The Hatfield and McCoy feud is one of the most infamous family conflicts in American history. This long-standing battle between two rural families from West Virginia and Kentucky in the late 19th century was one of drastic drama and lawlessness. The feud has captivated the public imagination for over a century, inspiring books, movies, and even a television miniseries starring Kevin Costner.

This article delves into the intriguing history of the Hatfield and McCoy feud, exploring the events that led to it and significant incidents during the rivalry.

History of the Hatfield & McCoy Feud

The Origins of the Hatfield and McCoy Families

The Hatfields and McCoys were two Appalachian families residing along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, which forms the border between West Virginia and Kentucky. The Hatfields, led by William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield, were primarily from West Virginia, while the McCoys, under the leadership of Randolph “Randall” McCoy, lived in Kentucky.

The Hatfields were a little wealthier and had significantly more political connections than the McCoys. Anse Hatfield’s timber business brought considerable wealth to his family. The McCoys were more lower-middle class. Randall McCoy did own a 300-acre farm and some livestock, and both families were involved in producing and selling illegal moonshine, a highly sought-after commodity at the time.

Pre-Feud Tensions

While the exact origins of the feud are complex and multifaceted, several factors contributed to the rising tensions between the Hatfields and McCoys. These included economic competition, political differences, and lingering animosities from the Civil War.

The Catalysts for Conflict

1. The Hog Trial:

A significant event was the dispute over a hog. That may sound silly, but livestock was a serious matter back then and could mean life or death when feeding a large family in the winter.

Floyd Hatfield, a cousin of Devil Anse, was accused by Randolph McCoy of stealing one of his pigs. The case went to court, where it was ultimately decided in favor of Floyd Hatfield, thanks to the testimony of Bill Staton, a relative of both families. This decision exacerbated underlying strains and set the tone for things to come.

2. Love Affair:

Tensions heightened again when Roseanna McCoy began a relationship with Devil Anse’s son, Johnse Harfield. Much to Randall McCoy’s fury, she would leave her family to live with the Hatfields in West Virginia. However, with family pressure, Roseanna eventually and reluctantly returned to her clan. Even though she returned, Randall shunned her, and she and Johnse remained apart. Roseanna was pregnant, but at that point, both families refused to allow them to marry. Johnse attempted to rekindle their relationship, but the McCoys had Johnse arrested on outstanding Kentucky bootlegging warrants. When Roseanna found out about the arrest, she made a desperate midnight ride to alert Devil Anse, who quickly organized a rescue party.

The Hatfield rescue party caught up to and surrounded the McCoys to reclaim Johnse before he could be transported to the county seat in Pikeville, KY.

After all that, and perhaps due to all the strain surrounding the relationship, Johnse ultimately abandoned Roseanna and actually ended up marrying her cousin, Nancy McCoy, in 1881.

3. The Election Day Fight:

During an election day event, the feud escalated further when Ellison Hatfield, Devil Anse’s brother, was killed by Randall McCoy’s sons and Roseanna McCoy’s younger brothers: Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud. In a moonshine drunken brawl, the three McCoy brothers fought Ellison Hatfield, which eventually led to Ellison getting stabbed and then shot.

The McCoy brothers were initially arrested and taken to Pikeville, KY, for trial. However, Devil Anse secretly organized a large group who intercepted the constables and took the McCoy brothers by force to West Virginia. When Ellison finally succumbed to his injuries, the Hatfields exacted their revenge. The three McCoy brothers were tied to pawpaw bushes and shot multiple times.

4. New Year’s Night Massacre

One of the more horrendous episodes in the feud occurred in January 1888. A group of Hatfields attacked the McCoy homestead, setting it on fire and killing two of Randall McCoy’s children, Calvin and Alifair. Randall’s wife, Sarah, was grabbed, beaten, and almost killed by Jim Vance and Johnse Hatfield. With his house burning, Randolph and his remaining family members fled farther into the wilderness; his children, unprepared for the elements, suffered frostbite. 

To evade further attacks from the raiding parties from West Virginia, the remaining McCoys relocated to Pikeville.

4. Legal and Extralegal Responses

After the New Year’s Massacre, a posse led by Pike County Deputy Sheriff Frank Philipps set out to track down the Harfields across the state line into West Virginia. This group included two McCoys, Bud and James McCoy, one of Randolph’s sons. Their first target was Jim Vance, who they ended up killing in the woods after he defied arrest. Philipps then conducted several raids on Hatfield homes and supporters, capturing many and killing three more Hatfield supporters.

4. Grapevine Creek Battle

On January 19, Philipps and his crew tracked the Hatfields to Grapevine Creek and cornered them. However, the Hatfields were ready, having gathered their own armed group. A faction of the McCoys succeeded in drawing the Hatfields into a specific area of the battlefield, while another McCoy contingent maneuvered to outflank them. This strategy inflicted multiple casualties on the Hatfields, forcing them to retreat. Several Hatfields were unable to escape and were captured by the Posse.

