBN 0-86534-064-1

Biography focused on Brady's life and role in the conflict.
Academic and Encyclopedia Sources:
"Billy the Kid" (Henry McCarty) - Wikipedia. Accessed January 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_t...

Comprehensive article with extensive citations to primary and secondary sources.
"William J. Brady" - Wikipedia. Accessed January 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...

Biographical article with details on Brady's death and the ambush.
"Lincoln County War" - Wikipedia. Accessed January 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln...

Overview of the conflict with timeline and key events.
Specialized Historical Sources:
"I Shot the Sheriff (and I Killed a Deputy, Too)" - True West Magazine, April 1, 2004. https://truewestmagazine.com/article/...

Detailed account of the April 1, 1878 ambush with eyewitness testimony.
"Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War: The Irish Connection" - History Ireland. https://historyireland.com/billy-the-...

Analysis of the Irish immigrant dimension of the conflict.
"Billy the Kid – The Fatal Shot in the Dark" - Legends of America. Updated April 2024. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-b...

Includes Pat Garrett's own written account of tracking and killing Billy.
"Sheriff William Brady - First Sheriff of Lincoln County New Mexico" - The History Junkie, November 7, 2023. https://thehistoryjunkie.com/sheriff-...

Biographical details on Brady's life and service.
"The Life and Legend of Billy the Kid" - PBS American Experience, August 21, 2019. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexpe...

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