- 1850
| Jun 05 | Pat Garrett is born in Chambers County, Alabana, one of seven children, the son of John Lumpkin Garrett and Elizabeth Ann Jarvis Garrett, farmers. Ref | |
- 1859
| Sep 17 | One of the possible birthdays of "Billy The Kid", born Patrick Henry McCarty to Catherine and Patrick McCarty, probably in New York City. Ref | |
| Nov 23 | One of the possible birthdays of Billy The Kid, the son of William and Kathleen (or Catherine) McCarty Bonney, and named William H. Bonney (or Henry McCarty), born in New York City. Ref | |
- 1869
| Jan 25 | Pat Garrett leaves Louisiana to become a buffalo hunter in Texas. Ref | |
- 1874
| Sep 16 | Billy the Kid's mother, Catherine Antrim, dies after a short illness. Ref | |
- 1877
| Aug 17 | Billy the Kid's first recorded kill, blacksmith Frank P. Cahill, in Coffeyville, KS. Ref | |
- 1878
| Feb 18 | John Tunstall, Billy The Kid's employer and protector, is murdered by a Billy Morton, effectively starting the bitter and bloody Lincoln County War. Ref | |
| Mar 06 | A posse that includes Billy the Kid catches up with John Tunstall's murderers, Billy Morton and Frank Baker. Ref | |
| Mar 09 | The posse that includes Billy the Kid murders John Tunstall's murderers, Billy Morton and Frank Baker. Billy the Kid's direct involvement is not known. Ref | |
| Mar 11 | Frank McNab reports that Billy Morton and Frank Baker were killed trying to escape the posse. This proves later to be untrue. Billy the Kid's involvement is not known. Ref | |
| Apr 01 | Billy the Kid ambushes Sheriff William Brady and Deputy George Hindman in town in revenge for the death of his friend John Tunstall. Ref | |
| Jul 15 | The beginning of a five day gun battle at the McSween mansion where Billy the Kid and about 14 other fought off the Sheriff George "Dad" Peppin and about 40 others. After about 5 days, Billy the Kid and several other escaped. Ref | |
| Jul 19 | The Lincoln County, New Mexico, War draws to an end following the Five Days Battle at Lincoln. Ref
Billy the Kid is one of many outlaws still loose and running. While Pat Garrett likely knew Billy the Kid, saying they were friends is an overstatement. Neither had much in common, except both were expert with guns. (Garrett was not in the Lincoln County War.) Ref | |
| Oct 01 | General Lew Wallace is sworn in as governor of New Mexico Territory. He went on to deal with the Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid and write Ben-Hur. | Ref: 2 |
| Nov 13 | New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace offers amnesty to many participants of the Lincoln County War, but not to gunfighter Billy the Kid. Billy the Kid's Great Escape. | Ref: 2 |
- 1879
| Mar 17 | Billy the Kid meets with New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace. He turns evidence against William Matthews, William Campbell, and James Dolan for the murder of Huston Chapman in exchange for a full pardon. Ref | |
- 1880
| Jan 18 | Pat Garrett marries Apolinaria Gutierrez. The couple had 9 children. Ref | |
| Nov 02 | Pat Garrett, a Democrat, is elected sheriff of Lincoln County. He vows to bring the current reign of lawlessness to an end. Ref | |
| Dec 15 | New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace, through a newspaper notice, puts a $500 reward on the head of Billy the Kid. Ref | |
| Dec 20 | (and the next day) Pat Garrett and his posse trap Billy the Kid and others in a one-room rock house at Stinking Springs, near Fort Sumner. the posse mistakenly kills Charlie Bowdre (one of Billy's most loyal friends). Billy The Kid and the others surrender that afternoon. Garrett takes the shackled prisoners by buckboard into Las Vegas, where Garrett has to fight off a mob at the train station before he can move on to the state prison at Santa Fe. (The mob was after one of the prisoners, Dave Rudabaugh). Ref | |
| Dec 23 | Billy the Kid is captured and taken to Sante Fe, NM. Ref | |
- 1881
| Apr 15 | At Mesilla, New Mexico, a judge turns Billy the Kid over to Sheriff Pat Garrett, after a trial, and orders that he Kid be hanged in Lincoln on May 13. Ref | |
| Apr 28 | Billy the Kid escapes from jail, killing two deputies. His last victim is the warden, Robert W Ollinger. Ref | |
| Jul 14 | Pat Garrett kills Billy the Kid, 21, at the Maxwell Ranch, in Fort Sumner NM, where the two had previously worked together. Ref | |
- 1882
| Nov 02 | Newly elected John Poe replaces Pat Garrett as sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory. | Ref: 2 |
- 1901
| Dec 16 | President Theodore Roosevelt nominates Pat Garrett as United States customs collector at El Paso, Texas. He is a controversial appointment. Ref | |
- 1905
| Dec 10 | (date approximate) President Roosevelt refuses to reappoint Pat Garrett as El Paso collector of customs, there on the border with Old Mexico. Garrett and his family return to their ranch in the San Andres Mountains. Ref | |
- 1908
| Jan 10 | (date approximate) James P. Miller, a hired assassin now a claiming he is a Mexican cattle buyer, offers to purchase the Garrett ranch. However, Miller doesn't want the goats, and Wayne Brazel, who has leased Garrett's ranch, refuses to either move them or cancel the five-year lease. Ref | |
| Feb 28 | Pat Garrett and Carl Adamson, a brother-in-law of Miller, are in a buckboard and bound from the Garrett ranch to Las Cruces for a conference with Miller to discuss the sale of the Garrett ranch. Wayne Brazil rides alongside on horseback. Within a few miles of town, they stop in the desert to urinate. Garrett is shot and killed. Wayne Brazel confesses to the slaying, is tried for murder and acquitted. Ref | |
| Feb 29 | Pat Garrett, American sheriff; shot Billy the Kid, dies at age 58. | Ref: 70 |
- 1938
| Oct 16 | Billy the Kid, a ballet by Aaron Copland, opens in Chicago. | Ref: 2 |
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Billy The Kid Chronology