The Feud: The Hatfields and McCoys: The True Story

by Dean King

  19. “Confession of Ellison Mounts,” Nov. 5, 1888.

  20. Ibid., and Weston Democrat, “The Hatfield-McCoy Vendetta.”

  21. Hatfield and Spence, 164–66, 169, and Anderson, 145. When Jim Vance was about fifteen, his family “lost tremendous tracts of land,” according to Margaret Hatfield (interview transcript, 4). Vance “didn’t own land until he was up in his sixties, ’til Devil Anse took the Grapevine Tract back from Perry Cline and his associates…. Jim Vance was an old, bitter man, and he blamed the Clines and the McCoys for the loss of all that land and he was determined to make them pay for every rock, clod, and gravel, and every deer.”

  22. Sam McCoy, 68–69 ; Mutzenberg, 60–61 ; Pearce, 67; and Hatfield and Spence, 169.

  Chapter 14: A House Burning

  1. Louisville Courier-Journal, “The Beautiful.”

  2. Hatfield and Spence, 169. No two versions of the most infamous event of the feud are exactly alike. As recently as 2003, new details appeared about the ill-fated house raid. According to Coleman C. Hatfield, who got it from his father, Coleman, who got it from Cap, the raid was originally attempted on New Year’s Eve.

  3. Anderson, 138–40. Her uncle John Vance once got into a dispute over a woman in Sugar Hill, Kentucky, and was beaten with a fire poker by two men. His brother Homer shot them, killing one, and then for good measure shot the woman they were arguing over in the face. She lived, but he had blasted out all of her teeth. The brothers each got twenty-one years in prison for the murder.

  4. Hatfield and Spence, 169.

  5. Crawford, American Vendetta, 179–80.

  6. G. Elliott Hatfield, 180; “Confession of Ellison Mounts”; Crawford, American Vendetta, 57–58 ; and Howard, “Descendants of French Ellis.”

  7. Crawford, American Vendetta, 180; Pearce, 67–68 ; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; Jones, 95; Hill; and Waller, 79, 253. In Truda McCoy (228–29, n. 15), editor Leonard Roberts noted that most sources list nine or ten participants in the raiding party. Only Truda, who said there were fifteen, included Devil Anse. Roberts noted that Donnelly, who listed nine names, interviewed a woman who lived in the valley above Randall’s house and whose mother had lived there at the time of the raid and watched the mysterious party return under a full moon; she counted fourteen. According to Roberts, Charley Gillespie, who was the first to be caught, named everyone involved, “10 including himself.” However, according to Crawford’s transcription of Gillespie’s confession (180), he actually said, “There were just nine of us.” Spears identified Elliott Hatfield as a son of Ellison, and Bob as a son of Cap. In Crawford, Gillespie named “Ellis,” as if he were a Hatfield, but Spears said it was French Ellis, while another source said it was his cousin Doc Ellis.

  8. Crawford, American Vendetta, 180.

  9. “Confession of Ellison Mounts.”

  10. Ibid., and Staton, 160. See Gillespie’s confession in Crawford, American Vendetta, 179–85. Though Gillespie claimed that he and Indian were stationed on the road as guards and “never went near the house until the house was burning and all was on their way back to Hatfields [sic] house,” he nonetheless gave legal authorities a thorough description of the assault on the house. He claimed that his account came from Cotton Top Mounts, with whom he shared a horse on the way back, but by that point, Cotton Top was losing consciousness from his wounds.

  11. Staton, 159; Hill, “Adjutant General”; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; and Truda McCoy, 141.

  12. “Confession of Ellison Mounts”; Jones, 98; Crawford, American Vendetta, 179–85 ; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; and Mutzenberg, 62–63. Spellings of the name of McCoy’s daughter Alifair abound: “Alafair” (Staton); “Alfaro” (Crawford); “Allaphare” (Spears); “Allifair” (Mutzenberg, Jones); “Alifair” (Truda McCoy; Waller); “Alifaire” (L. D. Hatfield).

  13. Spears, “Mountain Feud.” L. D. Hatfield uniquely claimed that Alifair “was taken for Bud and killed” (34–35), but Bud was already dead. Perhaps he meant Bill; however, Bill was either dead or had been sent into hiding out west.