These prisoners, along with those apprehended before the battle, were put on trial with the authorization of the Kentucky government. They faced charges for various crimes committed during the feud, including the murder of Randall McCoy’s sons in retaliation for Ellison Hatfield’s death and the killing of Alifair McCoy, Randall’s daughter, during the New Year’s Eve massacre.

Ultimately, eight Hatfields were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, except for Ellison Mounts. He was sentenced to death for having killed Randall McCoy’s daughter, Alifair.

Ellison Mounts was executed by hanging. With his last words, Ellison swore that: “The Hatfields made me do it.”

No one had been sent to the gallows in Pike County for forty years, and after Ellison, no one ever was again.

Whatever happened to Johnse Hatfield?

The Hatfields lived under constant fear, always wary that bounty hunters might ambush them or that authorities would drag them across the river to Kentucky to face the gallows. Anse kept close tabs on Sam Vinson, a Logan County acquaintance who had escaped to Washington’s Spokane County after being accused of killing a McCoy. Word had it that Vinson had opened a tavern in Spokane’s county seat. Anse figured that if Johnse could find Vinson, he might establish himself in the region under a new identity.

Having spent decades working in the timber industry, a fresh start in the forested Northwest seemed like a natural choice for Johnse. By that time, his wife, Nancy McCoy—Roseanna McCoy’s cousin—had left him. To make matters worse, she had married Franklin “Bad Frank” Phillips, the Pike County deputy, bounty hunter, and sworn enemy of the Hatfield clan.

Johnse began preparing for the long journey west. He planned to flee to Oregon, leaving his bounty behind and working in the timberlands around Spokane, Washington. His father, Devil Anse Hatfield, had given him a horse and a sturdy pack mule several weeks prior, but the journey had been grueling. Johnse traveled more than half the distance to Washington on horseback, sleeping under the stars with only a wool blanket for warmth and surviving on hardtack, beans, jerky, and coffee. Somewhere in the Oklahoma Territory, he sold his horse and mule and boarded a passenger train to complete the final leg of the journey.

Back in Pike County, Nancy McCoy Phillips, now Johnse’s embittered ex-wife, began hearing rumors that he had settled in the Northwest and was possibly going by the name Jim Jacobs. She passed this information along to her family, who quickly organized a heavily armed posse. On Randall McCoy’s dime, detectives Dan “Cunning” Cunningham, Alpheus “Alf” Burnett, and Treve Gibson, along with several others, set off for Washington.

Their search eventually led them to a logging camp near the headwaters of the Snoqualmie River, east of Seattle. There, Cunningham provided the loggers with a description of Johnse—a tall, blue-eyed, light-haired man from West Virginia, possibly using the alias Jim Jacobs.

As the posse questioned the timber crew, a young woman named Midgie Staunton McCarthy, who happened to be in the camp, overheard the conversation. Although history is unclear about her relationship with Johnse, she knew Jim Jacobs (Johnse Hatfield) and quickly penned a warning note, sending it with a Siwash Indian messenger. The note instructed the foreman of Johnse’s crew to “Tell Jim to look out!”

After receiving the warning, Johnse Hatfield noticed seven determined searchers riding mules along a ridge near his camp. Dropping his ax, he fled into the woods. A fellow crewman, a local Native American, guided him to a riverbank hidden by dense thickets. Johnse crawled into the underbrush, enduring the painful scratches of thorns and branches, and watched as the trackers combed the rugged terrain.

Once the detectives left, Johnse quickly swam across the river and decided not to return to the timber camp. He traveled on foot to Seattle, where he caught a steamer to British Columbia and found work in the challenging conditions of the timber industry there. The trees were massive, requiring workers to build tall scaffolds to cut them down. Meanwhile, Sam Vinson, the Spokane barkeep, devised a ruse to end the pursuit. He sent a lock of Johnse’s blond hair along with a fake condolence letter to Johnse’s parents, claiming their son had died in a logging accident. The news devastated Devil Anse and Levicy, and word of Johnse’s supposed death spread throughout the Tug Fork Valley.

In 1898, Cap Hatfield, skeptical of his brother’s death, searched for answers while on his way back to West Virginia from Colorado. In British Columbia, he eventually found Johnse alive and well, working in a logging camp. Cap convinced Johnse to return home, reasoning that they would be safer under the protection of their family. Johnse and Cap took separate routes back to avoid detection. When Johnse finally arrived at the family home, his parents were overwhelmed with emotion, having believed him dead for nearly two years.

Back in West Virginia, Johnse’s troubles were far from over. In June 1898, he was ambushed by a group led by Humphrey E. “Doc” Ellis, a business rival of the Hatfields. They captured him and took him to Kentucky, where he was tried for murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, after four years, Johnse was pardoned for saving the lieutenant governor from an attack by a fellow inmate. The ordeal left him a changed man. Johnse later married Rebecca Browning, whose steady influence brought the stability he had lacked in his tumultuous younger years.

