Frank M. Allara Library Special Collections and Archives (Univ. of Pikeville)
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Page 9, Now It Can Be Told
No full textA book of collected essays written by students from Pikeville College, with a strong focus on the Hatfield and McCoy feud.-3-
The Anglo-Saxons have long been known for their beautiful
folk music.
The average teen-ager in Eastern Kentucky will attend
high school. There he is engaged in music, sports, and
drama. These people have become aware of the need for more
education. More and more of them are going to college.
Once only the sons and daughters of doctors, lawyers, or
important business men looked forward to a college education
At Pikeville College there are students of all backgrounds.
Recently there has been a move for a four year college
This move has been well supported by the teachers of Pike
County and Eastern Kentucky. The students here at the
College have had sales, drives, and other activities to
further the move for a four year college.
It is true that the Hatfield-McCoy feud is part of
our history. It lasted for a number of years. Just after
the Civil War, Anse Hatfield came home and was living
in West Virginia across the Tug River from Pike County in
Kentucky. Rando1f McCoy, who was several years senior to
Hatfield, lived in Pike County. McCoy had fought in the
Civil War on the Union side. McCoy was a mountain boy who
had been schooled in shooting squirrels and raising crops.
He knew little or nothing about the tactics of battles and
maneuvering troops. Also the northern armies could be more
select in their choice of officers. For this reason Ran-
dolph McCoy was only a private. The Confederates were not
so particular in their choice of officers. Anse Hatfield
was made an officer for the Confederates.
One day after the war Randolph McCoy was out riding
with his boys when he met Anse Hatfield. Anse insulted
McCoy about his being only a private in the war. Randolph
McCoy didn't like it very well, but he didn't say very
much that day. In the future Anse continued to deride McCoy
Page 11, Now It Can Be Told
No full textA book of collected essays written by students from Pikeville College, with a strong focus on the Hatfield and McCoy feud.-5-
was converted in his old age after having twenty- five
notches in his gun.
The young Hatfields and McCoys are now working
together for the betterment of their comnunity as much
as any one else here. There are several here in school.
One McCoy girl and Hatfield boy are engaged. Miss McCoy
is a member of the Future Teachers of America, an organi-
zation which has done a great deal to further the four
year college. She also belongs to the Christian Fellowship,
a Pikeville College organization.
I could cite you several McCoys and Hatfields who
are nurses, retailers, dentists, and other professional
and business men in their communities.
FLASHBACKS--THE OLD STORIES
How the Feud Began and Continued
by Howard Eugene Blair
It is my belief that many of you who read this story
will have heard many stories about the feud which did not
give you the unbiased facts of it. The account of the feud
which I shall give you will be exactly as it was told to
me by my grandfather, Allen L. Hatfield.
The fact that the feud was purposely being made a
part of the past can be illustrated by my mother’s experi-
ence. When my mother came to Pikeville to finish a high
school course, she had never heard of the feud. Then some
of the students asked her if she was any relation to the
Hatfields who had taken part in the Hatfield-McCoy war.
When she returned home at Christmas vacation, she asked
her father if such a thing had really happened. He told
her, “Yes,” and also gave her the facts of the feud.
The feud started at the foot of Ali Mountain a
Page 16, Now It Can Be Told
No full textA book of collected essays written by students from Pikeville College, with a strong focus on the Hatfield and McCoy feud.-10 –
the case. Because of fear on the part of the law, the
case was dismissed.
The feud broke open in the late summer of 1882.
This happened to be election day, and so every one was
going to the polls to vote. Reverend Anderson Hatfield
was a member and preacher of the Old Regular or Hardshell
Baptist, and was a cousin of Devil Anse. Both had come
to election that day. Ellison Hatfield was married to
Sarah Staton who had three brothers. Before this elec-
tion the three Staton brothers had some trouble with
the McCoys. Two of the Staton boys were killed. Ellison,
being brother-in-law to the Staton brothers, had tried
in every way to prosecute the three McCoys. It seemed
that the Hatfields ran everything on the West Virginia
side, and the McCoys on the Kentucky side. Wall Hatfield,
another brother of Devil Anse, was Justice of the Peace
in Mingo County. The evidence proved that the Staton
boys had fired the first shot. Ellison Hatfield still
had the idea that the McCoys had killed his brothers-
in-law. Both clans had the incident and the prosecution
in mind when they came to the election.
