George Peppin

George Peppin (c. 1841 – September 14, 1904) was a corrupt sheriff in Lincoln County, New Mexico, who figured prominently into the Lincoln County War.

Peppin was born in either Vermont or Ohio around 1841, and later moved to California. He joined the Union Army as a part of the 5th Infantry California Volunteers in 1861, and served with them until the end of the Civil War, mustering out in Mesilla, New Mexico having seen little to no combat action. He began working as a mason, and built many of the houses and structures of Lincoln, New Mexico.

Some time around 1874 Peppin became associated with James Dolan, a partner to Lawrence Murphy in a local mercantile and banking operation. By 1876, rancher and businessman John Tunstall had partnered with Alexander McSween to form a rival business, which developed into tensions between the Murphy-Dolan and Tunstall-McSween factions. By this time, Peppin was working as a Deputy Sheriff for Sheriff William J. Brady. The Sheriff's Office sided with the Murphy-Dolan faction, who soon after hired the Jessie Evans Gang and the John Kinney Gang as gunmen to harass the competition through cattle rustling. Tunstall hired Billy the Kid, Dick Brewer, Charlie Bowdre, Frank Coe, George Coe, Doc Scurlock and John Middleton to counter the hired guns employed by Murphy-Dolan.

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