The feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families of Appalachia has transcended its origins as a bloody multi-generational backcountry conflict to become a metaphor for all vendettas. Yet, despite its lexical fame and inherent drama, it has rarely been depicted on television outside of documentaries, cartoons (Bugs Bunny, The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo have all done versions) and a particularly awesome episode arc of Family Feud. 
Starting Monday at 9:00 PM EST, the History Channel will step into that void with Hatfields & McCoys, a three-episode miniseries starring Kevin Costner as William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield and Bill Paxton as Randolph “Ole Ran’l” McCoy.
I understand the show is basically faithful to the historical record, although of course it’s fictionalized to some degree. If you don’t want to read spoilers for something that happened 140 years ago, stop here. If you want to follow in the footsteps of these most notorious of feuders, check out the Pike County website which has a handy printable brochure (pdf) describing the key Hatfield-McCoy landmarks, as well as tips for other activities in the area, places to eat, hike, etc. They also have a companion CD to enhance your Hatfield-McCoy driving tour. Call Pike County Tourism at (800) 844-7453 or contact them via email to purchase a copy.
And now for the backstory.
The Hatfields and McCoys were early settlers of Tug Valley, an area on the border between Kentucky and what is now West Virginia. The Hatfields lived mainly on the West Virginia side in Mingo County, the McCoys on the Kentucky side in Pike County. During the Civil War, the Hatfields fought for the Confederacy while the McCoys sided with the Union. The trauma of the war underpinned much of the conflict between the two families.
In fact, the first to die at the hands of the other family was Asa Harmon McCoy, a Union soldier who returned home after breaking his leg. He was immediately threatened by a posse of ex-Confederate vigilantes headed by Devil Anse Hatfield who called themselves the “Logan Wildcats.” After he was shot at while drawing water from his well, Asa Harmon fled his home and hid in a cave. The Wildcats found him by following his slave Pete (yes, the Union soldier had a slave well after the Emancipation Proclamation) to the cave where they shot Asa dead on January 7, 1865.
The McCoys blamed Devil Anse, who as it happened was not among the killers that day because he was home sick. It was Devil Anse’s uncle Jim Vance who probably did the killing. Nobody was ever brought to trial. Much of the community, even many members of his own family, thought Asa had it coming for fighting for the Union, so no witnesses ever came forward and the case was never officially solved.
It was 13 years before tensions erupted again; this time the central bone of contention was a pig. The McCoys said the pig belonged to them, but the Hatfields claimed that since it was found on their property, it was now theirs. Unlike the murder of Asa Harmon, the pressing matter of the pig was taken to court, or rather, to the home of the local Justice of the Peace, Anderson “Preacher Anse” Hatfield. Bill Staton, who was related to both feuding families, testified for the Hatfields and the Hatfield judge ruled in the Hatfields’ favor.
Two McCoy men took their revenge by killing Staton. They were acquitted of murder on the grounds of self-defense.
The next year came the Romeo and Juliet portion when Roseanna McCoy, daughter of Randolph, and Devil Anse’s son Johnson “Johnse” Hatfield fell in love. She squealed on her own family in order to save Johnse when they captured him. Despite that and despite the fact that she was pregnant with his child, Johnse married someone else, specifically, Roseanna’s cousin Nancy. The McCoys were less than pleased, and in 1882 Roseanna’s brothers Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud killed Ellison Hatfield, Devil Anse’s younger brother.
The brothers were on their way to trial when Devil Anse captured them, waited until Ellison died of his wounds, and then killed all three of them in retribution. Sadly, that wasn’t even the peak of the violence. The culmination of this murderous madness came in 1888 with the New Year’s Night Massacre. The Hatfields, led by Uncle Jim Vance, surrounded Randolph McCoy’s home in the dark of night and shot up the cabin before setting it on fire. Randolph managed to escape, but two of his children were killed and his wife was beaten severely and left for dead.
By now the murders were making headline news all over the country. The governors of Kentucky and West Virginia were under pressure to stop the slaughter. Devil Anse’s brother Wall (played in the History Channel mini-series by Powers Boothe who was so chillingly brilliant as Cy Tolliver on Deadwood) and seven other Hatfields were arrested for one of the New Year’s Night Massacre killings. After legal vicissitudes that reached as high as the United States Supreme Court, all of the men were found guilty. Seven were condemned to life in prison. Ellison “Cottontop” Mounts was sentenced to hang from his neck until dead.
Although trials on various Hatfield-McCoy charges continued into the 20th century, the bloody murder sprees stopped after the hanging. Almost a hundred years passed before Hatfields and McCoys shook hands in 1976. That laid the groundwork for that awesome three-parter of Family Feud in 1979, and by 2000 the Hatfield and McCoy descendants were having joint family reunions. They officially signed a truce document in 2003, inspired to come together permanently by the events of September 11, 2001.
Regarding the remark about Asa Harmon retaining his slave Pete “after the Emancipation Proclamation”, do you contend that there was some legal effect to that fact? As I recall, the proclamation quite literally limited its effect to those territories whose citizens were actually at the time in rebellion against the United States. Indeed, President Lincoln literally noted in the proclamation those states and parts of states to which emancipation applied. Neither Kentucky nor West Virginia were included among them.
Consequently, the Emancipation Proclamation had no legal effect within Kentucky’s (or West Virginia’s) borders. And because the effect of the proclamation had been so severely and precisely proscribed, no Kentuckians of the day would have been under any misapprehension that their slaves had been freed by it. (It took the post-war ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to do that.)
