History - Western

Taming the Wild West is a collection of historical events that happened during the settlement of the west. Things were happening fast and furious at that time, with the United States expanding into the territory too fast to tame.

During the Civil War, in New Mexico volunteers helped stop the Confederacy in the 1860’s from expanding in the west with their defeat at Rowe Mesa in northern New Mexico.

In the 1870’s a lady named Catherine McCarty and her two sons came to New Mexico. The sons’ names were Joseph or Joe McCarty and William E. McCarty, aka Billy the Kid. I was able to track them down, and their birthplaces, through U.S. Census records. Billy became involved in the Lincoln County war when the cattle business was king. Billy became an infamous outlaw after he killed two deputies and escaped while waiting to be hanged.

Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral became legends in a few seconds of gunfire in a shoot-out there. This book includes a diagram showing the encounter.

Victorio and Geronimo wreaked havoc on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border until a lead bullet ended Victorio’s life and the sub-chief Geronimo surrendered at Skeleton Canyon.

Pancho Villa and General John Pershing were a lot more friends than enemies, especially around WWI.

This book is a review of the life and times of the infamous outlaw known today as Billy the Kid, but in my book I call him Kidd. An explanation is in the book on why I chose Kidd, spelled with two d’s. What makes my version of the Kidd’s life span different from others is that it includes views of history as seen by the Mexican people that knew him at the time; including my great-grandmother. My research indicates that the Kidd died in his nineties in the early 1950s; I have firsthand accounts of people that knew him at the time, including a story of a man who is still alive that met him in l949. Also included is an account of how Pat Garrett met his demise.

I show the connection between my great-grandmother and her husband and the Kidd. I also give an insight on the Lincoln County War correspondence between Fort Stanton and Fort Craig, and Santa Fe; and Colonel Dudley’s exit from Lincoln when higher command shipped him out to Fort Union because of his involvement in the Alexander McSween debacle during the Lincoln County War. The historical value of this book, during the turbulent times in the Territory of New Mexico, will be appreciated by countless western history buffs.