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The history of the Hatfield and McCoy Feud – Affairs, murder and a stolen pig trigger an epic feud between two warring families and darn near cause Kentucky to invade Virginia.

The Hatfield Clan of the Hatfield-McCoy-feud 1897

An intro to the Hatfield and McCoy family feud

The Hatfield-McCoy feud was a long-standing feud that lasted from 1878 until 1891. It involved two warring families of the West Virginia-Kentucky back country located along the Tug Fork River, off the Big Sandy River. The Hatfields of West Virginia were led by William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield, while the McCoys of Kentucky were under the leadership of Randolph “Ole Ran’l” McCoy.

The feud reached an epic scale and state militias were called in to restore order with the state of Kentucky even threatening to invade Virginia.

Two families separated by a creek

The McCoy’s, led by Randolph “Old Randall” McCoy, lived mostly on the Kentucky side of Tug Fork (a tributary of the Big Sandy River) and the Hatfield’s, led by William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield (described as “six foot of devil and 180 pounds of hell”) lived mostly on the West Virginia side. Both families were part of the first wave of pioneers to settle the Tug Valley area.

The Hatfield’s were more affluent than the McCoy’s and were politically well-connected. Where the McCoy’s relied on God, the Hatfield’s relied on cunning and hard work.  “Devil Anse” Hatfield’s timbering operation was a source of wealth for the Hatfield family, but he employed many non-Hatfield’s, and even hired Albert McCoy, Lorenzo Dow McCoy, and Selkirk McCoy. Randall McCoy supported his family via a 300-acre farm.

Both families were involved in the manufacturing and selling of illegal moonshine.

A quick warmup before the feud

During the early months of the Civil War, Mose Christian Cline, a close friend of Devil Anse Hatfield was shot in an ambush in 1862. It was believed the ambush party included Harmon McCoy although it is not clear who pulled the trigger. A young Devil Anse Hatfield vowed revenge.

A couple of years later, Harmon McCoy was found dead. Devil Anse of course, was the prime suspect but had an alibi that helped him avoid arrest. The murder created tension between the families, but the real feud was still 13 years away.

The Asa Murder

For years, the families lived on opposite sides of the river and in entirely different states. They crossed the river to trade goods, marry each other, and to attend friendly family gatherings together. But the tide turned in 1865 with the death of Asa Harman McCoy (Old Randall McCoy’s brother) on January 7, 1865.

Jim Vance (uncle of Devil Anse and widely considered to be one of the meanest of the Hatfield clan) and his “Logan Wildcats” (a guerrilla Civil War unit) despised Asa Harmon McCoy because he had joined the Union army during the American Civil War. Both families were southern sympathizers (but both had some family members that joined the Union Army).

Asa Harman McCoy had been discharged from the army early because of a broken leg. One night, just thirteen days after leaving the Union Army, on his return home, he was murdered in a nearby cave by Jim Vance of the Hatfield family. Being southern sympathizers, neither family thought much of it and even the McCoy’s felt Asa had gotten what he deserved. Even after the Asa murder, things remained calm for over a decade until that “damned pig” stirred things up.

The Stolen Pig

The second recorded instance of violence in the feud occurred after an 1878 dispute about the ownership of a hog. Floyd Hatfield had it and Randolph McCoy said it was his. The Hatfield’s believed that since the pig was on their land, that meant it was theirs. Some of the McCoy’s objected saying the “notches” or “marks’ on the pig’s ears were McCoy marks, and not Hatfield marks.

The matter was taken to the local Justice of the Peace, Anderson “Preacher Anse” Hatfield. The star witness was Bill Staton who swore the pig belonged to the Hatfield’s. The jury consisted of six Hatfield’s and six McCoy’s, but one McCoy was having an affair with a Hatfield and voted their way giving the Hatfield’s a 7-5 decision in their favor. Hence, the Hatfield’s retained control of the wandering pig.

To the McCoy’s, this injustice would not stand and Bill Staton, the Hatfield star witness, immediately became a target.

