Summary
- Billy the Kid, Dick Brewer, and Charlie Bowdre were key members of The Regulators in the Lincoln County War, fighting against the Jesse Evans Gang.
- Billy the Kid felt indebted to John Tunstall, his mentor, and was a loyal supporter of his beliefs and business ventures.
- Other notable members of the Regulators included George Coe, Tom O'Folliard, Fred Waite, and John Middleton.
Several real-life members of The Regulators are depicted in the MGM series Billy the Kid. The Regulators were one of the opposing sides in the historic Lincoln County War that took place in Old Western New Mexico in 1878. The legendary outlaw Billy the Kid, also known as William H. Bonney and by his real name Henry McCarty, was one of the key members of the Lincoln County War as one of the most impactful members of The Regulators. As a hired enforcer of wealthy Englishman and land prospector John Tunstall, Billy and the Regulators faced the Jesse Evans Gang and the associated Seven Rivers Warriors in an epic but bloody showdown.
Billy the Kid season 2, episode 3 portrays the real-life circumstances in which the Regulators officially banded together. After tensions between Tunstall and Santa Fe Ring member Lawrence Murphy reached an all-time high in the fight for complete ownership and commercialization of Lincoln County, Murphy and his business partner James Dolan ordered the Jesse Evans Gang to kill Tunstall in cold blood. The MGM series stays true to that fact, depicting an ambush led by Jesse Evans and several other outlaws and cowboys on Murphy's payroll that resulted in Tunstall's death, ultimately igniting an all-out war between the two factions.
8 William H. Bonney
William H. Bonney was arguably the most passionate member of the Regulators who was personally affected by the loss of his mentor, John Tunstall. Despite only being a few years older than Billy, Tunstall offered the morally complex outlaw a second chance at life to pursue an honest living outside of violence and crime. As a result, Billy the Kid felt indebted to Tunstall and was a loyal supporter of his beliefs and business ventures. Billy the Kid is often inaccurately thought of as the leader of the Regulators, although historically he was never regarded by the other members as their official leader.
7 Dick Brewer
Richard "Dick" Brewer was actually the official first leader of The Regulators and is often considered the founder of the group following Tunstall's death. Brewer is depicted in the MGM series as the trusted manager of Tunstall's general store, bank, and livestock on his personal cattle ranch in Lincoln County. Brewer was actually born in Vermont and lived in Wisconsin and Missouri before settling in New Mexico. Similar to Billy the Kid, Brewer originally started working for Lawrence Murphy in the early 1870s but stopped working for him, joining Tunstall's side in 1876. After Murphy and Dolan ordered the hit on Tunstall, Brewer was the popular choice to lead the Regulators and avenge Tunstall's death.
6 Charlie Bowdre
Charlie Bowdre was also a loyal member of the Tunstall faction and member of the Regulators alongside Billy the Kid and Dick Brewer. While his character hasn't been explored in much depth in the MGM series, the real-life Bowdre was considered a knowledgeable farmer and was not privy to a life of violence and crime like Billy was. Historical records show that Bowdre arrived in Lincoln County, New Mexico in 1874 and at one point opened a cheese factory with fellow Regulator Doc Scurlock. The real-life Bowdre was often seen as a righteous person and even a bit of a vigilante, breaking a known cattle thief out of jail only to hang the man before joining Tunstall's side of the Lincoln County War in 1878.
5 George Coe
George Coe was also part of that aforementioned vigilante group with Charlie Bowdre and was a known pursuer of cattle thieves and other types of Old West criminals despite not being an official lawman. George and his cousin Frank gathered enough money to purchase their own ranch where they faced constant threats of cattle thieves. He was allegedly arrested by the known corrupt Sheriff William Brady, who had been bribed or exploited by the Murphy House, which led him to side with Tunstall during the Lincoln County War. Coe participated in all of the major battles of the war and famously lost a finger during combat.
4 Tom O’Folliard
Commonly referred to as Billy the Kid's best friend and sidekick, Tom O'Foliard joined Bonney and the Regulators following the death of Tunstall. As depicted in Billy the Kid season 2, O'Folliard came from Texas to join the ranks of the Regulators and was earnestly accepted by Billy since Tom was also an orphan and had nowhere else to go. Both Billy the Kid and Tom O'Folliard survived the Lincoln County War and went on the run from the law together until they were both killed by Pat Garrett on separate occasions.
3 Fred Waite
Fred Waite was one of the few real-life Regulators to come out of the Lincoln County War relatively unscathed. He wound up in New Mexico after his Union-supporting family fled Oklahoma during the Civil War, Waite is hardly portrayed in the MGM series but remains a constant figure of the Regulators throughout, joining the cause following Tunstall's untimely death. Waite had been a farmer for Tunstall in the 1870s before the war broke out and was eventually wanted for being associated with two murders of the Jesse Evans Gang. Waite fled New Mexico after the war, settled down, and started a family back in Oklahoma.
2 John Middleton
John Middleton is briefly depicted in Billy the Kid season 2, episode 1 but was a real-life member of the Regulators. Middleton was considered a true Old West cowboy, being a skilled gunslinger and a great physical fighter. Tunstall was present at just about every notable moment during the Lincoln County War, having witnessed the death of John Tunstall firsthand as well as participating in the eventual Regulators' murder of Sheriff William Brady. Not much is known about what happened to Middleton after the Lincoln County War, but he was a loyal fighter for the Regulators throughout the entire conflict.
1 Juan Patron
Juan Patron is the only character in the MGM Billy the Kid series who wasn't an actual member of the Regulators. Patron is possibly representative of the real-life Old West Mexican-American outlaw Jose Chavez y Chavez, who did in fact join Billy the Kid and the Regulators in 1878. Outside of Billy the Kid himself, Jose Chavez y Chavez is arguably the most dangerous outlaw of the Regulators, having committed a number of known robberies and cattle thievery. Juan Patron is hardly depicted in Billy the Kid and when that character is shown, he is seen as much older and calmer than the real Jose Chavez y Chavez. The two may not actually be related and Patron might be entirely fictional.