Jacob B. 'Billy' Mathews performed a leading role in what is arguably the most notorious chapter in the history of the American West: New Mexico's Lincoln County War of the 1870s. In carrying out orders from some of the primary figures in the conflict, namely J.J. 'Jimmy' Dolan or Sheriff William Brady, Mathews took part in pactically all of the significant events of the war. What is known about his life before the Lincoln County War is quite meager, and much of what has been published about him is incorrect. The author seeks to rectify the inaccuracies as well as to provide new information on his life both before and after the Lincoln County War.
Mathews' primary claim to fame is that he was the sheriff's chief deputy in command of the posse that shot down John Henry Tunstall on February 18, 1878, thereby igniting the most celebrated event in Lincoln County's history. In one aspect, he is unique among all of the participants in this conflict--he survived the war and lived to die a natural death of old age.
After the Lincoln conflict, Mathews became a distinguished pioneer in the establishment of big-time cattle ranching in the Peasco Valley and farming in the Pecos Valley of Southeast New Mexico
