Hatfields & McCoys
Both clans were part of the first wave of pioneers to settle the Tug Valley. William Anderson ("Devil Anse") Hatfield, the patriarch of his extended family throughout the years of the feud, was born in 1839. Photographs reveal him to have been a huge, raw-boned, shaggy-haired troglodyte - "six feet of devil and one hundred eighty pounds of hell," as one of his contemporaries described him. Randolph ("Ran'l") McCoy, the leader of the McCoy clan, was born in 1825 and had many of the same physical characteristics as Anse: a full beard, sullen gray eyes, and broad shoulders.
Anse and Ran'l were both prosperous yeoman farmers, although their crude cabins and lifestyle gave little evidence of their wealth. Anse, for example, owned several thousand acres of prime timberland. Both families were heavily involved in the manufacture and sale of illegal whiskey.
________
The Spring elections for Pike County, Kentucky, in 1880 provided the next occasion for the eruption of hostilities. This was McCoy country, but Anse hatfield and his two oldest sons, Johnse and Cap, suddenly appeared.
Johnse is said to have been the most likable of the Hatfields; he was also a stylish dresser, popular with the girls. That day he encountered Rose Anna McCoy, Ran'l's daughter. Photographs show her to have been a tall, slender woman with long, wavy black hair. Johnse, immediately captivated, offered Rose Anna a handful of gingerbread and began to chat with her as if there was no animosity between their families. In the relaxed carnival atmosphere of that election day Johnse and Rose Anna fell in love. That night she went to live with him in his cabin.
Ran'l was furious when he learned what had happened. He was perhaps even more outrages when the couple split up several months later and his daughter came home a "ruined" woman. An uneasy truce prevailed between the clans, but not for long.
Peace was shattered in August 1882. Once again the occasion was a Pike County election. The corn whiskey flowed plentifully. Soon Ellison Hatfield stirred from a drunken slumber, first to insult Tolbert McCoy, then to attack him. Tolbert and one of his brothers drew knives and stabbed Ellison; a third brother shot him.
The Hatfields and the McCoys
James C. Simmons
One of the sad elements of this story is that the Hatfields & the McCoys came to depict the definition of what was known as the "hillbilly". This is where the gun-toting overall wearing hillbilly perception came from. More focus was placed on that than the true tragedy of this story.
Hatfield-McCoyAfter a battle that lasted an hour the building caught fire. Young Alifair McCoy stepped outside to douse the flames, confident that the Hatfields would not harm a woman. She was wrong: They shot her in the stomach. As she lay screaming on the ground, her mother, Sarah, tried to get to her. "For the love of the Lord," she screamed, "let me go to my girl." A Hatfield pistol-whipped her until she lost consciousness.
Libby Preston
The Hatfields and the McCoysThe three brothers sought refuge in the woods, only to be captured and detained for transfer to the Pike County prison. On the morning of August 8, Devil Anse arrived with a posse to lay claim to the boys. Clearly outnumbered, the McCoys relinquished the three. Randolph, fearful for the lives of his boys, hastily made his way to Pikeville to enlist legal and judicial help.
James C. Simmons
The Hatfields delivered their detainees to the security of an abandoned schoolhouse to await their fate. Sarah McCoy and Tolbert's wife, Mary made their way through a driving rain to plead for the lives of their loved ones. Following a lengthy final visit with their men folk, they were finally sent away with the assurance that fate of the McCoy boys would be contingent on the outcome of Ellison's fight for life. Devil Anse gave his word that the three would not be slain on West Virginian soil.
On Wednesday, August 9, Ellison lost his fight for life. The Hatfields stoically led the McCoys to the mouth of Mate Creek and crossed over to the Kentucky side. There, the three were bound to paw-paw bushes where they met a fus[ilade] of more than fifty bullets as punishment for their crime.
On August 10, funerals were held on both sides of the Tug. Ellison Hatfield was laid to rest by family while friends and neighbors buried the three McCoys in a common grave. The families had now crossed the point of no return. Blood was drawn and family honor demanded justice.
The Hatfields-McCoys: A History of The Great Vendetta"Father, I'll make a dash. It's our only chance. If I reach the corn crib alive, I'll be able to protect you with my rifle.'
Ron McCoy
"The two shook hands and kissed, never to meet again on earth. Calvin ran out of the door, and doubling up, raced like a deer with his rifle in his hand. A stream of bullets followed him. He had gone thirty yards when a bullet crashed through his head and he leaped into the air and fell upon his face a corpse.
"Soon the old man appeared at the door bare-tooted, bareheaded and in his nightclothes. He discharged both barrels of his shotgun into the crowd, killing Ellison Mounts and wounding Jim Vance, French Ellis and two others. As the mutilated gang scattered the old man escaped into the woods. He crawled up on a ledge of rocks, and from the shadow peered down at his burning cabin, half frozen in the bitter winter wind and writhing with a fear that his little ones would be put to death before his eyes. He could see the logs that he had piled together falling apart and the light of the flames sparkling in the creek beyond.
"Then came a sight that made his heart stand still almost. The girls crawled out of the cabin and placed the corpse of gentle Alifair upon a bed, folding her hands upon her breast and closing her eyes. Then they helped old Mrs. McCoy to crawl to the bed and lie down beside her slain daughter. The old man saw the girls then search for their brother. He did not know the boy was dead till he heard their heart transfixing cries when they came upon him. They made a bed for him, too, and the children lay down under the clothes beside him all night.
"When the neighbors came in the morning they found this appalling scene. Adelaide was kneeling beside her brother, with his head in her arms, calling upon him to speak, as she had called all night. The girl had gone stark mad.
"Old McCoy, meanwhile, was almost dead from cold. He wandered up the mountain till he found a place where some hogs had warmed the mire. He stuck his feet deep into the mud and remained there till daybreak, when he staggered into the cabin of John Scott, haggard and hollow eyed." ....
Oh, Justice! Hast thou no eye for scenes like these? Are thy feet gone out of the wilderness forever?
A Hatfield has married a McCoy and the Hatfield and McCoy war is ended. A kiss and make up is an old saying; but marry and make up is a great improvement.
Old Murder Stories Extracted from Lawrence County, Ohio NewspapersFloyd Hatfield, cousin of "Devil Anse," who was accused by Randolph McCoy of stealing a hog. Although a jury found in favor of Floyd Hatfield, his acquittal has been viewed by some as one of the precipitating factors of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.
Martha J. Kounse and Sharon Kouns
Crockett Hatfield, with bear and unidentified friend
"Devil Anse" on horseback
Roseanna McCoy
Hatfield-McCoy Feud Photo Gallery
original impetus from
Great Feuds in History: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever
by Colin Evans
