Sunday, June 10, 2012

THE HATFIELD McCOY FUED


The Hatfield–McCoy feud (1863–91) involved two families of the West VirginiaKentucky area along the Tug Fork, 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. Those involved in the feud were descended from Ephraim Hatfield (born c. 1765) and William McCoy (born c. 1750). The feud has 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 symbol of the perils of family honor, justice and vengeance.

The Hatfield McCoy Feud


The Hatfield McCoy Feud

The Hatfield-McCoy feud began in the mountainous Tug River valley. The Tug River separates West Virginia from Kentucky and separated most of the Hatfield and McCoy clans. William Anderson Hatfield was the recognized leader of the Hatfields and went by the nickname of “Devil Anse”. The leader of the McCoys was Randle McCoy.


The first known event linking the Hatfields and McCoys was at the end of the Civil War. Devil Anse fought for the Confederate Army for two years. Then he and some of his family members left the army and returned home. They joined a local Confederate militia known as the Logan Wildcats. Randle McCoy’s brother, Asa Harmon McCoy, was a Union soldier. In 1865 Asa was wounded in battle and came home. While Asa was recuperating, he was murdered. No one was ever charged with the murder but it was rumored that Devil Anse and the Logan Wildcats were involved. Some believe the feud started with this incident but there were no attempts at retaliation by the McCoys and no further conflict between the families for over a decade./p>


Then in the late 1870s, Devil Anse Hatfield got into a land dispute with Randle McCoy’s cousin Perry Cline. Anse won the land dispute and was granted Perry’s entire 5,000 acre plot of land. The McCoys felt that Anse had used his political connections to influence the court’s decision. A few months after the verdict, Randle McCoy accused Anse’s cousin, and best friend, Floyd Hatfield of stealing his hog. A lawsuit was brought against Floyd and the magistrate put together a jury of six McCoys and six Hatfields to hear the case. At the end of the trial one of the McCoys voted with the Hatfields for acquittal. That McCoy worked on Devil Anse’s timber crew and the McCoys claimed he voted with the Hatfields to save his job. As a result, the McCoys felt like they had been cheated again. This heightened ill feelings between the two families and several armed confrontations followed. This is when the violence between the families began in earnest.
Then in 1880, two years after the Hog Trial, events took an unexpected turn. At a community celebration Devil Anse’s son Johnse Hatfield met Randle McCoy’s daughter Roseanna. After spending one day together the couple decided they wanted to get married. Johnse brought Roseanna home with him and Devil Anse allowed them to live together in his house. It has been said that Anse refused to let Johnse marry Roseanna because she was a McCoy but there is also evidence to the contrary. In any event, Roseanna soon became pregnant with Johnse’s baby. Eventually she realized Johnse wasn’t going to marry her and she left the Hatfield home. However, her father refused to take her back in and she went to live with her Aunt Betty. Shortly after moving in with Aunt Betty, Roseanna gave birth to her baby but it died of the measles at eight months of age. Then six months after the baby’s death Johnse married Roseanna’s cousin, Nancy McCoy.
Not long after Johnse’s romantic entanglements another pivotal event in the feud occurred. Devil Anse’s brother Ellison Hatfield got into a fight with three of Randle McCoy’s sons at an election day celebration. One of the McCoys pulled a knife and Ellison was stabbed 27 times and then shot in the back. Anse and a posse intercepted the McCoy brothers as they were being taken to a Kentucky jail and escorted them back to West Virginia. Ellison was still alive and, according to Anse, the three McCoys would live only if Ellison survived. The following day Ellison died. Anse and his followers then transported the McCoy brothers across the river to Kentucky, tied them to several pawpaw trees and shot them. Indictments were issued for Anse and several of his supporters, but for five years no action was taken to extradite them.
Then in 1887 the McCoy family was able to gain influence with the newly elected governor of Kentucky. This resulted in vigorous efforts to extradite Devil Anse and his associates for the murder of Randle McCoy’s three sons. These efforts included a $500 reward for Devil Anse Hatfield’s capture. On January 1, 1888 the Hatfield family decided to retaliate by attacking and burning Randle McCoy’s home in Kentucky. During the raid two of Randle’s children were killed and his wife was seriously injured. This led to the Battle of Grapevine Creek in which several Hatfield supporters were captured or killed. The captured Hatfields were then transported to Pike County Kentucky to await trial.
In September 1888, the Hatfields involved in the raid on Randle McCoy’s home were tried for their crimes. All were sentenced to life in prison except for Ellison Mounts who was hanged the following year. Devil Anse made no attempt to get revenge for the conviction of his family members and this marked the end of the feud.