  14. Louisville Courier-Journal, “Death by Law”; Crawford, American Vendetta, 184; and Truda McCoy, 113.

  15. Truda McCoy, 228–29, n. 15, and “Confession of Ellison Mounts.” Cotton Top, who was also known as Big Man, confessed to the shooting, but whether he or Cap actually fired the fatal shot remains a matter of dispute. According to Truda, Melvin said that “all the McCoys said that Cap Hatfield killed Alifair.” Cotton Top called the sister Addie. In his Oct. 29 confession, he said, “Addie asked her if she were killed; her only answer was one word, ‘Yes.’ ” In his Nov. 5 confession, he said, “I heard her sister ask her if she was dead. She muttered something, but I could not understand it, but the other sister said, ‘Farewell, Alifair.’ ”

  16. Spears, “Mountain Feud”; Crawford, American Vendetta, 182; Truda McCoy, 228–29, n. 15; and Donnelly, 11. Mitchell bound his hand up and returned to the fight, aiming and firing his Winchester with one hand. Cap found great mirth in Guerilla’s loss of fingers and the fact that he cried “like a baby over the loss.”

  17. Spears, “Mountain Feud,” and Weston Democrat, “Hatfield-McCoy Vendetta.”

  18. Louisville Courier-Journal, “Death by Law”; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; and Hill.

  19. Crawford, American Vendetta, 183; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; Mutzenberg, 63–65 ; and Hill. Coleman C. Hatfield claimed that most of the action—“the shots that wounded the Hatfield party, Randal McCoy’s escape… and the killing of Calvin and Allifair” (Hatfield and Davis, 170)—took place in under a minute. Weston Democrat, “Hatfield-McCoy Vendetta.”

  20. Weston Democrat, “Hatfield-McCoy Vendetta,” and “Confession of Ellison Mounts.”

  21. Crawford, American Vendetta, 183–88. Many versions of their parting depredations would later appear in print. Adjutant general Sam Hill reported that before they left the burning house, the gang closed what little remained of the door shutters that had not been shot away, “with the evident purpose of burning the remaining members of the family.” Mutzenberg (66) wrote: “The insensible mother they had dragged back into one of the rooms, that she, too, might perish by fire.”

  Chapter 15: The Death of a Soldier

  1. The granddaughters found the manuscript, and in 1993 they printed a small batch of books for a family reunion, bringing lost feud details back to light. In 2011, I bought the last copy of the paperback version that a Google search could produce. A WorldCat search shows seven copies in libraries.

  2. Staton, 159–61, and Spears, “Mountain Feud.” These graves, on property now owned by John Vance, a descendant of Jim Vance, are marked by old headstones and a monument erected by McCoy descendants in 1975. According to Vance, the grave sites were moved when the road behind his house was built, in 1959. “The first road was built in 1959. There is a coal mine on the level where my garden is, that was mined in 1959. The mine is still open on the one side after all these years,” Vance wrote to me in an e-mail on Sept. 12, 2012. “The monument was placed in 1975, I was told by several older neighbors that when they hunted on the property that there were no indications of a graveyard being here. The property was surveyed in 1957 and the graves are marked in a different place than they are now. My thoughts are that when the monument was placed they put the rocks where they wanted them.”

  3. Spears, “Mountain Feud.”

  4. Louisville Courier-Journal, “A Murderous Gang,” and Mutzenberg, 67–68.

  5. Wheeling Intelligencer, “A Terrible Story of a Family Feud and Murder,” and Mutzenberg, 67. “It seemed,” wrote Mutzenberg, who tended toward sanctimony, “beyond the possibility of belief that such horrors could occur in our day of enlightenment, in a land which boasts of a superior civilization and culture.”

  6. Welch Daily News, “Hatfield Heirloom Warms,” and Sam McCoy, 79.

  7. Sam McCoy (72) and Mutzenberg (68–69) cast Phillips as a hero, having a “superiority of cunning and courage.” Spears (“Mountain Feud”),
by contrast, called him a “cool-headed desperado.”

  8. Sam McCoy, 76; Mutzenberg, 81; and Howard, “Descendants of Elliott ‘Doc’ Rutherford.” Bud Rutherford is sometimes called Ben. Hill and Swain (193) gave Jan. 8 as the date Phillips crossed the Tug.

  9. Sam McCoy, 73–74.

  10. Wheeling Register, “Outlawry: The Story of the Border War in Logan County”; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; Mutzenberg, 69; and Sam McCoy, 73–74. Sam gave a different version of what went on at the Vance cabin.

  11. “Confession of Ellison Mounts,” and Weston Democrat, “Hatfield-McCoy Vendetta.”

  12. Mutzenberg, 69; L. D. Hatfield, 31–32 ; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; and Swain, 192. Some, like Spears, say that instead of leading the men over the hill, Mary Vance had just gone from the house to a hideout on the mountain to deliver breakfast to her husband and maybe others and that she was carrying an empty pail, which made her mission obvious.

