MARTÍN CHÁVEZ

•FORGOTTEN HOMBRE OF THE LINCOLN COUNTY WAR•

- JAMES B. MILLS

No participant of the Lincoln County War accomplished as much in his lifetime as Martín Chávez. It is therefore perplexing as to how the leader of the McSween partisans during the five-day siege in Lincoln, also known as “The Big Killing,” became the most forgotten participant of the famous conflict. One can only scratch their head further when considering Martín was not only one of the closest friends of the legendary William “Billy the Kid” Bonney, but his own name was once known to everyone throughout the entire state of New Mexico. That former governor James Hinkle served as a pallbearer during Martín's funeral was an accomplishment for an orphan who rose from the humblest of origins to become one of Lincoln County’s greatest Hispano success stories.

José Martín Chávez was born in the small settlement of Manzano in the eastern foothills of the formidable Manzano Mountains in Valencia County, New Mexico Territory, on December 11, 1852. He was baptized in the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in Tome 18 days later. Martín had barely learned to walk and talk before becoming a huérfano (orphan) when his parents Juan and María Lauriana Chávez suddenly died from unknown causes. He would spend the remainder of his childhood living with relatives, including his uncle José Chávez and his grandmother Magdalena in Manzano.

Martín Chávez and Juanita Romero-Chávez's marker in the Rosario Cemetery, Santa Fe. The birth date for Martín Chávez is incorrect, as his baptismal records reveal that he was actually born on December 11, 1852.
James B. Mills Collection

In contrast with many