The Hatfield-McCoy feud was a long-running violent feud between the Hatfield family of Mingo County, West Virginia and the McCoy family of Pike County, Kentucky. Both families lived along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, and the affluent Hatfields and the lower-middle-class McCoys feuded over Asa Harmon McCoy's murder (presumably by Devil Anse Hatfield's uncle Jim Vance), Perry Cline's attempt to cheat Hatfield out of his timber-rich land, Floyd Hatfield's alleged theft of one of Randolph McCoy's hogs, Johnse Hatfield and Roseanna McCoy's forbidden romance, the McCoys' murder of Ellison Hatfield on election day of 1882 and the ensuing revenge killings of three McCoy sons, the bounty hunter-turned-deputy sheriff Frank Phillips' raids on the Hatfields in West Virginia, the burning of McCoy's cabin and the murder of two more of his children, and the murder of Jim Vance. The feud ended with the Battle of Grapevine Creek, at which most of the Hatfields were captured. Randall McCoy lost his home and much of his family and was forced to move to Pikeville, while most of the McCoys were imprisoned, some of them dying in prison, and one - Ellison Mounts - being executed for murder.
History[]
During the 19th century, the English-descended Hatfield family lived on both sides of the West Virginia-Kentucky border, while the McCoy family lived in Pike County, Kentucky. The Hatfields were affluent from their timbering operation, while having political connections such as Valentine Hatfield being a Logan County justice of the peace. On the other hand, the McCoys were lower-middle-class, and their main political connection was the lawyer Perry Cline, who became Logan County sheriff at the time of the feud.
The feud began in 1863, when Asa Harmon McCoy joined the Union Army's 45th Kentucky Mounted Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War; at the same time, Devil Anse Hatfield and Randall McCoy served together in the Confederate States Army. In January 1865, Asa was murdered by Confederate guerrillas as he returned home following his regiment's disbandment, and his family believed that Devil Anse's uncle Jim Vance was responsible for the murder. This caused a chill in the relations between the families, as did Devil Anse's premature desertion from the Confederate cause.
The standoff at the courtroom
In 1878, the feud escalated after Perry Cline, a Kentucky lawyer and Randolph McCoy's cousin, claimed that he had acquired Devil Anse's 5,000 acres of timber-rich land from Hamish McAllister back in 1859, and demanded that the Hatfields hand over the land and pay damages for all the timber they had harvested since then. However, Devil Anse insisted that the land had been his for even longer, and refused to back down until Cline threatened to sue him. Before the trial, Hatfield confronted Cline with McAllister's tombstone, which showed that he had died in 1857, thus disproving Cline's "witness-verified" document showing that McAllister had sold him the land in 1859. Not only was Cline persuaded to cancel the lawsuit, but Hatfield also coerced him into giving him the timber rights on the 5,000 acres that Cline had inherited from his father, as Hatfield wanted to take all that Cline had after Cline had failed to do so to him. Shortly after, Anse's cousin Floyd Hatfield was accused of having stolen Randolph McCoy's hog, as the hog bore ear notches that McCoy used to trademark his pigs. The matter was taken to justice of th epeace Preacher Anse Hatfield, who ruled in favor of the Hatfields after Bill Staton testified to Floyd's ownership of the hog and juror Selkirk McCoy cast a tiebreaking vote in favor of Floyd. The two families briefly brawled before Preacher Anse broke them up and threatened to shoot anyone who attempted to continue breaking up the peace. After the trial, Staton - in the street in front of the courthouse - drunkenly threatened to stab to death any McCoy who attempted to harm him for his testimony. Sam and Paris McCoy threatened to find him another time in a more appropriate place. When they came across Staton in the woods in June 1880 and asked if Staton still intended to geld them, Staton drew his knife, leading to the two brothers shooting him dead. Sam and Paris McCoy were arrested by Valentine Hatfield, who sentenced them to death for murder before both Devil Anse and Randolph McCoy, only to suspend the sentence seconds later after Cline and Randolph argued that they had acted in self-defense, as the whole town had borne witness to Staton's threat to go after the McCoys.