Whatever happened to Anse Hatfield?

Devil Anse Hatfield mellowed with the years. On Sept. 23, 1911, Uncle Dyke Garrett, a former Confederate chaplain, Appalachian circuit-riding preacher and longtime friend, baptized “the ol’ Devil” in the icy waters of Main Island Creek.

Anse would live another 10 years, eventually dying of pneumonia at age 81 in his Island Creek home on Jan. 6, 1921. He was laid to rest in the Hatfield Family Cemetery. His grave is marked by a life-sized statue of himself carved from Italian marble.

By the early 20th century, both families had largely moved on from the violent confrontations, although the legacy of the feud continued to haunt them for generations.

The Feud’s Impact on the Community

The feud profoundly impacted the local community, affecting not just the Hatfields and McCoys but also their neighbors and friends. The violence and mistrust disrupted everyday life, leading to economic hardships and social ostracization for those associated with either family.

Feud Tourism and Historical Sites

Today, the Hatfield and McCoy feud has become part of local folklore, and several historical sites and museums are dedicated to preserving its history. Tourists can visit various landmarks, such as the Hatfield Cemetery in West Virginia and the McCoy Well in Kentucky, to learn more about the feud and its participants.

The Television Series: “Hatfields & McCoys”

Overview of the Miniseries

In 2012, the History Channel aired a three-part miniseries titled “Hatfields & McCoys,” starring Kevin Costner as Devil Anse Hatfield and Bill Paxton as Randall McCoy. The series was a dramatized portrayal of the feud, focusing on the key events and personalities that defined this historical conflict.

Dean King’s Book: “The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story”

Dean King’s book, “The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story,” published in 2013, offers a comprehensive and meticulously researched account of the Hatfield and McCoy feud. Drawing from historical records, personal letters, and firsthand accounts, King explores the events and personalities that fueled the conflict.

King’s book delves into the socio-economic and cultural factors that contributed to the feud. He highlights the role of honor, family loyalty, and the harsh realities of life in Appalachia during the late 19th century. The book also examines the psychological impact of the feud on its participants and the broader community.

His book received positive reviews for its detailed research and engaging narrative. It has become a definitive source for those seeking to understand the complexities of the Hatfield and McCoy feud. King’s work has been praised for shedding light on the lesser-known aspects of the feud and providing a balanced perspective on both families’ actions and motivations.

The Current Status of Hatfield and McCoy Feud

Reconciliation Efforts

In the years following the end of the Hatfield and McCoy feud, both families have made significant efforts toward reconciliation. These efforts culminated in a highly symbolic event on June 14, 2003, when descendants from both families gathered at a truce ceremony in Pikeville, Kentucky. The ceremony was organized by the Hatfield-McCoy Reunion Festival and involved the signing of an official peace treaty. This truce symbolized the formal end of hostilities and a commitment to promoting peace and unity between the families.

In August 2015, members of both families helped archeologists dig for ruins at a site where they believe Randolph McCoy’s house was burned

Festivals, Ceremonies, and Tourist Attractions

Hatfield-McCoy Reunion Festival

One of the most significant events celebrating the history of the feud is the annual Hatfield-McCoy Reunion Festival. Held every June in Pikeville, Kentucky, and Matewan, West Virginia, the festival features a variety of activities, including historical reenactments, guided tours of feud sites, live music, and craft fairs. The festival aims to educate the public about the history of the feud while promoting peace and camaraderie between the families.

The Hatfield-McCoy Marathon

The Hatfield-McCoy Marathon is a popular event that attracts runners from across the country. The marathon route takes participants through historic feud sites, providing a unique way to explore the region’s history while promoting fitness and community spirit. The event includes various race categories, making it accessible to runners of all ages and abilities.

Hatfield and McCoy Trails

The Hatfield and McCoy Trails are a network of off-road trails spanning over 700 miles across southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. These trails are popular with ATV riders, dirt bikers, and hikers, offering a scenic and adventurous way to explore the region. The trails pass through several historical sites related to the feud, providing an immersive experience for history enthusiasts and outdoor adventurers alike.

The Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Show

In Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Show offers a family-friendly entertainment experience that combines comedy, music, and history. The show features actors portraying members of both families in a humorous and light-hearted performance that highlights the feud’s key events. The dinner show has become a popular attraction, drawing tourists from across the country.

The Hatfield and McCoy feud, once a symbol of intense familial rivalry and lawlessness, has evolved into a story of reconciliation and unity. Today, the descendants of these infamous families work together to preserve their shared heritage and promote peace. Through festivals, marathons, historical tours, and modern media, the feud’s legacy is remembered and celebrated in a positive light. By understanding the past, both families have been able to move forward, fostering a sense of community and mutual respect.