The Hatfield and McCoy Feud

About this episode

This episode explores the Hatfield-McCoy feud, a notorious family conflict in American history marked by violence, love, and unresolved grievances.

In this episode of Disturbing History, we take a deep and unflinching look at the Hatfield-McCoy feud, the most infamous family conflict in American history. Spanning nearly three decades along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River on the West Virginia-Kentucky border, this was far more than a backwoods rivalry over a stolen pig. It was a blood feud born from Civil War guerrilla violence, deepened by land disputes and a failed justice system, and driven to its worst extremes by vigilante executions, a doomed love affair, and a midnight raid that left children dead and a home in ashes. We trace the full arc from the 1865 murder of Union veteran Asa Harmon McCoy through the 1878 hog trial, the forbidden romance of Roseanna McCoy and Johnse Hatfield, the savage 1882 Election Day killing that triggered the execution of three McCoy brothers, and the devastating 1888 New Year's Massacre that finally drew in bounty hunters, governors, state militias, and the United States Supreme Court. We also examine the tragic hanging of Ellison "Cottontop" Mounts, the mentally limited young man many viewed as a scapegoat, and the quiet, haunted final years of both patriarchs. Along the way, we…

People in this episode

Host: Disturbing History-True Stories

Topics covered

• Hatfield-McCoy feud
• family conflict
• American history
• Civil War
• vigilante justice
• tribalism
• grievance

Keywords

• Hatfield
• McCoy
• feud
• blood feud
• Civil War
• vigilante
• justice
• tribalism
• grievance

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: United States Supreme Court

Places: West Virginia, Kentucky

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