On April 4, 1878, a lone rancher walked his mule into Blazer’s Mill, a trading post and sawmill along the Rio Tularosa in New Mexico, expecting nothing more than word about the sale of his property. Within minutes, he was pinned down in a desperate gunfight against eight armed men, including Billy the Kid, and his name would be carved into the history of the Wild West as the man who nearly won against impossible odds. The man was Andrew L. Roberts, known throughout the territory as Buckshot Roberts.
Born in 1831, he had spent his earlier years as a Texas Ranger under the name Bill Williams, served as a sergeant during the Civil War, and later befriended Buffalo Bill Cody while hunting bison on the plains. A bullet remained lodged in his right shoulder, the result of an old wound that had permanently limited the movement of his arm. He could no longer raise a rifle above his hip, so he had adapted, developing a distinctive shooting style that compensated for his injury. By 1876, Roberts owned a modest ranch in the Ruidoso Valley near Lincoln, New Mexico, and lived as a quiet, stubborn loner who preferred mules to horses and kept his past to himself.
The trouble that would consume him grew out of the Lincoln County War, a bitter feud over commerce and power in New Mexico. The Murphy-Dolan faction, led by Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan, had long dominated the county’s trade, but when the young upstarts Alexander McSween and John Tunstall opened a rival store, the conflict escalated into open violence. Some sources placed Roberts in the Murphy-Dolan camp, largely through his friendship with James Dolan, but history suggests he had no desire to take part in the struggle. When pressed to choose a side, Roberts flatly refused, insisting he had already seen enough fighting in his life and would fight for neither faction.
That neutrality did not protect him. On February 18, 1878, John Tunstall was shot and killed by men associated with the Murphy-Dolan faction. Because Roberts had been tied to Dolan’s circle, he was implicitly assumed to be part of the group that carried out the murder, and an arrest warrant was issued against him. Faced with the prospect of being hunted as a killer, Roberts decided to sell his ranch and leave the area entirely.
While waiting for the sale to be finalized, he took refuge at the home of a friend near Blazer’s Mill. Unaware of the storm gathering around him, Roberts rode to Blazer’s Mill on that April morning. He had spotted a wooden plank near the premises and wondered if it might be connected to payment for his farm. What he did not know was that a posse calling themselves the Regulators had gathered at the mill, their horses hidden out of sight.
The group had been assembled by Dick Brewer, a man determined to bring Tunstall’s killers to justice, and among its ranks were some of the most feared gunmen in the territory: Frank and George Coe, John Middleton, Doc Scurlock, Charlie Bowdre, Henry Brown, Frank McNab, and a young outlaw known as Billy the Kid. They had stopped to eat and were resting in a nearby building when Roberts unknowingly walked into their midst. The Regulators had recently killed Sheriff William Brady, and Frank Coe was the first to spot Roberts entering the mill. He rushed over and struck up a conversation, urging Roberts to surrender.
But Roberts knew that surrender would mean death at the hands of the Regulators, and he categorically refused. Dick Brewer, growing impatient with the standoff, ordered more men to take Roberts by force. When Roberts saw the armed men approaching, he instinctively grabbed his rifle and opened fire. His first shots struck Charlie Bowdre in the waist, knocking him backward, but Bowdre managed to fire back and put a bullet into Roberts’ stomach.
Bleeding and severely wounded, Roberts did not stop. He retreated toward the threshold of the mill, firing as he moved. His shots hit John Middleton in the chest, struck Doc Scurlock’s pistol, shattered George Coe’s arm so badly that Coe dropped his gun in pain, and grazed Billy the Kid. Roberts kept firing until his rifle was empty.
The click of the hammer on an empty chamber told Billy the Kid the rancher was out of ammunition, and the young outlaw jumped from cover to finish him off. Roberts, still standing, swung the heavy rifle like a club and knocked the Kid unconscious. Despite his wounds and the concentrated fire of the Regulators, Roberts armed himself with another rifle and continued his defense. The Regulators pulled back, caring for their wounded and begging Roberts to surrender, but he refused to give up.
Dick Brewer, frustrated with his men’s failure to bring down one man, slipped around the back of the building and began firing from a new angle. In a tragic turn, Roberts found his mark and shot Brewer through the eye, killing him instantly. With their leader dead and one man still firing from the mill, the remaining Regulators lost heart. They mounted their horses and retreated, leaving Roberts alone inside the building.
He stayed there until a cautious group of local residents approached. Recognizing that he needed medical attention, they sent a doctor to treat him, but the wound was too severe. Roberts lingered in prolonged pain and died the following day. Both Buckshot Roberts and Dick Brewer were buried in the quiet grounds of the old Blazer Cemetery in Mescalero, New Mexico, their graves side by side in the soil of the conflict that had consumed them both.
When Billy the Kid was later asked about the confrontation, he reportedly gave a simple, honest answer: “Yes, sir, he licked our crowd to a finish. ”
The gunfight at Blazer’s Mill passed into legend as one of the most remarkable displays of one-man resistance in the history of the American frontier. A wounded, aging rancher with one damaged arm had faced eight of the deadliest gunmen in the territory and left them beaten, leaderless, and in retreat.