Charlie Bowdre with wife, Manuela
Charlie Bowdre was born in either Mississippi or Tennessee (he named both as his birth state at different times) in 1848. By 1875, Charlie was living in Arizona Territory. In the early fall of 1875, Charlie met Josiah G. "Doc" Scurlock, who had recently fled to Arizona after he quit working as a ranch-hand for cattle king John Chisum. Charlie and Doc quickly became fast friends and opened a cheese factory on the Gila River. Around March of 1876, Charlie and Doc hired a boy named Henry "Kid" Antrim (later to be known as Billy the Kid) to work in their cheese factory. However, later on in the spring of 1876, Charlie and Doc left their factory behind and traveled to Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory. There, they were sold a ranch on public domain land by L. G. Murphy & Co. on credit, making them a victim of Murphy & Co.'s monopoly. Their ranch was located on the Rio Ruidoso, and they became fast friends with their neighbors, Dick Brewer and George Coe. Probably in Oct. 1876 Charlie married Manuela Herrera, and Doc married her half-sister, making Doc and Charlie brothers-in-law. Afterwords, Charlie began hanging around with the Jessie Evans Gang, rustling cattle and so forth. On Aug. 5, 1877, Charlie and another member of the Jessie Evans Gang, Frank Freeman, shot up the town of Lincoln while drunk. Sheriff William Brady arrested both men and Charlie was allowed to go free on $500 bail, while Freeman managed to escape from Brady's custody. Ten days later, though, Freeman was tracked to Charlie and Doc's ranch by Brady's posse and was there killed. This apparently got Charlie to cut his ties with the Jessie Evans Gang. In Oct. 1877, after the Evans Gang was hired by Jas. J. Dolan & Co. to steal the horses of John Tunstall, Alex McSween, and Dick Brewer from Brewer's ranch, Charlie, Doc, and Dick all went off after the gang and the animals. However, they were unable to retrieve any of the horses. After Henry Antrim, now going by the name William Bonney, arrived in Lincoln County in late 1877, he stayed at the ranch of Charlie and Doc's neighbor, George Coe. This caused Charlie and Doc to get reacquainted with Billy, and they became very good friends of his. After the murder of John Tunstall on Feb. 18, 1878, Charlie became a founding and important member of the Regulators and was in most of their battles. In the Battle at Blazer's Mills, Charlie was shot in the belt buckle by Buckshot Roberts, but not before Charlie got off a shot at him. Charlie's bullet hit Buckshot in the gut and he died the next day due to his wound. Charlie fought in just about every other battle of the Lincoln County War afterward. During the Five-Day Battle, Charlie, along with Doc Scurlock, John Middleton, Frank Coe, John Scroggins, Dan Dedrick, and Dirty Steve Stephens, took over the Ellis house at the east end of Lincoln. When Lt. Col. Nathan A. M. Dudley arrived on the last day of the battle and turned his howitzer on the Ellis house, Charlie and the other Regulators fled Lincoln. After the war, Charlie and Manuela, as well as Doc and his wife, left their Rio Ruidoso ranch and moved to Fort Sumner. Charlie and Manuela took up residence in the Old Indian Hospital. Charlie quit the Regulators at the same time Doc Scurlock did, and the both of them got jobs as ranch-hands on the ranches of Thomas Yerby and Peter Maxwell. Charlie eventually became a member of the Rustlers, riding with former Regulators Billy the Kid, Tom Folliard, and others, although he still kept a job on the Yerby ranch. In fact, it was Charlie who introduced Las Vegas fugitives Dirty Dave Rudabaugh and Tom Pickett to Billy, since both Dave and Pickett became fellow hands on the Yerby ranch. Charlie eventually began to grow tired of being hunted, and met with Sheriff-elect Pat Garrett to talk about a surrender. Charlie said he would surrender, but would have to break the news to Billy and the other Rustlers before he really could surrender to Garrett. Charlie continued to ride with the Rustlers anyway, though, apparently never finding the right time to tell them he was quitting. Late at night on Dec. 19, 1880, during a severe snow-storm, six members of the Rustlers, Charlie, Billy the Kid, Tom Folliard, Dirty Dave Rudabaugh, Tom Pickett, and Buffalo Billy Wilson, rode towards Fort Sumner. They came towards the Old Indian Hospital, where Charlie and Manuela lived. What the Rustlers didn't know was that Sheriff-elect Garrett and a posse were inside the hospital waiting for them. When the gang got close enough to the front porch, where Garrett and posse member named Lon Chambers stood, they were opened fire upon. Folliard was the only one hit and died forty-five minutes later, while the rest of the gang fled. The posse soon tracked the Rustlers to a abandoned rock house at an area called Stinking Springs. On the morning of Dec. 23, Charlie exited the one-room rock house. Just as Charlie exited to feed the outlaws' horses, he was shot at seven times by Garrett and his posse. Only one slug hit him, entering his chest and exiting through his neck. He stumbled, but did not fall, and reentered the small house. He told his compadres he wanted to surrender, and they let him exit the house, but not before Billy Wilson yelled to Garrett that Charlie was dying and wanted to come out. Charlie then left the house and walked towards the posse. He muttered "I wish....I wish" and then said in a whisper "I'm dying" and fell dead in front of the posse. Ironically, Charlie was mistaken for Billy, who the posse's intended to kill, because he either wore Billy's hat, or a very similar one. Charlie was later buried in the cemetery in Fort Sumner alongside his fellow Regulator and Rustler, Tom Folliard.
Charlie Bowdre with wife, Manuela
This photo of Charlie and Manuela was taken on the same day at the same studio in Sante Fe. Note how the rifle is leaning differently in each photo and the pistol butt is facing differently also. Note also the blood stains on this photo, which Charlie was carrying in his pocket when he was shot and killed at Stinking Springs.
