John Tunstall, from a photo taken in 1872
This photo of Tunstall was probably taken in San Francisco, California in 1872.
John Henry Tunstall was born in Hackney, London on March 6, 1853. In 1872, at age nineteen, Tunstall left England and traveled to Canada. He later moved to California and had hopes of getting into the ranching business. Feeling California was not the right setting for his future plans, he journeyed to New Mexico Territory. At Santa Fe, Tunstall met lawyer Alex McSween of Lincoln. Under McSween's urging, Tunstall visited Lincoln County and decided it would be the perfect place for cattle ranching. With McSween as his lawyer, Tunstall acquired 2,400 acres of land along the Rio Feliz. He shortly thereafter bought 209 head of cattle and by the end of May 1877, had a small ranch operating. Among the cowboys hired by Tunstall to work on his ranch were Dick Brewer (the foreman), Fred Waite, John Middleton, Henry Brown, Godfrey Gauss (the ranch cook), and Billy "the Kid" Bonney. Tunstall also concocted the idea to open a store and bank in Lincoln, in direct competition with L. G. Murphy (and later Jas. J. Dolan) & Co. With McSween and cattle baron John Chisum as his partners, Tunstall did just this, with his store opening in Lincoln in late October 1877. The First National Bank of Lincoln, located in the store, opened the same day, with Chisum acting as president, McSween vice-president, and Tunstall treasurer. The store took away business from Dolan & Co., which severely hurt the Company which was already going bankrupt. Although the citizens of Lincoln believed that Tunstall was saving them from the monopolizing Murphy-Dolan-Riley faction, Tunstall secretly only wanted to replace them. Tunstall even said he planned on owning half of every dollar made in Lincoln County. This led to a web of legal manuevers that were laid by James Dolan in an effort to destroy Tunstall's business. Dolan also had Tunstall's cattle stolen by the Jessie Evans Gang, may have tried to get Sheriff Brady to kill him, and tried to kill Tunstall himself in a duel. In February 1878, Tunstall's store was attached by a court order due to one of the legal tactics. After their tactics to drive Tunstall out of business failed, the Murphy-Dolan-Riley side felt they needed to do somethng more drastic. They had Sheriff Brady make a legal posse out of several known outlaws, such as Jessie Evans, Tom Hill, and Frank Baker, which was then sent to attach several horses on Tunstall's ranch. However, when the posse arrived at the ranch on the morning of Feb. 18, they found Tunstall, his men, and the horses gone. They discovered that Tunstall and his men were already herding the horses back to Lincoln. The posse gave chase and caught up with the Tunstall party in what is now known as Tunstall canyon. When the four men with Tunstall spotted the posse (namely, Brewer, Bonney, Middleton, and Tunstall's best-friend Rob Widenmann), they took off on their horses, assuming Tunstall would follow. Tunstall however, turned to face the posse, and was instantly shot and killed by posse members Tom Hill and Buck Morton. His body was later recovered and buried beside his store in Lincoln. Tunstall's murder is what began the Lincoln County War.
John Tunstall
This photo of Tunstall was taken in San Francisco, California in 1876.
