Lt. Col. Nathan A. M. Dudley
This photo of a more youthful Dudley was taken approximately in 1861.
Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley on Aug. 20, 1825 in Lexington, Massachusetts. He enlisted in the U. S. Army at an early age was a first lieutenant of the Tenth Infantry by Mar. 1855. In the late 1850s, he fought the Sioux Indians in Minnesota and also fought in the "Mormon War." Stationed in Kansas in May of 1861, Dudley was promoted to the rank of captain, but was soon after court-martialed for "conduct unbecoming an officer." Stationed in the gulf states during the Civil War, he fought in the battles of Baton Rouge and Port Hudson in 1862 and '63, respectively. In Sept. 1864, he was promoted to the rank of major in command of the Fifteenth Infantry and was transferred to a fort in Texas. He was brevetted brigadier general of U. S. Volunteers in early 1865 for "gallant and meritorious service" during the Civil War. He later transferred to the Twenty-forth Infantry, then to the Third Cavalry. In 1870, he was stationed at Camp McDowell in Arizona Territory and got into an argument with Capt. Anson Mills. Each officer filed charges against the other, with Mills claiming Dudley had on several occasions been too drunk to properly perform his duties. Once again, Dudley was court-martialed, and was suspended for sixty days. Dudley transferred to, and was given command of, Fort Union, New Mexico Territory in the winter of 1876. In July of the same year, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Ninth Cavalry. In Nov., though, Col. Edward Hatch, an old enemy of Dudley's who was in command of the military in New Mexico, brought several charges against Dudley, including drunkenness on duty, disrespect, disobedience, and false accusation of theft. For the third time, Dudley was court-martialed, with Santa Fe Ring head Thomas Catron and his partner William Thorton acting as Dudley's defense counsel. Catron and Thorton got Dudley off light when he was only suspended for three months. After resuming his duties, he was given command of Fort Stanton on Apr. 5, 1878, by which time the Lincoln County War was already in full-swing. Stanton figured pominently as a place of refuge for civilians and fighters during the war, and Dudley himself was known to be friendly with L. G. Murphy and James Dolan, while looking at the men on the side of Alex McSween with utter contempt. On July 19, 1878, during the climactic Five-Day Battle, Dudley led a troop of soldiers into Lincoln for the purpose of "protecting women and children." However, it was made obvious that Dudley's true goal was to help the Dolan cause. Within an hour of his arrival, he managed to drive away more then two-thirds of the McSween fighters. Later, when Susan McSween pleaded with him to give her husband and his men protection, he refused, insulting her as he did so. When the Dolan men set fire to the McSween house, Dudley simply stood by. After the war, Mrs. McSween hired lawyer Huston Chapman for the purpose of prosecuting Dudley for the burning of her house and murder of her husband. However, Chapman himself was murdered by gunman William Campbell, who had some mysterious history with Dudley, in Feb. 1879. Nevertheless, Dudley was suspended of his command in March of the same year and faced a court of inquiry later that spring. The COI ruled in his favor and he was transferred to Fort Union, although he was indicted on a criminal charge of arson for the burning of the McSween house. When he went to trial in the fall of 1879, he was acquitted. Thereafter, he commanded Fort Cummings and led an expedition into Old Mexico. Upon his return to the States, he was made a full colonel of the First Cavalry at Fort Custer. He eventually retired from the U. S. Army on Aug. 20, 1889, at the rank of brigadier general. He returned to the east and died of natural causes on Apr. 29, 1910. His body was buried with full military honors in the Arlington National Cemetery.
Lt. Col. N. A. M. Dudley
This photo of Dudley was taken in 1881. It depicts him much as he would have appeared during the Lincoln County War. It perfectly captures the pompous superiority he felt over the adherents of the McSween cause.
