Joe Hatfield

The Blood Feud

The Hatfield-McCoy feud of the 1880s and some time thereafter is one of the noted stories of folklore in America. Today the causes of that family and friends war between the Hatfields and the McCoys will be consideredthe events which led up to the tragedy. There were many causes, an accumulation of things, which finally touched off the feud, or private war, which it actually was, between two determined families. First cause I think can be attributed to the very natures of those concerned. Both families were people of nerve because blood of British origin pulsed in their veins. That blood bespoke stubborn resistance and unflinching determination, an unwavering set. Came the Civil War of 186165 and neighbor lined up against neighbor. In the Union corner was Randolph McCoy, leader of the McCoy clan. In the Confederate corner, six feet of devil and 180 pounds of hell, according to Randolph McCoy, was Anderson (Devil Anse) Hatfield, head of the Hatfield horde. When the war ended in 1865, the internecine feelings of these two neighboring familiesonly the narrow Tug River separated themdid not make for friendly relations. Indeed it had been rumored that Devil Anse Hatfield, in the course of his warfare sometime before the Civil War ended, had slain Harmon McCoy, a brother of Randolph McCoy. This rumor was never proven. In fact, some stated that Jim Vance, later to die in the feud as a friend of the Hatfields, was the one who murdered Harmon McCoy. Whoever killed Harmon McCoy is unknown for sure even to this day, but one thing is sure, his death created ill feeling between the McCoys and the Hatfields, from the McCoy corner, of course. A third cause of the feud was a family quarrel, which wound up in the court of a justice of the peace. That was eight years after the Civil War had ended. In those days in the rugged regions of the Tug, the people let their hogs run loose and fatten on the mast of nut-bearing trees, chestnut, acorn, hazel, and other trees.

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The Feud

For more than a century, the enduring feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys has been American shorthand for passionate, unyielding, and even violent confrontation. Yet despite numerous articles, books, television shows, and feature films, nobody has ever told the in-depth true story of this legendarily fierce-and far-reaching-clash in the heart of Appalachia. Drawing upon years of original research, including the discovery of previously lost and ignored documents and interviews with relatives of both families, bestselling author Dean King finally gives us the full, unvarnished tale, one vastly more enthralling than the myth. Unlike previous accounts, King's begins in the mid-nineteenth century, when the Hatfields and McCoys lived side-by-side in relative harmony. Theirs was a hardscrabble life of farming and hunting, timbering and moonshining-and raising large and boisterous families-in the rugged hollows and hills of Virginia and Kentucky. Cut off from much of the outside world, these descendants of Scots-Irish and English pioneers spoke a language many Americans would find hard to understand. Yet contrary to popular belief, the Hatfields and McCoys were established and influential landowners who had intermarried and worked together for decades. When the Civil War came, and the outside world crashed into their lives, family members were forced to choose sides. After the war, the lines that had been drawn remained-and the violence not only lived on but became personal. By the time the fury finally subsided, a dozen family members would be in the grave. The hostilities grew to be a national spectacle, and the cycle of killing, kidnapping, stalking by bounty hunters, and skirmishing between governors spawned a legal battle that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court and still influences us today. Filled with bitter quarrels, reckless affairs, treacherous betrayals, relentless mercenaries, and courageous detectives, The Feud is the riveting story of two frontier families struggling for survival within the narrow confines of an unforgiving land. It is a formative American tale, and in it, we see the reflection of our own family bonds and the lengths to which we might go in order to defend our honor, our loyalties, and our livelihood.