Court of Inquiry: Lieutenant Colonel N.A.M. Dudley.
Fort Stanton, New Mexico. May-June-July 1879.
Editors: R.M. Barron, Donna Tatting.
Publisher: Beaver’s Pond Press. Edina, MN 2003
Features: Two volumes, 984 pages, illustrated, index, forward by Leon Metz.
$90.

Review by: The Man Behind the Mask

Colonel Nathan A.M. Dudley had a fairly nondescript 46-year army career. After the Civil War, he was transferred from place to place and job to job. He had a big ego and a significant drinking problem, the combination of which got him into trouble—he was court martialed and disciplined on three occasions. He was considered inept if not incompetent. The only reason he wasn’t kicked out of the military was his friendship with powerful men—including generals William Tecumseh Sherman and Phil Sheridan. All in all, it wasn’t a distinguished career.

Except for his time at Fort Stanton, New Mexico in the late 1870s and early 1880s. Dudley managed to get involved in the Lincoln County War.

He wasn’t neutral in the power struggle between merchant kings Murphy/Dolan/Riley and upstarts Tunstall/McSween. Dudley was friends with many establishment figures, including Jimmy Dolan. And he openly hated their opponents.

So perhaps it’s no wonder that when the War culminated in the Battle of Lincoln, as the two sides squared off in the middle of town, Dudley barged into the fracas (at the request of the Murphy-Dolan partisans). He pointed a cannon at the McSween headquarters, where the challengers were holed up. He and his troops stood by when Murphy-Dolan men set fire to the building and then shot down a number of people as they tried to escape the blaze.

It was not one of the army’s finest moments.

Territorial Governor Lew Wallace and Dudley’s commanding officer Edward Hatch pushed the military into an investigation of the situation. The court of inquiry was held in the Spring and Summer of 1879.

The end result of the inquiry cleared Dudley. It changed very little in the way New Mexico was overseen and run.

But the records of the hearing provide a fascinating glance of the Old West in its heyday. And it gives us a chance to hear from some of the major players.

Lew Wallace himself testified at the court of inquiry. So did Billy the Kid. And Bob Olinger. And Jimmy Dolan. Jose Chavez y Chavez. Susan McSween. And many others—including the colonel.

Originally, the records were only available in 1810 pages of handwritten notes--and the handwriting wasn’t very good. So in 1990, amateur historian Robert Barron decided to put the notes in a more “user friendly” form. He also put together an index that allows the reader to locate specific testimony and exhibits—something that had been lacking before. It took him five years to complete the project—a four-volume set, with each volume encased in a plastic ring binder. Very few copies were made.

After Barron died in 1998, his daughter Donna Tatting decided that her father’s monumental efforts had to be made available again. It took her about five years to complete and publish the 2nd edition. She has managed to condense the court of inquiry materials into two trade paperback volumes. Her work is not only a lasting tribute to her father, but it is also a timely addition to the Lincoln County War canon—especially since it comes almost exactly 125 years after the hearing.

Granted, this is not light reading for bedtime. And it’s not cheap at $90 a pop. But the Dudley inquiry allows us a chance to hear from the Kid and from Wallace and from Dolan and the others. They tell us their viewpoints on the War, why they did what they did. That opportunity is pretty rare when it comes to the Old West.

For those of us who are fascinated by the Lincoln County War, the Barron/Tatting publication is practically a necessity.