Billy the Kid — Part 8: Day Three of the Lincoln Siege
Day Three of the Battle of Lincoln does not begin with a charge.
Before dawn on July 17, 1878, a single rifle shot travels farther than any authority present is prepared to follow. A man is struck down on a hillside and left alive—paralyzed, exposed, and abandoned. By noon, U.S. Army officers ride into a town already under siege—not to stop the violence, but to interpret it. By nightfall, a civilian bleeds in his own yard while doctors are driven back at gunpoint.
This episode of Gallows and Gunfights examines the day the Lincoln siege stops being contained and becomes irreversible.
In Part 8, we reconstruct Day Three of the Lincoln County War as a procedural failure—where distance becomes a weapon, investigation replaces justice, and neutrality collapses under fear and delay.
The long-range rifle shot that permanently alters the siege without changing a single positionWhy the U.S. Army entered Lincoln without authority to intervene—and how its conclusions reshaped blameThe abandonment of Charlie “Lollycooler” Crawford and what it reveals about power under fireThe shooting of civilian Ben Ellis and the moment the line between battlefield and home disappearsWhere Billy the Kid actually was on Day Three—and why the historical record matters more than legendThis is not myth.
This is the documented anatomy of violence when institutions hesitate.
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🎥 Watch the Full Visual Edition on YouTube
This episode is also available as a feature-length visual presentation on the Dark Dialogue YouTube channel, including original maps, battlefield reconstructions, archival imagery, and timeline overlays that deepen the analysis of Day Three of the Lincoln Siege.
For viewers who want to
see the distances, positions, and failures discussed in this proceeding, the video edition provides critical visual context.