Hatfields and McCoys, two American Appalachian mountaineer families who, with their kinfolk and neighbours, engaged in a legendary feud that attracted nationwide attention in the 1880s and ’90s and prompted judicial and police actions, one of which drew an appeal up to the U.S. Supreme Court (1888).

“We found my three brothers tied together,” remembered McCoy’s eldest son.

Yet the events that took place near the end of the 19th century in central Appalachia are part of a much richer and more complex story—a story of a people’s way of life slipping away, and their struggle to adapt to forces far beyond their control. As Hatfield faced increased financial pressure, an old nemesis sought to take advantage of his situation. The prospect of developing Appalachia’s natural resources took a dramatic turn in 1881, when a Philadelphia industrialist journeyed to a remote region of central Appalachia along the Virginia and southern West Virginia border. Guy Van Duser - Guitar, Research Assistance Anna Spier The Hatfield and McCoy Feud really created the stereotype of the hillbilly in the American popular consciousness. This eastern conflict that’s so similar, it becomes a very pejorative thing. It’s a complete loss of control over your own destiny. The story he ends up telling is as much fancy as it is fact, and that’s not necessarily because he was a bad reporter. The Feud reveals more than an isolated story of mountain lust and violence between "hillbillies" - the Hatfield-McCoy feud was a microcosm of the tensions inherent in the nation's rapid industrialization after the Civil War. As legend has it, two neighboring families in the backwoods of Appalachia waged a crude and bloody war against each other over a stolen hog, an illicit romance, and longstanding grudges. The problem for him was that this had happened on the Kentucky side of the river, and if the McCoy boys were taken to Pikeville for trial, which was not even considered part of the Tug Valley and it was the Kentucky side, I think Devil Anse felt that they would probably not be found guilty. Rachel Countryman Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield earned a reputation for being fearless. fbq('init', '271837786641409'); The Tug Fork formed the border between the states of Kentucky and Virginia.

Twin Falls Resort State Park, Mullins, WV, Special Thanks “And needs only a railroad to come up through it to drive out this outlaw class.”. Phillips started mounting raids across the Tug. We don’t know how much that came to play in his transaction with Perry Cline, but Perry Cline would have seen Devil Anse as a very powerful figure in the community.

So the experience that Randall McCoy had was very unlike Devil Anse’s experience in the timbering business. He was a little bit more of a follower, less of a leader than Devil Anse Hatfield. William Anderson Hatfield, second from left, holds a surveying pole as unidentified workers and civil engineers pose with their equipment during the construction of the Ohio extension of the Norfolk & Western Railroad. Randolph started firing back. C.A.

Robert Hutton, Historian: Crawford is practically the first northeastern reporter to get firsthand knowledge of what’s going on in the Tug River Valley. It’s not just that industrialization and the way in which they took the land stripped people of their way of life. Cline went to the Governor of Kentucky and said, “Look, we can’t attract industry unless we get rid of these terrible marauders, the Hatfields. Kimberly McCoy, Descendant: The Tug Valley region was a tight knit community. Altina Waller, Historian: Tolbert McCoy was an angry young man because of his prospects for the future. But Frederick Kimball, now president of the railroad, had bigger plans. Jonathan Nee. Cinema Arts Altina Waller, Historian: Devil Anse was really forced into selling his land, which he did for very little, especially compared to what it would become in just a few years when the railroad came through and the coal mines came in. Randolph’s son and daughter were shot down as they ran to escape the flames. Dean King, Writer: The citizens of that valley, they were intermarried, the Hatfields and McCoys were intermarried, they worked together, they did business together. Chuck Keeney, Historian: In the span of one generation, families went from being able to roam anywhere they wanted to go, owning their own homes, having their own land, to living on someone else’s land, living in a company house, not being able to go wherever they wanted to go. Ben Berry There was a lot of harmony and strength in this valley. Altina Waller, Historian: When Anderson Hatfield, Devil Anse, came home from the Civil War, he was still living on his father’s land.

Outside investors began to clamor for titles to land in the area. “This country … is wonderfully rich,” Crawford proclaimed to the world. The important thing wasn’t so much to get the facts right as it was to tell an elaborate, entertaining story. Gunshots ripped into the cabin. What they did not understand was what it would mean to extract that coal because in the fine print of these contracts it said that the coal companies could do anything necessary in order to extract it. West Virginia And Regional History Center, Wvu Libraries Kimball convinced the railroad’s board to build a spur into the vast, rich coalfields that ran through much of southern West Virginia. if ( 'querySelector' in document && 'addEventListener' in window ) { He pressed him to actively prosecute the case against the Hatfields and to increase the reward for their capture to $500 each. Like many of his neighbors, Hatfield had lost his land to outside capitalists. And I do think that that was absolutely implicit and even explicit in the way in which the feud has come down to us. Ellison died two days later. By 1890, Norfolk & Western construction crews were laying track for their new extension line to the Ohio River. Dean King, Writer: This is a catastrophic violent event beyond anything he’s seen before. Tolbert and several of his brothers had arrested Hatfield’s eldest son on a concealed weapons charge and were taking him to a jail in Kentucky when Hatfield and a gang of armed men intervened. After the fighting ended, as Anderson Hatfield settled into family life with his wife and two sons, he started cutting down trees along Grapevine Creek on the West Virginia side of the Tug.

Photographs by Coleman Isaac Ogg, from the Special Collections and Archives, Berea College, Berea, KY, Locations

Randolph McCoy, known as Randall, lived from about 1825 to 1914. Anthony Harkins, Historian: I think the politics of the word “feud” are quite important. The railway, Kimball announced, would be “prepared for heavy mineral traffic.”.

And he said, “All right, I’m going to start a timber company.”. Some McCoys blamed Anderson Hatfield’s guerilla unit. Altina Waller, Historian: At this time, there were other Kentucky feuds that had hit the newspapers and eastern Kentucky was getting this reputation for being this violent place and that might discourage outside companies from coming in. As legend has it, two neighboring families in the backwoods of Appalachia waged a crude and bloody war against each other over a stolen hog, an illicit romance, and longstanding grudges. Robert Hutton, Historian: We need to understand that sometimes the people telling the story about violence have as much of an agenda as the people who are acting out the violence in the first place. In 1878, Randall McCoy accused a relative of Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield of stealing one of the McCoys’ hogs. “No one had seen or described Anse Hatfield, his fort and his guard of armed men,” Crawford noted.

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