Free The Hatfields and the McCoys by Otis K. K. Rice

more encrusted with myth and half-truths than any other southern mountain vendetta. Yet, its human and dramatic qualities need no embellishment. Moreover, the character of the people involved, the geographical and physiographical restraints upon them, the stern demands of a frontier environment, the bitterness and suspicion engendered by the Civil War, the weakness of law enforcement, the scarcity of schools and churches, and the powerful influence of the family and the clan, all of which had their impact, give the feud the character of a social and cultural phenomenon. When all the contributing factors are given proper attention, the study of the feud becomes instructive as well as exciting. As history or as drama, the Hatfield-McCoy feud will unquestionably retain its primacy as the best-known and most interesting of all American family vendettas.

Notes
    Chapter 1
    1. See, for example, Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette, June 30, 1977.
    2. For Hatfield genealogy, I have relied on G. Elliott Hatfield, The Hatfields (Stanfield, Ky., 1974), pp. 15–22, 183–200. I have generally referred to Anderson Hatfield as “Devil Anse,” a nickname that, despite the uncertainty of its origin, was commonly used during his lifetime and has since become a standard appellation. For its origins, see ibid., p. x.
    3. The best genealogy of the McCoy family is Truda Williams McCoy, The McCoys: Their Story (Pikeville, Ky., 1976), pp. 235–330. For the McCoy lands on Blackberry Fork, see Pike County Deed Books E, pp. 326–27; L, pp. 202–3; and 5, p. 478, Pike County Courthouse, Pikeville, Ky.
    4. William Ely, The Big Sandy Valley: A History of the People and Country from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time (Cat-lettsburg, Ky., 1887), p. 202.
    5. McCoy, The McCoys, p. 3.
    6. Ely, Big Sandy Valley, p. 203.
    7. Typical McCoy properties are listed in note 3. For Hatfield lands, see, for instance, Logan County Land Book, 1886–1872, passim, Logan County Courthouse, Logan, W.Va. On March 23, 1877, Devil Anse traded Perry A. Cline a tract of land in Pike County for 5,000 acres on the West Virginia side of the Tug Fork. Logan County Deed Book G, p. 538, Logan County Courthouse.
    8. For bootlegging activities, see The State [W.Va.] v. Anderson Hatfield, Logan County Law Order Book A (1868–1875), p. 68, Logan County Courthouse.
    9. T. C. Crawford, An American Vendetta (New York, 1889), reprinted in West Virginia Heritage, comp. and ed. Jim Comstock and Bronson McClung (Richwood, W.Va., 1969), 3:27. A description of the McCoy house may be gleaned from the testimony of Sarah McCoy, Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Ellison Mounts, Case #19602, Kentucky Court of Appeals, Division of Archives and Records, Frankfort.
    10. West Virginia, Biennial Report of the State Superintendent of Free Schools … 1881 and 1882 (Wheeling, 1882), p. 67; West Virginia, Biennial Report of the State Superintendent of Free Schools … 1889 and 1890 (Charleston, 1890), p. 76.
    11. Coleman Hatfield, “The Feuding Hatfields,” p. 121, typescript, West Virginia Collection, West Virginia University Library, Morgan town.
    12. Kentucky, Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction … 1881–1886 (Frankfort, 1886), p. 22.
    13. Crawford, An American Vendetta, p. 32.
    14. McCoy, The McCoys, p. 19.
    15. Quoted materials are from John C. Campbell, The Southern Highlander and His Homeland (New York, 1921; Lexington, Ky., 1969), p. 138.
    16. Ibid.
    17. Ibid., pp. 124–26.
    Chapter 2
    1. Virgil Carrington Jones, The Hatfields and the McCoys (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1948), pp. 249, 280.
    2. Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from Virginia: Forty-fifth Battalion, Infantry. Microcopy No. 324, Roll 891. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
    3. Ibid.; Jones, Hatfields and McCoys, p. 272.
    4. Wheeling Intelligencer, November 22, 1889.
    5. Asa P. McCoy v. Henry Davis, Ellison Hatfield, et al., File #2589, Pike County