Question

Give three examples of the lawlessness that characterized New Mexico after the Civil War?

Answer 1

1. the Lincoln County War (1878 – 1881)There, within the 27,000 square miles embracing the largest county in the United States, rival factions composed of merchants and cattlemen fell to feuding.
2. The Colfax County War (1875 – 1878), one of the more prominent disturbances, pitted claimants of the nearly two-million-acre Maxwell Land Grant against squatters who had settled on what they regarded as public domain.
3. Squatters often then sold these lands to land speculators for huge profits, especially after the passing of the 1862 Homestead Act. Hispanos demanded that their lands be returned to them but the governments did not respond favorably.

Answer 2

1) the Lincoln County War waged to capture Billy the Kid

2) the prolonged gunfight of Elfego Baca where he held off 80 Texas cowboys for 33 hours

3) the gangs that terrorized San Miguel County including the gang Las Gorras Blancas or white hoods.