Few figures from the Wild West stir as much fascination as Billy the Kid. Long before he became a legend, he was simply Henry McCarty, born in New York City in 1859 to Irish immigrant parents. Orphaned as a teenager, he drifted west under different names, including Kid Antrim and William H. Bonney, before the world came to know him as Billy the Kid.
By the time he was fifteen, Billy was already on his own, surviving through odd jobs and petty theft before finding work as a cowboy. His skill with horses and his quick draw made him stand out, and soon he was drawn into the violence of New Mexico’s Lincoln County War. In a land dominated by rival factions, the Kid became both a fighter and a symbol. Newspapers later claimed he killed twenty-one men, one for every year of his short life, though historians believe the true number was closer to eight. Still, his reputation as one of the most dangerous outlaws of the frontier was firmly established.
His most famous escapade came in 1881, when he broke free from the Lincoln County Courthouse after killing two deputies. It cemented his image as an outlaw who couldn’t be contained. But the freedom didn’t last. On July 14, 1881, at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, Sheriff Pat Garrett confronted him in the dark. One gunshot ended his life. For more than a century, people have debated exactly how Billy the Kid died, who killed him, and how many men truly fell to his gun.
Historian Roger McGrath takes us past the myth to uncover the history of Henry McCarty, William Bonney, Kid Antrim: the young man who became Billy the Kid.