  13. Spears, “Mountain Feud,” and Sam McCoy, 75, 164.

  14. Spears, “Mountain Feud”; Louisville Courier-Journal, “Hatfields Arrive”; Sam McCoy, 75–76 ; Swain, 192; and Mutzenberg, 70. Spears said that Cap made a run for it without firing a shot. Swain said that Cap and Jim held the attackers at bay “for several minutes” until “a flanking movement… enabled one of them to shoot Vance… and the latter advised Cap to make his escape.”

  15. In Oct. 2010, Scotty May and Alvin Harmon, descendants of Ellison Hatfield, took me up to what is now known as Devil Anse rock. We talked to Elmer Hatfield and then rode ATVs up a narrow trail so steep that at one point we reared back dangerously on two wheels. Examining the boulder, we saw chinks that might have come from bullets and that are now filled with moss. And we saw initials carved into the rock. May and Harmon told me that there used to be just D.A., but a cousin later added an H.

  16. Spears, “Mountain Feud.”

  17. Sam McCoy, 75. According to Squirrel Huntin’ Sam, Mose Maynard and Dave Plymale hit him three times in the hip.

  18. Sam McCoy, 75–76 ; Thomas Henshaw, The History of Winchester Firearms, 1866–1992, 30–32; and Jim Supica, “A Brief History of Firearms,” National Firearms Museum.

  19. Wheeling Intelligencer, “Devil Anse Tells the True History”; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; and Sam McCoy, 76. Spears noted that Crazy Jim “had been neither a faithful nor a kind husband” and in “Murderous Mountaineers,” he said that after his killing, his wife, Mary, in reference to the mistress he had brought home, lamented: “Poor old man: he’s dead now. If it hadn’t been for a woman he’d have been alive yet, and so would Allifair, I reckon.” Mutzenberg had only disdain for the “dying desperado” who’d given “the heartless order to Ellison Mounts to shoot the innocent Alifair” and “incited Cap to the burning of the McCoy home” (71). In L. D. Hatfield’s 1945 account (32), which he claimed derived from “reliable sources” and was not a “reflection on either side,” the McCoys approached wounded Jim Vance and—here Hatfield allegedly quotes Devil Anse—“shot his brains out.” Then, he continued with a flourish, “Bud McCoy took some of Vance’s brains on his finger and polished his boots with them and then licked his finger.” While newspaper journalists would take the blame for sensationalizing the feud, family members did their part as well.

  20. Spears, “Mountain Feud”; Mutzenberg, 70; and L. D. Hatfield, 32–33. Swain (192) said Cap “fled across mountain ranges until he had reached the Hatfield fortress at the mouth of Huff’s Creek.” Wrote Anderson (140), “Very few know the exact place he was buried.” This Jim Vance is not buried in Snake Hollow, where a number of Vances rest in a hidden hillside cemetery that contains an aged stone marked J VANCE. In June 2012, I was able to locate Vance’s grave (GPS coordinates: N37º36.506 W82º05.340) with the help of locals Scotty May and Dean May.

  21. Jones, 109–10 ; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; and Sanders, “Beautiful Beech Creek Valley.” G. Elliott Hatfield (211) spelled it “Doc.” The Hatfields would claim that Wall, confident in his innocence, had written to Jim McCoy and Frank Phillips offering himself and his two sons-in-law up for arrest and telling them that they were willing to come to Pikeville to be tried.

  22. Spears, “Mountain Feud”; Sam McCoy, 72–73 ; G. Elliott Hatfield, 211.

  23. Hill and Mahon v. Justice, “Statement of the Case.”

  24. Jones, 108; New York Times, “A Deadly Inter-State Feud.”

  25. Louisville Courier-Journal, “Prospects for a Rise.”

  26. Buckner’s letter to Wilson, Jan. 30, 1888, in Mutzenberg, 74–83.

  27. Wheeling Register, “Outlawry.”

  Chapter 16: Bad Frank and the Battle of Grapevine Creek

  1. Louisville Courier-Journal, “Two Sides to a Story,” and Wheeling Intelligencer, “The Seat of War.”

  2. Spears, “Mountain Feud”; Sam McCoy, 68, 77–79 ; and Louisville Courier-Journal, “The Legislature.” According to Governor Buckner’s letter of Jan. 22, 1888, to Governor Wilson (Mutzenberg, 82) and to the Louisville Courier-Journal (“Hatfields Arrive”), the number of men with Phillips was eighteen. Truda McCoy (173) said that number was twenty-four. The murder indictment resulting from the raid included twenty-eight names. Truda McCoy named Ben Rutherford, but according to Howard in “Descendants of Reuben Rutherford, Sr.,” this should be Bud. Also among them were George McCoy, Will Thompson (Trinnie McCoy’s husband), Burbage King, and Dave Stratton. Whether or not Squirrel Huntin’ Sam was along is hard to say. While his memoir usually depicted him at the forefront of the action and included quirky personal observations, Sam was cagey here, uncharacteristically terse and distant, suggesting that he was not present. However, men involved in murder may understandably be less than forthcoming. The murder indictments that resulted from the raid would include him.