Elias Hatfield had bought a fiddle from one of the
McCoys and had not yet paid for it in full. All of the
boys had been drinking when Tolbert McCoy asked Elias
for the remainder of the debt. Reverend Hatfield quieted
the boys. Ellison Hatfield, who had been asleep in the
shade, awoke and found out about the argument. He said
that his straw hat might be used in payment of the debt
and that the McCoys could feed it to their cattle as
food. The McCoys did not take the joke. Tolbert walked
up to Ellison and said, "To hell with you!” He then made
a swing at Ellison and followed it up with a blow. There
was a knife in his hand. Phamer and Randolph, Jr. joined
in the stabbing. He was finally stabbed twenty times and
shot in the back. Reverend Hatfield was standing by. He
said, “I didn't see the bullet. I saw Ellison’s shirt
twist when the bullet entered his back.”
Floyd Hatfield, being a constable and a brothe
Page 21, Now It Can Be Told
No full textA book of collected essays written by students from Pikeville College, with a strong focus on the Hatfield and McCoy feud.-15-
By 1900 the country had rai1roads for easy transport-
tation. The Hatfields and the McCoys were still stressing
peace among them. Hatfields were now taking positions in
Pikeville and surrounding counties. From the period of 1901
to 1918, there was a great change. The children on both
sides were making their way into the country schools.
"Devil” Anse, as his years advanced, took up the life
of a moderately well to do farmer. One day one of Sheriff
Keadle’s sons was passing the Hatfield farm and got there
just in time to see Devil Anse poking in a hole and saying,
“Stay in there till I want you to come out. “What's in there?"
asked Keadle. Devil Anse said, “It 's just a pesterin' old
ground hog.”
William Dyke Garrett, better known as the Hard Shell
Baptist, had fought in the Civil War with Anse. Garrett
had waited many years to convert the feudal leader. The
next Sunday, Devil Anse, Johnse, and Cap were to be bap-
tized in the Main Island Creek.
Cap's step son later returned to Pikeville to the
Commonwealth’s Office with a proposition from Devil Anse
to Jim McCoy, who had settled to law. He would give McCoy
ten thousand dollars to have the indictments erased from
the books. Jim said, “If you laid $200,000 down there,"
motioning toward a desk, “I’d refuse it because it’s the
price of my blood.”
Then he assured Joe Glenn that there were no hard
feelings behind his words. He took Joe home for dinner and
invited him back whenever he could return.
In 1912 Henry Drury Hatfield was elected Governor
of West Virginia by the Republicans. One of his strong-
est supporters was Al J. McCoy
Page 3, Now It Can Be Told
No full textA book of collected essays written by students from Pikeville College, with a strong focus on the Hatfield and McCoy feud.NOW IT CAN BE TOLD
BY
The Modern Mountaineers of
Pikeville College
Pikeville College
Pikeville, Kentucky Year 195
Rediford Damron with Students, front
No full textRediford Damron, former President of Pikeville College, is on the left talking to the students. Taken April 30, 1959 by the Herald Leader
Page 2, Now It Can Be Told
No full textA book of collected essays written by students from Pikeville College, with a strong focus on the Hatfield and McCoy feud
Page 15, Now It Can Be Told
No full textA book of collected essays written by students from Pikeville College, with a strong focus on the Hatfield and McCoy feud.- 9-
ville College Campus where many students going to school to-
gether and enjoying life together had, ancestors who were
either Hatfields or McCoys.
ANOTHER VERSION OF THE FEUD
by Jack Campbell
To the best of my knowledge the following paragraphs tell
a true story about the proud and independent inhabitants of
the Appalachian Highlands in our northern section. It is a
story of the thoughts, actions, and lives of mountain people
of Anglo-Saxon descent. My information was gathered from my
grandfather, John Henry Caldwell, other relatives, and some
of my friends.
Captain Anderson Hatfield, better known by his fellow
feudists as “Devil Anse,” was the leader of the Hatfield
clan. The Hatfields lived at Delamore on the West Virginia
side of the Tug River. Devil Anse got his Captain’s commission
during his service in the Civil War.
Randolph McCoy is recognized as the feudal leader on the
Pike County side of the River. Both clans migrated to these
localities from North Carolina from English ancestry. Devil
Anse Hatfield got his Captain’ s commission during his service
in the Civil War. He was the son of Ephraim Hatfield and
Nancy Vance Hatfield .
We may hardly say that any one thing started the feud, but
it was led up to slowly by grudges and hatred between families.
Back in those days the Hatfields and McCoys both had a mark
or brand for recognition of their live stock. A plug of flesh
out of a hog's ear was considered sufficient for their mark.
It was in the fall of the year that both families turned out
their hogs to roam about the hills and woods at their own will.
As fate would have it, a straying hog had to cross the river
into foreign territory. Some say it was a Hatfield hog and
vice versa. I am presuming it was a Hatfield hog. Naturally
the McCoys shot the hog. A magistrate tried but did not settl