The Death of Bill Staton

Within a few months after the trial, Bill Staton was shot to death by Paris and Sam McCoy. They were caught and tried but were found not guilty with a plea of self-defense. It was rumored that Devil Anse Hatfield had arranged the acquittal to maintain peace between the two families. Instead, the McCoy’s were outraged that Paris and Sam (nephews of Randolph McCoy) had been brought to trial in the first place.

The Illicit Affair between Roseanna and Johnse

The feud escalated after Roseanna McCoy began an affair with Johnse Hatfield (Devil Anse’s son), leaving her family to live with the Hatfields in West Virginia. During her stay with the Hatfields, she became pregnant.

Roseanna eventually returned to the McCoys, but when the couple tried to resume their relationship, Johnse Hatfield was arrested by the McCoys on outstanding Kentucky bootlegging warrants (Johnse was indeed a well-known bootlegger). Roseanna made a desperate midnight ride to alert Devil Anse Hatfield, who organized a rescue party. Hell bent on vengeance, the Hatfield party reacted quickly and surrounded the McCoys allowing them to capture Johnse and take him back to West Virginia.

Johnse Hatfield was not content with the humiliation he caused the defeated McCoy clan. He added to the McCoy shame by abandoning the pregnant Roseanna, marrying instead her cousin Nancy McCoy in 1881.

The Murder of Ellison Hatfield

The escalation continued in 1882 when Ellison Hatfield, younger brother of “Devil Anse” Hatfield, was killed by three of Roseanna McCoy’s young brothers: Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud. Ellison was stabbed twenty-six times and finished off with a shot in the back.

The three McCoy brothers were arrested by Hatfield constables and were to be taken to Pikeville for trial. Devil Anse Hatfield quickly organized a large group of followers and cut off the constables with the three McCoy prisoners in tow before they reached Pikeville.

The three brothers were taken by force to West Virginia to await the fate of mortally wounded Ellison Hatfield. When Ellison died from his injuries three days later, the McCoy brothers were themselves murdered in turn. They were tied to pawpaw trees and gunned down.

Devil Anse Hatfield immediately became a chief suspect in the McCoy brother’s murders but was later cleared after it was determined that he was at home ill. Other suspects were difficult to identify as both families remained tight-lipped.

Soon after the incident, the Hatfields broke into the home of Mary McCoy and whipped her with a cow tail. Mary McCoy was married to a Hatfield relation, but the Hatfields felt she was leaking information to the McCoy’s. Mary’s husband, Jeff McCoy, quickly sought revenge for the beating and was promptly shot to death on the banks of the Tug River.

The Case Against the Hatfield’s Heats Up

After five years with no new leads, things quietened down until “Bad” Frank Phillips, an enterprising lawyer and gun for hire who experienced some bad dealings with Devil Anse Hatfield, convinced the Kentucky Governor to increase the focus on the case. The Hatfields reacted quickly. Feeling that Old Randall McCoy could provide key testimony that would be detrimental to their case, The Hatfields decided that Old Randall McCoy must be silenced and on January 1, 1888, they raided his home in an effort to kill him.

The escalation reached its peak during what became to be known as the 1888 New Year’s Night Massacre. Several of the Hatfield gang surrounded the McCoy cabin and opened fire on the sleeping family. The cabin was set on fire to drive Randal McCoy into the open. He escaped by making a quick break out of the cabin but two of his children were murdered and his wife was beaten and left for dead. She eventually recovered from broken ribs and skull fractures, but her head injuries left long-term damage.

Between 1880 and 1891, the feud claimed more than a dozen members of the two families, becoming headline news around the country, and compelling the governors of both Kentucky and West Virginia to call up their state militias to restore order. The Governor of West Virginia once even threatened to have his militia invade Kentucky. Kentucky Governor S.B. Buckner sent his Adjutant General to Pike County to investigate the situation in response. Newspapers from around the country awaited word from Adjutant General Sam Hill to find out “what in Sam Hill was going on up there”.

