Volume 14 , Issue 23

The Hatfields & McCoys - A Documentary

The Hatfield-McCoy feud (1863-91) involved two families of the West Virginia-Kentucky area along the Tug Fork, off the Big Sandy River. The Hatfields of West Virginia were led by William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield. The McCoys of Kentucky were under the leadership of Randolph "Ole Ran'l" McCoy. Those involved in the feud were descended from Ephraim Hatfield (born c. 1765) and William McCoy (born c. 1750). The feud entered the American folklore lexicon as a metaphor for any bitterly feuding rival parties. More than a century later, the story of the feud has become a modern metaphor for the perils of family honor, justice and vengeance. - Hatfield-Mccoy Feud



The Feud

Asa Harmon McCoy was murdered on 7 January 1865. Jim Vance, the uncle of "Devil Anse" Hatfield, despised Asa Harmon McCoy because he had joined the Union Army during the American Civil War. Asa was discharged from the army early because of a broken leg. He returned home to a warning from Vance that Asa could expect a visit from "Devil Anse's Wildcats (Logan's Wildcats)." Frightened by gunshots as he drew water from his well, Asa hid in a nearby cave, supplied with food and necessities each day by his slave, Pete. But "Logans Wildcats" followed Pete's tracks in the snow, discovered Asa and shot him fatally.

At first, "Devil Anse" Hatfield was the prime suspect. Later, after it was determined that the Wildcats' leader had been confined to his bed, suspicion of guilt focused squarely on Vance. But in an era when Asa McCoy's military service was widely considered by many of the region's inhabitants to be in and of itself an act of disloyalty, even Asa's own family believed that he had brought his murder upon himself. Eventually the case withered and no suspect was brought to trial.

Hatfield-McCoy Feud (1899)

In The Record-Union, dated 4 July 1899, in Sacramento, California, we find another mention of a Hatfield killing a McCoy sympathizer. This killing happened 3 July 1899, near Williamson, West Virginia, when John Hatfield, son of "Devil" Hatfield, shot and killed H. E. Ellis on a Norfolk and Western passenger train near Williamson. Ellis was a McCoy sympathizer in the Hatfield-McCoy feud. Hatfield escaped, but was being pursued.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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