1878: Amnesty for the Lincoln County War, but Not for Billy the Kid
Governor Lew Wallace tried to end the bloodiest feud in New Mexico Territory with the stroke of a pen, offering amnesty to most of the gunmen who had fought through the Lincoln County War. The conflict had pitted rival business factions against each other in a running gun battle that drew in ranchers, lawmen and hired shooters alike, leaving the territory desperate for a way out.
On this day in 1878, Wallace issued his proclamation, pardoning participants for crimes committed during the war, with one deliberate exception. Billy the Kid, who had ridden with the losing faction and was wanted for multiple killings during the conflict, was named and excluded by the governor himself.
The decision set the young gunfighter on a path that amnesty might otherwise have closed, and within three years he would be hunted down and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett, his legend only growing in the telling.