Con

File:Bigsandyrivermap.pngtents

Family origins

William McCoy, the patriarch of the McCoys, was born in Ireland around 1750 and emigrated to Doe Hill, Virginia.[1][2] The McCoys, led by Randolph "Ole Ran'l" McCoy (grandson of William), lived mostly on the Kentucky side of Tug Fork (a tributary of the Big Sandy River), and the Hatfields, led by William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield (son of Ephraim Hatfield and Nancy Vance), lived mostly on the West Virginia side. Both families were part of the first wave of pioneers to settle the Tug Valley (also called the Grand Horse Valley). The majority of the Hatfields living in Mingo County (in what would eventually become West Virginia) fought for the Confederacy in the American Civil War. The majority of the McCoys living in Pike County, Kentucky, fought for the Union Army. The first real violence in the feud was the murder of a returning Union soldier, Asa Harmon McCoy. He was killed by a group of ex-Confederate Homeguards called the "Logan Wildcats". Devil Anse Hatfield was a suspect at first, but was later confirmed to have been sick at home at the time of the murder. It was widely believed that his uncle, Jim Vance, a member of the Wildcats, committed the murder.[3]

The Hatfield clan in 1897.
The Hatfields were more affluent than the McCoys and were well-connected politically. Devil Anse Hatfield's timbering operation was a source of wealth for his family, but he employed many non-Hatfields, and even hired Albert McCoy, Lorenzo Dow McCoy, and Selkirk McCoy.

Feud

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

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 Harmon's military service was widely considered by many of the region's inhabitants to be in and of itself an act of disloyalty, even Harmon's own family believed that he had brought his murder upon himself.[citation needed] Eventually, the case withered, and no suspect was brought to trial.

Leroy Dinky Simpples in casket
The second recorded instance of violence in the feud occurred 13 years later, in 1878, after a dispute about the ownership of a hog: Floyd Hatfield had it, but Randolph McCoy said it was his.[4] The pig was only in the fight because some of the Hatfields believed that, since the pig was on their land, it was theirs. Some of the McCoys objected, saying that the "notches" (markings) on the pig's ears were McCoy marks, not Hatfield marks. The matter was taken to the local Justice of the Peace, and the McCoys lost because of the testimony of Bill Staton, a relative of both families. Presiding over the case was Anderson "Preacher Anse" Hatfield.[5] In June 1880, Staton was killed by two McCoy brothers, Sam and Paris, who were later acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.

Store owned by Cap Hatfield at Glen Alum


A section of the floodwall along the Tug Fork in Matewan, West Virginia, constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, depicts the Hatfield–McCoy feud.
The feud escalated after Roseanna McCoy began a relationship (courtship) with Johnson "Johnse" Hatfield (Devil Anse's son), leaving her family to live with the Hatfields in West Virginia. 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. He was freed from McCoy custody only when Roseanna made a desperate midnight ride to alert Devil Anse Hatfield, who organized a rescue party. The Hatfield party surrounded the McCoys and took Johnse back to West Virginia before he could be transported to the county seat, Pikeville, Kentucky, for justice the next day.
Despite what was seen as a betrayal of her family on his behalf, Johnse Hatfield thereafter abandoned the pregnant Roseanna, marrying instead her cousin, Nancy McCoy, in 1881.
The escalation continued in 1882 when Ellison Hatfield, brother of Devil Anse Hatfield, was killed by three of Roseanna McCoy's young brothers: Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud. Ellison was stabbed 26 times and finished off with a shot during an election day fight that took place in Kentucky. The McCoy brothers were initially arrested by Hatfield constables and were being taken to Pikeville for trial. Devil Anse Hatfield organized a large group of followers and intercepted the constables and their McCoy prisoners before they reached Pikeville. The brothers were taken by force to West Virginia to await the fate of mortally wounded Ellison Hatfield. When Ellison finally died from his injuries, the McCoy brothers were themselves murdered in turn as the vendetta escalated. They were tied to pawpaw bushes, where each was shot numerous times. Their bodies were described as "bullet-riddled".[6]
The feud reached its peak during the 1888 New Year's Night Massacre. Several members of the Hatfield clan surrounded the McCoy cabin and opened fire on the sleeping family. The cabin was set on fire in an effort to drive Randolph McCoy into the open. He escaped by making a break for it, but two of his children were murdered, and his wife was beaten and left for dead. The remaining members of the McCoy family moved to Pikeville to escape the West Virginia raiding parties.
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.[citation needed] On one occasion, the Governor of West Virginia even threatened to have his militia invade Kentucky. In response, Kentucky Governor S. B. Buckner sent his Adjutant General Sam Hill to Pike County to investigate the situation.[7] Besides nearly a dozen who died, at least 10 people were wounded.[8]
In 1888, Wall Hatfield and eight others were arrested by a posse led by Frank Phillips and brought to Kentucky to stand trial for the murder of Alifair McCoy, who was killed during the New Years Massacre.[9] She had been shot after exiting the burning house. Because of issues of due process and illegal extradition, the United States Supreme Court became involved (Mahon v. Justice, 127 U.S. 700 (1888))[10]. The Supreme Court ruled 7–2 in favor of Kentucky, holding that, even if a fugitive is returned from the asylum state illegally instead of through lawful extradition procedure, no federal law prevents him from being tried. Eventually, the men were tried in Kentucky, and all were found guilty. Seven received life imprisonment, while the eighth, Ellison "Cottontop" Mounts, was executed by hanging.[11] Thousands attended the hanging in Pikeville, Kentucky.
  • Valentine "Uncle Wall" Hatfield, the elder brother of Devil Anse, was overshadowed by Devil Anse's ambitions but was one of the eight convicted to end the feud.[clarification needed] He died in prison of unknown causes. He 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.
  • William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield, the younger and more militant brother of Valentine Hatfield, led the clan in most of their combative endeavors.
  • Doc D. Mahon, son-in-law of Valentine and brother of Pliant, was one of the eight convicted to end the feud.[clarification needed] He served 14 years in prison before returning home to live with his son, Melvin.
  • Pliant Mahon, son-in-law of Valentine and brother of Doc, was one of the eight convicted to end the feud.[clarification needed] He served 14 years in prison before returning home to rejoin his ex-wife, who had remarried but left her second husband to live with Pliant again.
Fighting between the families eased, following the hanging of Mounts. Trials continued for years; the 1901 trial of Johnse Hatfield was the last of the feud trials.

