Charlie Bowdre is more then well-known to all Billy the Kid enthusiasts. As a member of the McSween faction in the Lincoln County War, Bowdre fought with the Kid, and, later he was shot and killed while with the Kid at Stinking Springs, New Mexico, by Sheriff-Elect Pat Garrett on December 23, 1880. However, in spite of the prominent role Bowdre played in the Kid's drama, he still remained mysterious as several questions remained unanswered about him.
Over the years, little effort was made to find what his true name was, where he was really born or who his family was? It was often stated through the years that he was born on a plantation in Mississippi, but no more was said. It seems that Bowdre appeared in Lincoln County in 1874, and his closest friend was "Doc" Scurlock. Both men farmed on the Rio Ruidoso south of Lincoln. When the Lincoln County War ripped the community open, both men fought with the McSween faction, and lost. They retreated to Ft. Sumner in San Miguel County. Scrulock, who was married to fellow Lincoln County War warrior Fernando Herrera's daughter, quickly moved on to Texas and never returned to New Mexico. Bowdre would have been better served if he had accompanied his friend out of the area, but he remained in Ft. Sumner and secured employment as a cowboy on the ranches of Thomas Yerby and Pete Maxwell.
After the Lincoln County War, the Kid and several gang members rustled cattle around eastern New Mexico and the Texas panhandle, but it appears that Bowdre was not overly involved in this activity. However, his old friends kept coming by his home for his hospitality, which made him suspect to their activities. He moved his wife, Manuela into Ft. Sumner. In December of 1880, he succumbed to the temptation and rode into Ft. Sumner with the Kid and his gang. Garrett was waiting for them and shot gang member Thomas O'Folliard out of his saddle. The others escaped, but several days later, on December 23, 1880, Garrett and his possemen shot and killed Bowdre and captured the Kid and his gang at Stinking Springs. Bowdre's remains were delivered to his wife, and then they were interred in Ft. Sumners old military cemetery near those of Thomas O'Folliard.
Actually, "Bowdre" was the slain outlaw's true name. It was a distinguished name in Wilkes County Georgia, when Charlie was born to Albert and Lucy Bowdre there in 1848. The 1850 U.S. Census report for that county lists the Bowdres as property owners of means. Charles was the first-born of the union. Sometime, during 1853, Albert Bowdre moved his family to DeSoto County, Mississippi, where he established a plantation and where Charlie was raised to manhood. In time other children joined the family: Eppie, 1854; Sallie, 1855; twins Volney and Benjamin, 1857; Willie, also called Albert, in 1863; and Lucy Lee in 1863. By 1870, for unknown reasons, Charlie had left home and his whereabouts and activities in the Lincoln County War, and thereafter, are well-known and documented. (In 1962, in the lawsuit to have Billy's body exhumed and re-buried at Lincoln, N.M, a "relative", Louis (Lewis?) Bowdre, came to Ft. Sumner to testify that he didn't won't Charlie's bones disturbed - Charlie was buried next to Billy - and partly on that testimony the court threw out the lawsuit.)
Most accounts of Bowdre identify his wife as "Manuela," and this name is supported by the 1880 U.S. Census report of Ft. Sumner, San Miguel County. Her age at that time was twenty-five years, and she was born in New Mexico. Lincoln County tradition indicates that he married Manuela Herrera, the daughter of Fernando Herrera, Bowdre's comrade in arms during the Lincoln County War. However, after Bowdre's death, his estate, amounting to $20, was claimed by Manuela Gonzales. The estate's administrator, Pete Maxwell, had no objection to this claim and Probate Court Judge Lorenzo Lopez ordered Manuela Gonzales' claim paid. Manuela Bowdre was at least twenty-six years of age when her husband was killed, and she appears not to have been remarried when her husband's estate was paid to her. We do not know who Manuela Gonzales was and, hopefully, some of our readers can tell us, especially since no marriage records of the Bowdre marriage have surfaced.
Charlie Bowdre, who played a prominent role in the Billy the Kid story, and who is buried with the Kid in the old Ft. Sumner cemetery, was a mysterious character and little was said, and is, known about him. While we don't know exactly who his wife was, the initial questions about Bowdre have been answered.
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