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Mountain Feuds

Men learn to quarrel with one another in the same way they learn to sit a horse or talk to a woman; that is, from their dads.

Hatfield & McCoy

The Hatfield-McCoy feud (1860–1891) is a legend of Americana that has become a metaphor for bitterly feuding rival parties, something like an Appalachian Capulet-Montague rivalry, involving two warring families of the West Virginia-Kentucky backcountry along the Tug Fork River, off the Big Sandy River. The Hatfields lived on the West Virginia side of Tug Fork, and the McCoys lived on the Kentucky side.

Both families were part of the first wave of pioneers to settle the Tug Valley. Both were involved in manufacturing and selling illegal whiskey. The Hatfields were led by William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield (1839–1921). The McCoys were led by Randolph "Ran'l" McCoy (1825–1914). Both family leaders outlived the feud.

The origins of the feud are unknown, but the first recorded instance of violence occurred after a dispute about some razorback hogs. The matter was taken to court, and the McCoys lost. Soon after, an altercation erupted, and within days, Staton Hatfield shot at two McCoy brothers, Sam and Paris. They fired back and killed Staton. However, none of the preexisting bad blood (which compelled the judge to stock the jury with equal numbers of Hatfields and McCoys) was spilled until Johnse Hatfield knocked up Randolph's daughter, Rose Anna. Two years later, in 1882, three of the girl's brothers murdered Ellison Hatfield on election day. Then the Hatfield patriarch, "Devil Anse," avenged his brother by executing Randolph's three sons near what is now Matewan, West Virginia. This blood feud would embroil Kentucky and West Virginia for another decade.

Between 1878 and 1891, the feud claimed more than a dozen members of these families, including Ellison Hatfield, brother of "Devil Anse" Hatfield. Violence escalated and became headline news. The governors of both Kentucky and West Virginia called up the National Guard to restore order.

Eight Hatfields were kidnapped and brought to Kentucky to stand trial for the murder of a female member of the McCoy clan, Alifair. She had been shot after exiting a burning building that had been set aflame by a group of Hatfields. Because of issues of due process and illegal extradition, even the US Supreme Court was involved. Eventually, the eight men were tried in Kentucky, and all eight were found guilty. Seven received life imprisonment, and the eighth was given a public hanging execution (even though it was prohibited by law), probably as a warning to end the violence. (Thousands of spectators attended.) The families finally agreed to disagree in 1891.

In the popular imagination, the Hatfield-McCoy feud became a curiosity, proverb, and even joke. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain's description of a feud between the Grangerford and Shepherdson families fits this pattern, as does the Harkness-Folwell vendetta (set in the Cumberland Mountains) from O Henry's Squaring The Circle. Many cartoon characters, from Bugs Bunny to Ren and Stimpy, have exploited the apocryphal feud. On June 16, 2003, descendants of the Hatfield and McCoy families signed a truce in Pikeville, Kentucky. This was more of a publicity event than anything else as, in reality, the feud had ended more than a century earlier.

Kentucky Has Had Its Share Of Feuds

Breathitt Co Feud: The Little and Strong families were involved in this feud and it caused Gov Preston H Leslie to send sixty members of the state militia to Jackson on 16 Sept 1874. But, by the time the soldiers were withdrawn in December of the same year, their numbers had grown to five separate companies. A local election controversy in Nov 1878 rekindled the hostilities and Gov James B McCreary had to order the troops back in. They stayed until Feb of 1878. Another feud here involving the Hargis and Marcum families caused this county to be known as the "Bloody Breathitt County"!.

Hargis-Cockrill Feud: This feud took place between 1901 and 1912 between James F Hargis (county judge), Edward Callahan (sheriff), James B Marcum (mayor of Jackson and a University of KY trustee), Gov J C W Beckham, Judge B F French and B D Cox, Jr. There were killings between members of these families which included the killing of Marcum's uncle, Bill Strong, in 1899 earlier. There were conflicts between the Hargises and the Cockrills in earlier years, but the main cause of the feud came from an election in 1910. During the taking of depositions, a breach of the peace occurred. Warrants were issued against Hargis and Marcum and there were many counter-charges. Town marshall Jim Cockrill tried to execute a warrant against Hargis who resisted arrest. Tom Cockrill drew his gun; Hargis saw this as a threat. Several weeks late the feud broke forth and Ben Hargis's brother was killed. B D Cox ws killed 13 Apr 1802; Jim Cockrill on 21 July 1902; Marcum on 4 May 1903. It was impossible to convict Hargis and Callahan of aiding and abetting. Callahan died from shots fired 4 May 1912. More than thirty men and women lost their lives over this fuel. Hargis was unsuccessful in a run for re-election as county judge in 1905 and his son, Beauchamp (Beech) killed him 8 Feb 1908.

Letcher County, Kentucky What you have listed is from the Kentucky Encyclopedia and other sources. All of these got their information from the same old source that was a friend of mine named William T. Cornette and he was only about 18 years old when he wrote his history of Letcher County, Kentucky. William "Terry" Cornett had limited sources when he wrote his history and it is very incomplete and full of mistakes. If he were still alive he would be the first to point this out. He passed away in 1995. He was a great educator. In refering to feuds in Letcher County, Kentucky, it states that the Jones-Wright feud started in 1886 and by 1895 had ended, only to pick up again when the Reynolds and Wrights began to feud in 1897, and that all this trouble had died down by 1900. I am part of a group that has done extensive research on these two feuds and I can tell you the following. The Jones-Wright feud occurred only during 1885, by 1886 it was over and would never flare up again. There were troubles indirectly connected to it later but the Jones-Wright feud itself had ended by the end of 1885. The so-called Reynolds-Wright feud was actually the Letcher county Kuklux War that, on and off, engulfed Letcher county from July 1899 until the end of 1902. This Kuklux War had no connection to the Jones-Wright feud from 1885, other than that some of the same people were involved in it. These were two separate armed struggles. The Letcher county Kuklux War was still intense during 1900 and at least three people, two men and a woman, were murdered by the Letcher County Ku Klux Klan during that year. Ben Luntz

