Lincoln (1)

Spanish-speaking settlers established a town here in the 1850s, after the U.S. Army began to control the Mescalero Apaches. First known as Las Placitas del Río Bonito, the name of the community was changed to Lincoln when Lincoln County was created in 1869. Center of the turbulent Lincoln County War, 1876-79, a land and cattle feud marked by violence on both sides. Lincoln’s historic landmarks include the Murphey-Dolan store, which later became the Lincoln County Courthouse, the store of John Henry Tunstall, whose murder set off the hostilities, and the house of Alexander McSween, when the final battle was fought.