  3. Wheeling Register, “Border Vendetta”; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; Jones, 107–8 ; G. Elliott Hatfield, 135–36 ; and Logan Banner, “Last Survivor of Hatfield-McCoy Feud Tells of Battle of Grapevine Creek.” According to Governor Buckner’s Jan. 22 letter (Mutzenberg, 82) and to the Louisville Courier-Journal (“Hatfields Arrive”), there were twelve Hatfields present, including Cap and Devil Anse. Truda McCoy (174) listed nine: those two and Bill Dempsey; Lee White; Charley Gillespie; Tom Mitchell; French Ellis; and, most notably, Johnse Hatfield, who had probably already set out for Colorado, and Jim Vance, who was, in fact, already dead. The Wheeling Intelligencer (“Seat of War,” from a correspondent in Catlettsburg, Kentucky) would go against its statesmen and accuse these men of “organizing for a raid over on Peter Creek, in Kentucky, the scene of their New Year’s night deeds, to murder people, burn property and kill stock.”

  4. Spears, “Mountain Feud.” Harrison told his story to the Logan Banner (“Last Survivor”) at the age of ninety-one. He confused some details, placing Jim Vance, who was already dead, at the scene (as did Truda McCoy) and conflating his death with the events of this day. He reported that Devil Anse was there, and so did Governor Buckner in his Jan. 22 letter to Governor Wilson. The Appalachian practice of passing out moonshine even at a time when you need your wits about you continues. While researching in the area, I was offered a tot before heading up a dangerous ridge on an ATV.

  5. Wheeling Intelligencer, “Seat of War.”

  6. Spears, “Murderous Mountaineers,” “Mountain News Getting,” and “The Story of a Mountain Feud” (Munsey’s Magazine), 508; Mutzenberg, 72–73 ; Sam McCoy, 77; Louisville Courier-Journal, “Bloody War in Pike County”; and Truda McCoy, 173. In Hill’s report to Governor Buckner (“Adjutant General”), he stated that “Phillips and party… were again fired upon (without warning this time); and in the fight which ensued, one Dempsey, of the Hatfield party, was killed, and Bud McCoy, of the Phillips party, was severely wounded.”

  7. Jones, 278, n. 4, and Howard, “Descendants of Larkin Smith.”

  8. Mutzenberg, 73. This contradicts his earlier statement that “at this time, the heavy repeating Winchester rifle had come into general use. While other moder
n inventions found no market there, the most improved guns and pistols might have been found in homes that had not learned the use of a cook stove” (54).

  9. Coleman A. Hatfield in Hatfield and Spence, 178.

  10. While Spears (“Mountain Feud”) said Dempsey was shot “through the body,” most accounts say he was shot in the leg.

  11. Louisville Courier-Journal, “Pike County’s Troubles”; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; National Police Gazette, “He Held Life Cheaply”; Mutzenberg, 72–73 ; Jones, 107; and G. Elliott Hatfield, 180, n. 4. Spears, whose version was a source in the National Police Gazette article and elsewhere, repeated the theme that Cap left garb after fleeing. L. D. Hatfield (33) said: “Dempsey was lying on the ground in a semi-conscious condition when Jim McCoy and Frank Phillips approached him. He thought it was some of his own friends and asked for a drink of water and Frank Phillips said, ‘I’ll give you water,’ whereupon he raised his rifle and shot Dempsey in the head, killing him instantly.”

  12. Truda McCoy, 177.

  13. National Police Gazette, “He Held Life Cheaply”; Spears, “Mountain Feud”; Mutzenberg, 73; and Swain, 192–93, who called this “the last serious fight between these two factions.” According to Charlie Harrison, the Hatfields hid out in the woods for several hours. Then Devil Anse asked who wanted to cross the gap to see if it was safe to come down. It was quiet. Harrison said he would go. “Leave your gun here,” Devil Anse told him. “If you’re captured with a gun, they’ll hang you sure.” Harrison had full confidence in Devil Anse, as he later explained: “I doubt if the bravery of Devil Anse has ever been surpassed. Though he was a careful and deliberate thinker, he would fight a mountain lion. He was a smart man and hard to fool.” Still, Harrison said he would take his gun just the same. “When I reach the ridge on the other side, I’ll hoot like a horned owl, and you’ll know it’s safe to come across the gap.” Logan Banner, “Last Survivor.”