Just at dusk, the boys, who were stealing along their trail in the low, flint covered hills, heard shooting.
Realizing that a battle was on, Billy Bonney and Jesse Evans put spurs to their mounts and reached the camp just in time.
By this time it was dark. The three men had succeeded in standing off the Indians for awhile, but finally a rush was made on the camp, by the reds, with blood curdling war whoops.
At that moment the two young heroes charged among the Indians and sprang off their horses, with Winchester rifles in hand.
For a few moments the battle raged. One bullet shattered the stock of Billy’s rifle, cripping his left hand slightly. He then dropped the rifle and used his pistol.
When the battle was over, eight dead Indians lay on the ground.
The emigrants had shielded themselves by getting behind the wagons. Two of the men were slightly wounded, and the other dangerously shot through the stomach. One little girl had a fractured skull from a blow on the head with a rifle. The mother of the child fainted on seeing her daughter fall.
In telling of this battle, Billy Bonney said the war-whoops shouted by himself and Jesse, as they charged into the band of Indians, helped to win the battle. He said a bullet knocked the heel off one of his boots, and that Jesse’s hat was shot off his head. He felt sure that the man shot through the stomach died, though he never heard of the party after separating.
Soon after the Indian battle Billy Bonney and Jesse Evans landed in the Mexican village of La Mesilla, New Mexico, and there met up with some of Jesse’s chums. Their names were Jim McDaniels, Bill Morton, and Frank Baker.
During their stay in Mesilla, Jim McDaniels christened Billy Bonney, “Billy the Kid,” and that name stuck to him to the time of his death.