In 1888, Wall Hatfield and eight others were arrested by a posse led by “Bad” Frank Phillips and brought to Kentucky to stand trial for the murder of Alifair (Allaphare) McCoy, Randall’s young daughter, and Calvin, one of his sons, who were killed during the New Year’s Massacre. Both had been shot after exiting the burning house.

During the posse arrest, Vance was killed after refusing to be arrested (two McCoys were members of the posse). Three others were killed after being cornered in Grapevine Creek. Those arrested included Cap, Johnse, Robert and Elliot Hatfield, Ellison Mounts, French Ellis, Charles Gillespie, and Thomas Chambers.

Since the arrests were made over state lines, the Supreme Court became involved and ruled in favor of Kentucky (the McCoy’s). All were found guilty. Seven received life imprisonment, while the eighth, “slow witted” Ellison “Cottontop” Mounts (who was rumored to be the illegitimate child of two Hatfield cousins), was executed by hanging. Thousands attended the hanging in Pikeville, Kentucky.

The families continued to feud with each taking turns capturing and killing opposing family members and then breaking the instigators out of jail when they were caught. The New York Times reported the following on October 28, 1889:

Huntington, West Va., Oct. 27.—Information was brought by courier today from Hamlin, Lincoln County, that about midnight Friday a mob surrounded the Lincoln County Jail, forced an entrance after a short resistance by the authorities took two of the prisoners, Green McCoy and Milton Haley, and hung them to a tree a short distance from the jail building. Haley and McCoy were natives of Kentucky and were allied to the McCoy faction of the outlaws whose murderous feud with the Hatfields is familiar to the public. McCoy was engaged in a shooting scrape with Paris Brumfield of Lincoln County about a year ago, and about a month ago he, in company with Haley, ambushed and attempted to murder Al Brumfield and his wife. This shooting occurred on a Sunday night and both the victims were badly wounded, Mrs., Brumfield being shot in the breast and her husband in the leg.  For a time it was thought the woman would die, but she finally recovered.

McCoy and Haley escaped to Kentucky, but not until there had been two more attempts at assassination in the county, in one of which a man named Adkins, a friend of the Brumfields, was wounded., The two would-be murderers were arrested at Benn Post Office, Martin County, Ky., and were confined in jail there. Friday they were looked up in the Lincoln County (West Va.) Jail, and, in the absence of definite information, it is supposed they were lynched by some of the Hatfield sympathizers.

Aftermath and Final Notes

Of the Hatfields sent to prison, Valentine “Uncle Wall” Hatfield, elder brother of Anse, died in prison of unknown causes. He had petitioned his brothers to assist in his emancipation from jail, but none came for fear of being captured and brought to trial. He was buried in the prison cemetery, which has since been paved over.

Doc D. Mahon, son-in-law of Valentine and brother of Pliant, one of the eight Hatfields convicted, served 14 years in prison before returning home to live with his son, Melvin.

Pliant Mahon, son-in-law of Valentine, served fourteen years in prison before returning home to rejoin his ex-wife, who had remarried but left her second husband to live with Pliant again.

William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield died January 6, 1921, at the age of eighty-one of pneumonia. He is buried in the Hatfield Family Cemetery along West Virginia Route 44 in southern Logan County. His grave is topped by a life-size statue of himself made of Italian marble.

Randolph “Old Randall” McCoy died at the age of 88 after catching fire over a cook stove fire. He is buried in the Dils Cemetery in Pikeville, next to his wife who passed away in the 1890’s

Modern Day

In 1979, the two families united for a special week’s taping of the popular game show Family Feud, in which they played for a cash prize and a pig which was kept on stage during the games. The McCoy family barely won the week-long event, 3-2. No one died.

Touring the Hatfield and McCoy historic sites

Today, visitors can tour many of the sites made famous by the Hatfield and McCoy feud. Several of the sites have been restored via federal grants. Tourists can contact the Pike County Tourism CVB Visitors Center in Pikeville for an audio compact disc to accompany the self-guided driving tour.