Any slave freed in Kentucky before ratification of the so-called Reconstruction Amendments (assuming there were no local martial edicts which predated them) would have been the object of an act of manumission by an owner, freed as it were by “an act of executive grace”, not by the operation of law.
😎 it was about as accurate as it could get. I am. Related to devil anse, the omly problem.. it wasnt filmed where it happened
I love the show….and I am sure it was true to form as it could be, meaning handed down 140 years ago…As for the speaking, I understood every word…I thought Kevin and Bill did a great job…of course I love to see them act…I will buy the DVD and watch it over and over…I have become so interested in this feud, I am reading all the material I can find on the internet…Would love to see where it all happen and it has gone on my list of things to do….
What about all the stuff the mccoys were hunting the hatfields before cotton accidently shot that’s why they set the house on fire in the frist place! I noticed you left a lot of stuff out in this story though! It still doesn’t make them anymore in the right!
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I am a McCoy descendant from Kentucky and realize that the portrayal of the fued is exaggerated at points for entertainment reasons! No sense in getting all excited over how it makes the family look. I don’t feel this movie has any reflection on me, thank God. I thought it was great. Understand it’s a movie not a documentary.
I use yall yonder all the time its a part of life, I was borm in Chicago but my dad was from Braxton County in West Virginia and he is buried there, I live in Alabama, people here talk just the same, Yall, Yonder and a many more words not heard up north, its no big deal you know what they mean.
To all of you complaining of the language GROW UP. Stop being a cry baby….and to the discendents. Of either family, don’t admit that freely they were all inbread….but all in all it was a good movie
Jason, I had a 5th grade teacher we called
Miss Hatfield. She was single at the time and had the very distinct accent. She told the whole class that she was from Kentucky. I remember clearly asking her..”Miss Hatfield, are you from the Hatfield family that is part of the….” and she interrupted me and said. “Yes, I am.” This was a DOD school in Naples, Italy in 1971. I remember Miss Hatfield as a very strict, no-nonsense teacher. School was very important. But she also had a very kind way about her.
Wished I could find what her first name is. I recently saw a class photo with her. Great memories.
That’s realism for ya
My great grandma was from northern wva and her daughter my grandma talked with that sort of accent they didn’t cuss though 🙂
I personally thought the Series was Excellent. Before this I only knew of the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s from a Country song. After watching the Series and doing a bit of Research it’s very interesting and truely a part of American History. As for the bad reviews, there not a Person Living Today that know’s all the facts and every event that unfolded back in mid 1800’s. I even bet the Hatfield and McCoy families living during that time didn’t have all the facts… You’re talking about cold bloody murders and gun battles that historians could “Never” Reenact Exactly. The Actors did a great job, and even the ending brings to light the sadness of the events that unfolded so many years ago from the hate of two families…
We just finished watching the series and we loved it. The language didn’t bother me, but we did have trouble hearing the words..I think it’s the speakers on our TV that was the problem, so I turned on closed captioning (the same thing I do when watching something on the BBC)and we didn’t miss any of the dialog..Kudos to the History Channel.
I watched the show twice, and it is by far one “if not the best” American History story I have ever seen. That is a part of our history that alot of people never got to see. As simple as most people thing hillbillies are. This show was to me a good example of how simple people lived in those times. Back when a man’s word meant everything. And justice was done on their terms. They don’t make folks like that anymore. That was a real American History lesson for me!!
I thought the movie was great.no more bad words than you hear when around a group of teens.
I just watched the movie and thought it was rather good. Although after reading around, its obvious that not everything was true( as it is in any movie) but that’s not what makes it a good story, its the fact that its true. I think its great. That yalls families could come together.
Will everyone shut up! Was any of you there? No! Nit all the story’s in the world van prove one way or another. Just be happy with what we have.
Are you really serious? You couldn’t understand the movie? The movie was unbelievable. Very well done. You need to watch it again and this time open your mind and ears and really listen.
You planned on watching a movie about a bloody, violent family feud with your kids but turned it off because of the language used? Great parenting…
You planned on watching a movie about a bloody, violent family feud with your kids but turned it off because of the language used? Great parenting…
who testified for the hatfields from the mccoy side? :angry:
My 4 x great grandfather was Valentine Wall Hatfield.
I too had a problem understand the accents but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the show. As a resident of central Scotland I have had to temper my accent on numerous occasions, to be understood. On the swearing point, it is probably the case that these people did not swear in everyday conversation. My Grandfather came from a remote mining village,served in the trenches in WW1, was a very hard man indeed but I never heard him curse. We will never really know of course. Terrific mini series. Thanks!
Really enjoyed the show thought it was very well done , and being from Ireland myself wasnt to surprised to see both families left ulster in the 1750s to go over to start a new life. So trying now to find out where they lived here ???? any ideas ???
I know this is months after your comment, but having studied history of this time period greatly and living in the southeastern united states some 50 years, you are way off about the type of language they used. yes there was some rough language used in some instances, but not like portrayed in this movie. And to tell Edith, who says she is a descendent of that family she would haave no way to know how they talked seems pretty arrogant to me.
Any single adult Hatfield women or MC Coy mcCoys around that want to meet a nice o/k guy from California?
This mini movie was filmed in Ireland. That’s probably why the accents were difficult for some folks to understand. Many/most of the less important actors were Irish actors…….
Thanks For Blog 🙂
Yesterday I watched the whole story overhere in Holland and was very pleased. Perfect !
I like this response! :yes: