Henry McCarty, better known by his alias William "Billy the Kid" Bonney, moved with his family to the New Mexico territory in 1873. During his brief life, he was charged with numerous thefts and involved in nine murders. At age 19, he was sentenced to death for the murder of Sheriff William Brady. On April 21, 1881, he escaped from the Lincoln County jail, killing two deputies, and fled to Fort Sumner, where many of his friends lived. Bonney was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Peter Maxwell's house on July 14, 1881, and his grave in the Fort Sumner Cemetery was originally marked by a wooden cross. The Old Fort Sumner Cemetery is purported to be the military cemetery for Fort Sumner, which was deactivated by the U.S. Army in 1869. A year later, the post buildings were sold to Lucien B. Maxwell, one of the largest landowners in New Mexico, who had moved from Colfax County and rebuilt the former officers' quarters into a 20-room Spanish Colonial-style house. Maxwell died in 1875 and is buried in the cemetery.