Richard Brewer
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Richard Brewer (January 10, 1850 – April 4, 1878), also known as Dick Brewer, was an American cowboy and outlaw. He was the first leader of what historically is referred to as Billy the Kid's band, although Billy never led them.
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[edit] Early life
Brewer was born in St. Albans, Vermont. At the age of two, he and his family moved to Wisconsin. Later on, Brewer would move on to live in Missouri before arriving at Lincoln County, New Mexico. Brewer tried farming as a profession, and he bought a farm in Lincoln county with this in mind. In the Spring of 1871 Brewer began working for Lawrence Murphy, but soon left that job, unhappy with it. By 1876, he was working as a cattle foreman for cattleman John Tunstall, who was owner of one the largest farms in the area.
James Dolan, who had been established in Lincoln before Tunstall, and saw Tunstall as an opponent and rival, rather than seeing him merely as a competitor. Former Dolan employee, Alexander McSween, began working for Tunstall, and as a consequence, the Tunstall-McSween versus Dolan war started. According to historians, this violent war was instigated by Dolan, who hired gunmen from the Jessie Evans Gang and the John Kinney Gang to rustle cattle from Tunstall, and harass him.
[edit] The Lincoln County War
On February 18, 1878, a turning point in the rivalry happened when Tunstall was murdered. After Tunstall's murder, the Regulators, a group of forty five gun happy men that also included Billy the Kid and Jose Chavez y Chavez, was formed. The forty five gunmen who were chosen were, according to legend, among the best killers in the west. Brewer allegedly formed the group, and he was himself a member of it. [1]
Dick Brewer established a bond of friendship with Billy the Kid, with Chavez and the rest of Billy the Kid's gang, and he was often accompanied by gang members. Being one of the founders of the Regulators, Brewer sometimes assumed a leadership role when around Billy, Chavez and the rest of their company, and was the first leader of the Regulators during the early stages of the Lincoln County War. The pair remained friends until Brewer's death, and evidently he followed Brewer's lead. Brewer was the more mature of the bunch, by all accounts, and the rest of the Regulators accepted him in that role. [2]
The confirmed killings claimed to have been carried out by the Regulators during Brewer's period as leader were those of Sheriff William Brady, William Morton, deputy George W. Hindman, lawman/outlaw Frank Baker, Buckshot Roberts, and fellow Regulator William McCloskey, whom the Regulators believed to have betrayed them. Brewer did not agree with the killing of Sheriff Brady and Deputy Hindman, but supported and took part in the other killings.
Although most of those killed by the Regulators throughout their existance were publicly credited to Billy the Kid, most historians agree that there are doubts as to whether he was the actual killer in most cases, and agree that often their victims were killed during a shootout, with many members of the Regulators firing at the same time, including Brewer. It was, however, Billy the Kid that became best known. And through his notoriety, the fame of the Regulators spread. [3]
Richard "Dick" Brewer was killed by an old buffalo hunter, Buckshot Roberts, during the Gunfight of Blazer's Mills, on April 4, 1878, during which five other Regulator's were wounded. Buckshot Roberts was also killed during the gunfight, either by a shot fired by George Coe, whose finger was shot off by Roberts, or Charlie Bowdre. [4] [5]
[edit] Trivia
- In the 1988 movie, Young Guns, Brewer was played by Charlie Sheen.
- In the Young Guns movie, Brewer is portrayed as often reluctant to engage in arrests, when in fact it is most likely that he was an active participant and leader until his death.