The driving tour leads visitors to feud related points of interest including the gravesites of the feudists, the “Hog Trial Cabin”, also known as Valentine Hatfield’s cabin, Randolph McCoy’s homeplace and well in Hardy, Kentucky, Aunt Betty’s House and many more sites, some complete with historical markers

The feud simmers again?

In 2002, Bo and Ron McCoy brought a lawsuit to acquire access to the McCoy Cemetery which holds the graves of six family members, including five slain during the feud. The McCoys fought a private property owner, John Vance, who had restricted access to the historic cemetery.

Official Deaths

  • 1865: Former Union soldier Asa Harman McCoy killed January 7, 1865, probably by the “Logan Wildcats” led by Jim Vance.
  • 1878: Bill Staton (nephew of Randolph McCoy) was killed in 1878 as revenge for testifying on behalf of Floyd Hatfield in his trial for stealing a McCoy hog. Shot by Sam McCoy-nephew of Randolph McCoy Sr.
  • 1882: Ellison Hatfield is mortally wounded in a fight with Tolbert, Pharmer, and Randolph McCoy, Jr. on August 7, 1882, dying two days later on August 9.
  • 1882: Tolbert McCoy tied to pawpaw trees and killed as revenge for Ellison Hatfield’s shooting/stabbing on August 9, 1882, the day Ellison died.
  • 1882: Pharmer McCoy tied to pawpaw trees and killed as revenge for Ellison Hatfield’s shooting/stabbing on August 9, 1882, the day Ellison died.
  • 1882: Randolph McCoy Jr. tied to pawpaw trees and killed as revenge for Ellison Hatfield’s shooting/stabbing on August 9, 1882, the day Ellison died.
  • 1886: “Jeff McCoy” killed in fall of 1886 following his murder of mail carrier Fred Wolford, shot by “Cap” Hatfield.
  • 1888: Alifair McCoy killed January 1, 1888 at Randolph’s house by nine attackers led by Jim Vance. The attackers failed in their attempt to eliminate witnesses against them.
  • 1888: Calvin McCoy killed January 1, 1888 at Randolph’s house by nine attackers led by Jim Vance. The attackers failed in their attempt to eliminate witnesses against them.
  • 1888 January 7: Jim Vance killed by “Bad” Frank Phillips in an ambush.
  • 1888 January 18: Bill Dempsey killed by Jeff McCoy and “Bad” Frank Phillips.
  • 1890: Ellison “Cottontop” Mounts was hanged on February 18, 1890 for Alifair’s murder.

Geek Slop’s Hatfield and McCoy virtual museum

Image Credits

In-Article Image Credits

McCoy family via Trails Heaven with usage type - Public Domain
One of the earliest known photos (circa 1875) of the Hatfield Clan via History Collection with usage type - Public Domain
via Altered DImensions with usage type - Public Domain
The Hatfield Clan of the Hatfield-McCoy-feud 1897 via Wikipedia Commons with usage type - Public Domain
via Altered Dimensions with usage type - Public Domain
The Hatfields via History Collection with usage type - Public Domain
Wall Hatfield via History Collection with usage type - Public Domain. Wall Hatfield. Dr. Coleman C. Hatfield Collection. Courtesy of Dr. Arabel E. Hatfield.
The McCoy’s at Cottontop’s hanging via History Collection with usage type - Public Domain
Selkirk McCoy at age 61, 1892 via History Collection with usage type - Public Domain
Anse and Levicy at cemetery via History Collection by Appalachian Lady with usage type - Public Domain
1882 Indictment for the murders of the three McCoys who had killed Ellison Hatfield via Hatfield McCoy Truth with usage type - Public Domain
Home of the Reverend Anderson Hatfield (Ransom House) via Hatfield McCoy Truth with usage type - Public Domain

Featured Image Credit

The Hatfield Clan of the Hatfield-McCoy-feud 1897 via Wikipedia Commons with usage type - Public Domain

 

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