On the night of July 14, 1881, Sheriff Pat Garrett killed Billy the Kid in a dark room at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The shooting cemented Garrett’s place in history, but it also tied his legacy forever to the young outlaw he gunned down. More than a century later, Garrett remains a controversial figure, often portrayed as a coward, a traitor, and a glory seeker who turned on a friend for money. Yet the full story of his life is far more complicated than the legends suggest.
Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett was born on June 5, 1850, in Chambers County, Alabama. His father, John Lumpkin Garrett, moved the family to a large plantation in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, in 1853. The family prospered, but the Civil War and its aftermath brought ruin. Federal troops confiscated cotton, the family lost its enslaved labor force, and both of Pat’s parents died within a year of each other in 1867 and 1868, leaving the teenage Garrett nearly destitute.
With little left to hold him in Louisiana, Garrett left for Texas in January 1869. He worked on farms and cattle drives before partnering with a friend on a cotton farm that failed. By the mid-1870s, Garrett turned to buffalo hunting in West Texas, where he spent about two years harvesting hides from the great herds. It was dangerous, dirty work, and it ended in tragedy when Garrett shot and killed a fellow hunter named Joe Brisco after a heated argument in November 1876.
Garrett reportedly turned himself in at Fort Griffin, but no charges were filed—a common outcome in those days. By spring 1878, Garrett arrived in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, broke and hungry. He found work on Pete Maxwell’s ranch, where he quickly became a popular figure known for his height, his dry humor, and his love of gambling. It was there that he met Billy the Kid, who was already gaining notoriety for his role in the Lincoln County War.
According to Pete Maxwell, the two were close friends, often gambling, dancing, and competing in shooting contests together. They were known as “the long and the short of it. ”
Garrett’s life changed in November 1880 when powerful ranchers, tired of the chaos and cattle theft in Lincoln County, recruited him to run for sheriff. He won the election easily and set out to capture Billy the Kid, who had become the most wanted outlaw in the territory.
On December 23, 1880, Garrett and his posse cornered the Kid and his gang at Stinking Springs, where a shootout left one outlaw dead and Billy the Kid captured. The arrest made Garrett famous but also earned him the enduring enmity of those who saw the arrest as a betrayal. Billy the Kid was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. In April 1881, he escaped from the Lincoln County courthouse, killing two deputies in the process.
Garrett spent weeks tracking him down, eventually learning that the Kid had returned to Fort Sumner. On the night of July 14, 1881, Garrett went to Pete Maxwell’s bedroom to ask about the Kid’s whereabouts. Seconds later, Billy the Kid walked into the dark room, saw Garrett, and reached for his pistol. Garrett fired twice, killing him instantly.
The shooting sparked immediate controversy. Some claimed the Kid was unarmed or that Garrett had acted without warning, but witnesses who saw the body reported a pistol and a butcher knife lying near the Kid’s hands. Garrett was paid the $500 reward, though not without bureaucratic delays, and he always maintained that he had acted in self-defense. Still, the accusation of cowardice followed him for the rest of his life, a charge that historians have largely rejected.
After the Kid’s death, Garrett wrote a book about his pursuit of the outlaw, co-authored with a ghostwriter named Ash Upson. The book sold poorly, and Garrett turned to other ventures. He lost a bid for a seat on the New Mexico Territorial Council, worked as a cattle detective in Texas, and invested in irrigation projects, apple orchards, and a dairy. He was a hard worker and a devoted father to his eight children, including Elizabeth, who was blind and later composed the official New Mexico state song.
Garrett’s finances, however, were chronically unstable. His gambling habit and his habit of borrowing money without repaying it strained his friendships and left him deeply in debt. In 1896, he took on the investigation into the disappearance of attorney Albert Jennings Fountain and his young son, who had vanished in southern New Mexico. Garrett pursued leads for years, but no one was ever convicted of the crime.
The case remains unsolved, with many suspecting rancher Oliver Lee, who was connected to Garrett’s political rival Albert Bacon Fall. In 1902, Garrett was appointed collector of customs in El Paso by President Theodore Roosevelt, but he was removed from the position after just a few years amid complaints about his conduct and his public association with gamblers. By 1908, Garrett was nearly broke and increasingly erratic. He had become embroiled in a dispute with a young rancher named Wayne Brazel over grazing rights on land Garrett’s son owned.
Brazel had brought in a herd of goats that Garrett believed were ruining the property, and the conflict escalated through the winter. On February 29, 1908, Garrett and a business associate named Carl Adamson drove to Las Cruces to meet with Brazel. According to Adamson, Garrett and Brazel argued on the road, and Brazel shot Garrett twice, claiming self-defense. Brazel surrendered immediately and told deputies he had killed the former sheriff.
Garrett’s body was found with a bullet wound to the back of the head and another to the abdomen. His pants were undone, and his shotgun was placed neatly beside him, leading many to believe he had been shot while urinating. Brazel was charged with murder but acquitted after a one-day trial in May 1909. His defense attorney was none other than Albert Bacon Fall.
The prosecution did not call the only eyewitness, and the doctor who performed the autopsy was never questioned about the angle of the fatal shot. Many suspected a conspiracy involving Fall, Oliver Lee, rancher W. W. Cox, or gun-for-hire Jim Miller, but no evidence ever proved it.
Brazel later disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and his fate remains unknown. Garrett was buried in Las Cruces on March 6, 1908. At his request, there were no religious ceremonies. He left behind a complicated legacy: a lawman who killed an infamous outlaw, a friend who hunted down a companion, and a man whose flaws were as real as his achievements.
Historians continue to debate his actions, but many now agree that he was neither the coward his critics claimed nor the hero his admirers imagined. He was a man of his time, doing a dangerous job in a lawless land, and he paid for it with his life.