Not long after, Devil Anse's son Johnse Hatfield seduced Randolph's daughter Roseanna McCoy at an election day gathering, and, when her family discovered the affair, they disowned her and forced her to live with the Hatfields in West Virginia. The Hatfields were also unreceptive, forcing her to return to her family. Not long after, Johnse was arrested by the McCoys on outstanding Kentucky bootlegging warrants, and he was released from McCoy custody only when Roseanna rode to Anse's house and midnight to warn him. Johnse was brought back to west Virginia before he could be transported to the Pikeville courthouse, but the Johnse and Roseanna were ultimately forced to break off her romance, and Roseanna died in 1889 shortly after giving birth to a sickly daughter. Johnse went on to marry Roseanna's cousin (and the late Asa Harmon's daughter) Nancy McCoy in 1881.
On Election Day of 1882, the feud escalated when Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud McCoy got into a fight with Elias Hatfield, causing Anse's brother Ellison Hatfield to attempt to break up the fight. The feeble-minded Pharmer responded by stabbing Ellison several times, and his brothers joined in. The Hatfields proceeded to hunt down the three McCoy brothers and force Pike County Sheriff William Harmon Maynard to hand them over, with Valentine Hatfield arguing that, as the murder victim was a West Virginian, the Kentuckian law had to hand the three boys over. Randolph rode to West Virginia and attempted to plead for his sons' lives, but Anse told him that their fate would depend on Ellison's. Anse also forbade Randolph from seeing his sons, but his wife Sally was allowed to see them one last time. After Ellison died of his wounds, Reverend Dyke Garrett - a go-between for the two families - informed the McCoys, and the Hatfields took the three McCoy boys to the woods, tied them to pawpaw bushes, and shot the three of them 50 times.
While most inhabitants of the area believed that the Hatfields' revenge was warranted, about twenty men, including Anse and the uninvolved Valentine - were indicted by a Kentucky court. After all of the Hatfields eluded arrest, the McCoys took their cause up with Perry Cline, who posted bounties on the Hatfields. Bounty hunters like Frank Phillips and Cat Miller attempted to hunt down the Hatfields, killing Tom Wallace and arresting Selkirk McCoy, Alex Messer, and other Hatfield allies. The Hatfields likewise killed Jefferson McCoy, Cat Miller, and Paris McCoy. The McCoys were forced to appoint the cruel "Bad" Frank Phillips a deputy sheriff and give him command of a posse which would be raised to hunt down the Hatfields.
On hearing of the McCoys' preparations for a raid into West Virginia, Devil Anse decided to lead a raid into Kentucky to murder Randolph and thus cut off the head of the snake. On New Year's day of 1888, Anse's son Cap Hatfield and Jim Vance led several members of the Hatfield clan to surround the McCoy cabin at Hardy, Kentucky and open fire on the sleeping family. The McCoys grabbed their weapons and fired back; while Randolph escaped and hid in the pig pen, and most of his children fled into the woods, his daughter Alifair McCoy was shot by a panicking, dim-witted Ellison Mounts (Ellison Hatfield's illegitimate son), while Calvin McCoy was shot by all of the Hatfields while single-handedly charging out of the cabin with a pistol. Randolph's wife Slaly was caught, beaten, and almost killed by Vance and Johnse. This led to Nancy breaking up with Johnse and traveling to Pikeville to marry Frank Phillips, whom she saw as a "real man", and who sided with her family. The remaining McCoys moved to Pikeville to escape the West Virginia raiding parties.
The New Year massacre led to heightened tensions between both families as well as the governments of Kentucky and West Virginia; the governors of both states threatened to have their militias invade each other's states to deal with the raids. Phillips led a large posse to track down Harmon's group across the state line into West Virginia, and Nancy gave up Vance's location, leading to the posse ambushing and killing Vance. Philips also succeeded in capturing many Hatfield supporters and killing three of them. On 19 January 1888, the remaining Hatfields showed off against the McCoy posse at the Battle of the Grapevine Creek, at which several Hatfields were captured. On 24 August, eight Hatfields and associates were indicted for the murder of Alifair McCoy: the men were Cap Hatfield, Johnse Hatfield, Robert E. Lee Hatfield, Elliot Hatfield, Ellison Mounts, French Ellis, Charles Gillespie, and Tom Chambers. Valentine died in prison before he could appeal his case, while Johnse and Cap fled West (both later returned home, and only Johnse went to prison), and Ellison Mounts was hanged for murder. In 1891, the two families agreed to end their feud, and their descendants declared an official truce in 2003.