Yankie Cousins.
The Old West.

Joseph Trimble Yankie
in Silver City, NM
Joseph Trimble Yankie
and Hillsboro, NM
James Minor Yankie
in Silver City, NM
John Swisshelm and
The Swisshelm Mountains


 

TERRITORIAL NEW MEXICO
c. 1850 - 1890

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Map of Territorial New Mexico.
Map of New Mexico showing principal towns during territorial era.

 

LAWMEN OF SILVER CITY, NEW MEXICO
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JOSEPH TRIMBLE YANKIE IN SILVER CITY, NM

TIME LINE OF TERRITORIAL NEW MEXICO
c. 1850 - 1889

1850. Designated as a territory and denied statehood.
New Mexico at that time included the present-day state of Arizona, southern Colorado, southern Utah and southern Nevada.

1851. Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy arrives in New Mexico.
Established schools, hospitals and orphanages throughout the territory.

1854. The Gadsden Purchase from Mexico.
Adds 45,000 square miles to the territory.

1861. The Confederate Army invades New Mexico from Texas.
The Confederate Territory of Arizona is declared with capital at La Mesilla southern New Mexico.
Territory of New Mexico loses northern most section to the creation of the Territory of Colorado.

1862. Confederate occupation ends in New Mexico.
Battles of Velarde and Glorieta Pass.

1863. Territory of New Mexico is divided.
Territory of Arizona is created.

1863. "The Long Walk".
Navajos and Apaches are relocated to Bosque Redondo in the plains of eastern New Mexico.

1868. Navajos and Apaches are allowed to return to their homelands after thousands died from disease and starvation.

1878. The railroad arrives.
Opens trade and migration from the East and Midwest.
Lincoln County Wars erupt in southeastern New Mexico.

1881. William H. Bonney, "Billy the Kid".
Shot by Sheriff Pat Garrett near Fort Sumner, NM.

1886. Geronimo surrenders.
Indian hostilities end in Southwest.

1898. Thomas A. Edison films first movie.
"Indian Day School".

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JAMES MINOR YANKIE IN SILVER CITY, NM

APACHE WARS

 

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Chiricahua Apache leader Geronimo before his surrender.

Chiricahua Apache Leader Geronimo

Neg. No. 2115

Museum of New Mexico

JOSEPH TRIMBLE YANKIE AND HILLSBORO, NM

Greetings from the Hillsboro Historical Society.

Hillsboro, New Mexico, had its own 9/11 events -- in 1879 and 1885 -- the latter being the original "operation Geronimo" that involved a future Supreme Court Justice.

You can read about it here.


When passing through town, be sure to visit the free Black Range Museum (donations encouraged).

Craig Springer

 
JOHN SWISSHELM
The Swisshelm Mountains in Eastern Arizona

WILLIAM H. BONNEY,
"Billy the Kid"

Born in New York City,
11/ 23/1859
Moved to Coffeyville, KS in 1862 with his parents and then to Colorado after the death of his father William H. Bonney, Sr. His mother remarried William Antrim who moved the family to Silver City, NM.
No public education. Moved about the West while a teenager through TX, AZ, NM and Mexico.
Reportedly shot and killed 21 men by his 21st birthday.

1871. Silver City, NM- Stabbed a man to death. Age 14. Hi s killing spree had begun;
Three Apache braves on the Chiracahua Reservation in AZ. A African-American blacksmith at a card game in Camp Bowie, three card dealers in Mexico, two Apache Indians in the Guadalupe Mountains, cowboys Billy Morton, Frank Baker and Andrew L. "Buckshot" Roberts in 1876, while Billy was working in Lincoln County during the cattle war; Sheriff William Brady and Deputy George Hindman, 04/01/1878; Cattleman Robert W. Beckwith 07/17/1878; Gunmen Joe Grant and Jimmy Carlyle in 1879; Indian agent Joseph Bernstein; Deputies and wardens J.W. Bell and Robert W. Ollinger as he escaped from the Mesilla, NM jail 04/28/1881. Shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett 07/14/1881 on the Maxwell Ranch near Fort Sumner, NM. A little more than four months before his 22nd birthday.

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William H. Bonney, "Billie the Kid"

William H. Bonney
"Billy the Kid"

photo from:
Western History Collection,
University of Oklahoma Library