During the Civil War, Hatfield, who was devoted to the Confederacy, formed the Logan Wildcats to patrol the Tug Valley against thieves and raiders who stole horses and livestock. It would be the formation of this patrol, and its first victim, that would begin the feud between the two families. This first victim was a Union veteran, Asa Harmon McCoy, the younger brother of Randolph McCoy. Harmon broke his leg and was mustered out of the service on Christmas Eve 1864. He returned home was told by James Vance, an uncle of Anse Hatfield, that the Logan Wildcats planned to pay him a visit. He hid out in a cave on Blue Spring Creek but Hatfield and his men were able to tack him down by following the footprints of a McCoy slave, who brought food and supplies to his master. Harmon was shot to death but no suspects were ever arrested or brought to trial for his murder. In spite of this, the region was peaceful until 1873. One day, Randolph McCoy stopped to visit Floyd Hatfield, a cousin of Anse and happened to see a hog on his lot that had the McCoy mark on its ear. He immediately accused Hatfield of stealing the animal, a charge the other man denied. McCoy immediately went to see preacher Anderson Hatfield, who was both a minister and justice of the peace and he filed suite against Floyd for the recovery of his hog. On the day of the trial, both Hatfield’s and McCoy’s heard the case. Bill Staton, a nephew of Randolph and brother-in-law of Ellison Hatfield, swore to Floyd Hatfields ownership of the hog and Hatfield won the case. This was a fatal error in judgment for Staton, for within months he was dead. The hatred that grew between these two prominent families caused problems throughout the region and wreaked havoc on the lives of the younger members of both clans. During the celebration that surrounded the election of 1880, Johnse Hatfield, son of Anse, fell in love with Randolph McCoy’s daughter, Roseanna. The two lived in the Hatfield cabin in West Virginia until Roseanna’s sisters came and begged her to come home. But resistance to her romance with Johnse sent Roseanna to her aunt’s home in Stringtown, Kentucky, where she was once again able to see Johnse. One night though, his McCoy kinsmen attacked the house and took Johnse prisoner. He was taken away, allegedly to the Pikeville jail, but Roseanna knew that he would be killed at the first opportunity. She borrowed a horse and in an act of devotion to Johnse and disloyalty to her family, she went to see Anse Hatfield and alerted him to what had happened. He gathered his sons and friends and reclaimed his son without incident. From that time on however, Johnse never risked being with Roseanna. Heartbroken and now pregnant, she returned to her father, who never forgave her. She contracted measles and miscarried a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, who is buried in Stringtown. Roseanna eventually moved to Pikeville and died at the age of 30, some say from a broken heart.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 15:15:02 +0000