Grave of Billy the Kid – Fort Sumner, New Mexico - Atlas Obscura

Grave of Billy the Kid

Old Fort Sumner Cemetery

The final resting place of the most famous outlaw in the Old West. 

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Henry McCarty was known by many names in his short life: The Boy Bandit King, El Chivato, William H. Bonney. But his most common moniker was Billy the Kid. Born in 1859, and orphaned at the age of 15, he was the leader of a gang known as the Regulators who fought against the Murphy-Dolan Faction and the Santa Fe Ring during the bloody Lincoln County War in New Mexico.

Billy has been said to have killed 21 men—one for each year of his life—but the real total is likely lower. He was laid to rest on the Old Fort Sumner Cemetery after being hunted down and shot by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett. He was buried beside two of his pals, Charlie Bowdre and Tom O’Folliard, in 1881. Billy the Kid has been the subject of hundreds of songs, books, televison shows, and movies. If you’re an Old West history buff, you simply can’t miss the final resting place of an American icon.

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July 10, 2021

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