Deaths

  • [1] 1865: Former Union soldier Asa Harman McCoy killed January 7, 1865, probably by the "Logan Wildcats" led by Jim Vance.[12]
  • [2] 1878: Bill Staton (nephew of Randolph McCoy – not shown on family tree) was killed in 1878 as revenge for testifying on behalf of Floyd Hatfield in his trial for stealing a McCoy hog.[13] Shot by Sam McCoy-nephew of Randolph McCoy Sr.[14]
  • [3] 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.[15]
  • [4] 1882: Tolbert McCoy tied to pawpaw trees & killed as revenge for Ellison Hatfield's shooting/stabbing on August 9, 1882, the day Ellison died.
  • [4] 1882: Pharmer McCoy tied to pawpaw trees & killed as revenge for Ellison Hatfield's shooting/stabbing on August 9, 1882, the day Ellison died.
  • [4] 1882: Randolph McCoy Jr. tied to pawpaw trees & killed as revenge for Ellison Hatfield's shooting/stabbing on August 9, 1882, the day Ellison died.[16]
  • [5] 1886: "Jeff McCoy" killed in the fall of 1886 following his murder of mail carrier Fred Wolford,[17] shot by "Cap" Hatfield[14]
  • [6] 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.
  • [6] 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.[18]
  • 1888 January 7: Jim Vance killed by Frank Phillips[14]
  • 1888 January 18: Bill Dempsey killed by Jeff McCoy and Frank Phillips[19]
  • 1890: Ellison Mounts was hanged on February 18, 1890[20] for Alifair's murder.[11]
Numbers in green square brackets [ ] are cross references to names on the family trees below.

Hatfields and McCoys in the modern era

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.[21]The Hatfield family won the contest 301–227.[22]
Great-great-great grandsons of feud patriarch Randolph McCoy, Bo McCoy of Waycross, Georgia, and his cousin, Ron McCoy of Durham, North Carolina, organized an historic joint family reunionof the Hatfield and McCoy families in 2000. More than 5,000 people attended the reunion, which attained national attention.[23]
On June 14, 2003, the McCoy cousins partnered with Reo Hatfield of Waynesboro, Virginia, to author an official truce between the families. The idea was symbolic, to show that Americans could bury their differences and unite in times of crisis, most notably following the September 11 attacks.[24]
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 took on a private property owner, John Vance, who was restricting access to the cemetery. While the McCoys claimed victory in the suit, as of 2003 the cemetery was still not open to the general public.[25]
In the 2000s, a 500-mile (800 km) all-terrain vehicle trail system, the Hatfield–McCoy Trails, was created around the theme of the Hatfield–McCoy feud.[26]
Tourists travel to parts of West Virginia and Kentucky each year to see the areas and historic relics which remain from the days of the feud. In 1999 a large project known as the "Hatfield and McCoy historic site restoration" was completed. This project was funded by a federal grant from the SBA. Many improvements to various feud sites were completed. A committee of local historians spent months researching reams of information to find out about the factual history of the events surrounding the feud. This research was compiled in an audio compact disc, theHatfield–McCoy Feud Driving Tour. The CD is a self-guided driving tour of the restored feud sites. It includes maps and pictures as well as the audio CD (see external link below).

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