Howard-Turner Feud: This feud took place in Harlan Co, KY, beginnning 7 Mar 1882 when Bob Turner, son of the Democratic county chairman George B Turner, was killed by Wix Howard after a disputed over a card game. Howard was acquitted, Turner's brother, Will Turner, made an attempt on his life. Will Turner was forced to leave the state, returned in 1885 and surrendered, but was immediately murdered. Will Jennings tried to ambush the Turner's twice and Alexander and John Bailey, innocent on- lookers, were killed. Howard and Jennings returned to the county and became involved in the whiskey business. They went to Missouri, were tracked back to KY. Howard killed George B Turner Jr in August 1889. Lewis raided the camp of Howard and two more lives were taken. Gov S B Buckner had to send troops to guard the circuit court when this was brought to trial. John Cawood (Lewis's brother-in-law) and Cawood's hired hand were then killed. Lewis killed another man at the mouth of Poor Fork. Jennings was arrested in Missouri, rreturned for trial, given a life sentence. Howard was put in prison in California for robbing a stage coach, extradited to Missouri and in 1894 was hanged for killing a deaf-mute.

Rowan County War: A shooting during the 1884 election began this feud which ended in a gun battle in front of the Gault House. This was also known as the Martin-Tolliver feud. After three years of feuding the battle above spoken of occurred 22 June 1887.

Underwood-Holbrock Feud: Occurred in western Carter Co during 1877- 78. Over 6 lives were claimed - involved the followers of Squire V Holbrook and George Stamper who were determined to exterminate Gen George Underwood's family. The Underwoods were known as the "James- Younger Gang of Kentucky" by many. John P Martin, involved in the Martin-Tolliver feud joined with the Underwoods. James C "Clabe" Jones, a Knott Co feudist of the 1880's, became involved. Governor Jams M Creary sent the militia to the area. Elverton Underwood was murdered 22 May 1879. Squire Holbrook was shot from ambush 5 Sept 1879. William and Jesse Underwood were murdered.

White-Garrard Family Feud: This took place in Manchester, the county seat of Clay County. The town, located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, was opened up because of a salt spring purchased for development after the Revolutionary War by James and Daugherty White of Abingdon, VA. After James Garrard became the second Governor of KY, he received a land grant in 1798, his son opened a salt works in competition with that of the White family. These two families continued fighting and feuding from the 1850's to 1904.

Wright-Jones Feud: Began in Knott County in 1886, carried over into Letcher Co and continued until both clans called a lasting truce about 1895. The feud broke out again in 1897 between the Wrights and the Reynolds families, but eased off in 1900.

Bacon Hollow

Old-fashioned feuding also endured into modern times in the hollows of Greene County, Virginia. The players in this running skirmish were from the Shifflett and the Morris clans, families that had intermarried so often during their two centuries of coexistence in the Blue Ridge Mountains that their surnames were simply formalities. No one knows the origin of the free-for-all—except that it was born from the "Code of the Hills," a body of unwritten rules about vengeance, vigilantes, and hillbilly conduct holding that, for instance, if you knock up my sister, I'll burn your house down—but at its most violent it seems to have revolved around moonshining.

One early fight, however, was a rock-throwing battle in 1922 over the issue of abusive language. During the next nine years a dozen men were murdered by gunshot or bludgeon, and there were scores of assaults, murders, and weddings. In 1931 a local newspaper, the Daily Progress, reported that "wholesale hot-headed shooting was the order of the day yesterday when two men stood face to face and killed each other in a fierce pistol-shotgun duel." The combatants were Manuel Morris, 45, and Bernard Shifflett, 35. Three bystanders were also wounded in the melee. According to witnesses, Shifflett's carcass was filled with lead from head to toe. These dysfunctional families were still devouring themselves as late as 1961, when a jury sentenced 40-year-old George Shifflett to 60 years in the state pen for shooting to death his cousin, Eugene Morris, a 38-year-old father of nine, in a dispute about a stolen barrel of corn mash used to make whiskey.

Days of Darkness: The Feuds of Eastern Kentucky Among the darkest corners of Kentucky's past are the grisly feuds that tore apart the hills of Eastern Kentucky from the late nineteenth century until well into the twentieth. Now, from the tangled threads of conflicting testimony, John Ed Pearce, Kentucky's best known journalist, weaves engrossing accounts of six of the most notorious and long-running feuds - those in Breathitt, Clay, Harlan, Perry, Pike, and Rowan counties. Each of these feuds arose from distinctive circumstances and the clash of differing personalities, but all shared one trait - a determination to settle disputes by the gun rather than by the rule of law. Most began with petty grievances and ended only when most of the feudists were dead. Neither law enforcement officials nor the state militia occasionally sent in by an exasperated governor had much effect in stopping the bloodletting. What caused the feuds that left Kentucky with its lingering reputation for violence? Pearce asks. Who were the feudists, and what forces - social, political, financial - hurled them at each other? Did Big Jim Howard really kill Governor William Goebel? Did Joe Eversole die trying to protect small mountain landowners from ruthless Eastern mineral exploiters? Did the Hatfield-McCoy fight start over a hog? For years, Pearce has interviewed descendants of feuding families and examined skimpy court records and often fictional newspaper accounts to uncover what really happened and why. His story of those days of darkness brings to light new evidence, questions commonly held beliefs about the feuds, and puts to rest some of the more popular legends.

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