Books in the Southwest Heritage series

When Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett ended Billy the Kid''s life on the night of July 14, 1881 with a shot in the dark, he was catapulted at once into stardom in the annals of Western history. The killing occurred at old Fort Sumner, New Mexico on the Pecos River. Garrett by pure chance had encountered the Kid in a darkened room of the Pete Maxwell house. As the unsuspecting Billy entered, he was cut down without warning. But the Kid had his share of friends and many of them stepped forward to level some harsh criticism against the lawman. It soon became clear that while Pat Garrett was an instant celebrity, he had also come away, at least in some quarters, with a negative image. To address that problem, he began thinking about a book to give the public his side of the story. The editor of the "Santa Fe New Mexican," Charles Greene, offered to publish a Garrett volume if the sheriff could find someone to ghost write it for him. Pat enlisted his good friend Marshall Ashmun (Ash) Upson, a journalist, to do the job. Upson cranked out a manuscript and it was published in 1882 under the title "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid." Sunstone''s edition is a facsimile of the 1927 edition. Before that fateful night in 1881, there was not much in Pat Garrett''s career to suggest he was headed for a place in the history books. Alabama-born in 1850, he worked as a cowboy and buffalo hunter in Texas. By 1878 he had drifted to the Pecos in eastern New Mexico. Perhaps craving excitement, Pat Garrett ran for sheriff of wild Lincoln County in the fall of 1880. He was elected. Winning the office put him on a collision course with the outlaw Billy and the incident that catapulted the Kid into literary immortality.

Nina Otero-Warren's book, Old Spain in Our Southwest (1936), recorded her memories of the family hacienda in Las Lunas, New Mexico.

Miguel Antonio Otero served as the first Hispanic governor of the U.S. Territory of New Mexico, from 1897 to 1906. He was appointed to the office by President William McKinley. Long after his retirement from politics, Governor Otero wrote and published his memoirs in three volumes, a major contribution to New Mexico history. But he also published a biography in 1936 titled "e;The Real Billy the Kid."e; His aim in that book, he proclaimed, was to write the Kid's story "e;without embellishment, based entirely on actual fact."e; Otero had known the outlaw briefly and also had known the man who killed Billy in 1881, Sheriff Pat Garrett. The author recalled Garrett saying he regretted having to slay Billy. Or, as he bluntly put it, "e;it was simply the case of who got in the first shot. I happened to be the lucky one."e; By all accounts, Billy the Kid was much adored by New Mexico's Hispanic population. Otero asserts that the Kid was considerate of the old, the young and the poor. And he was loyal to his friends. Further, Martin Chaves of Santa Fe stated: "e;Billy was a perfect gentleman with a noble heart. He never killed a native citizen of New Mexico in all his career, and he had plenty of courage."e; Otero was especially admiring of Billy because as a boy in Silver City, "e;he had loved his mother devotedly."e; Such praise must be viewed in the context of the times. Other people, of course, saw Billy as an arch-villain. MIGUEL ANTONIO OTERO rightly distinguished himself as a political leader in New Mexico where he raised a family and lived out his life as a champion of the people, but he is also highly recognized for his career as an author. He published his legendary "e;My Life on the Frontier, 1864-1882"e; in 1935, followed by "e;The Real Billy the Kid: With New Light on the Lincoln County War"e; in 1936, "e;My Life on the Frontier, 1882-1897"e; in 1939, and "e;My Nine Years as Governor of New Mexico Territory, 1897-1906"e; in 1940.

Historians have long admired Ralph Emerson Twitchell's "The Leading Facts of New Mexican History," considered the first major history of the state. Put succinctly by former State Historian Robert J. Tórrez, Twitchell's work (of which this is one of the first two volumes Sunstone Press is reprinting in its Southwest Heritage Series) has "become the standard by which all subsequent books on New Mexico history are measured." As Twitchell wrote in the preface of his first volume, his goal in writing "The Leading Facts" was to respond to the "pressing need" for a history of New Mexico with a commitment to "accuracy of statement, simplicity of style, and impartiality of treatment."Ralph Emerson Twitchell was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on November 29, 1859. Arriving in New Mexico when he was twenty-three, he immediately became involved in political and civic activities. In 1885 he helped organize a new territorial militia in Santa Fe and saw active duty in western New Mexico. Later appointed judge advocate of the Territorial Militia, he attained the rank of colonel, a title he was proud to use for the rest of his life. By 1893 he was elected the mayor of Santa Fe and, thereafter, district attorney of Santa Fe County. Twitchell probably promoted New Mexico as much as any single New Mexican of his generation. An avid supporter of New Mexico statehood, he argued the territory's case for elevated political status, celebrated its final victory in 1912, and even designed New Mexico's first state flag in 1915. Just as Twitchell's first edition in 1911 helped celebrate New Mexico's entry into statehood in 1912, the newest edition of the text and illustrations, including the "Subscriber's Edition" page of Number 1,156 of 1,500, serves as a tribute to the state's centennial celebration of 2012. In the apt words of an editorial in the "Santa Fe New Mexican" at the time of Twitchell's death in 1925: "As press agent for the best things of New Mexico, her traditions, history, beauty, glamour, scenery, archaeology, and material resources, he was indefatigable and efficient."