William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield (9 September 1839-6 January 1921) was an American timber merchant, Confederate veteran, and the patriarch of the Hatfield family of West Virginia during the Hatfield-McCoy feud.
Biography[]
William Anderson Hatfield was born in Logan, West Virginia in 1839, the son of Ephraim and Nancy Vance Hatfield, the brother of Ellison Hatfield, and the cousin of Elias Hatfield, Preacher Anse Hatfield, Floyd Hatfield, and Valentine Hatfield. He served in the Confederate 45th Virginia Infantry Battalion during the American Civil War, and he and his uncle Jim Vance formed the Logan Wildcats guerrilla unit and killed the Kentucky Home Guard commander "Yankee Bill" France during the conflict. In 1865, Vance murdered the Union soldier Asa Harmon McCoy on the latter's return home, sparking the Hatfield-McCoy feud. Devil Anse deserted in 1864 and became a lumber merchant, buying up land along Tug Fork. He also married Levicy Chafin and had several children, including Johnse Hatfield, Cap Hatfield, Robert E. Lee Hatfield, and future Republican sheriffs Joseph Davis Hatfield and Tennyson Samuel Hatfield; Devil Anse and his branch of the Hatfields were originally Democrats.
Hatfield's baptism
During the Hatfield-McCoy feud, Anse murdered Tolbert McCoy, Pharmer McCoy, and Bud McCoy for their killing of his brother Ellison. Most of his sons and friends were later arrested at the Battle of Grapevine Creek, ending the war. The agnostic Hatfield was baptized in 1911 and founded a Church of Christ congregation before dying in Stirrat in 1921. Henry D. Hatfield, a Governor and Senator, was his nephew.