Episode 259: Hatfield and McCoy: The Ultimate Family Feud
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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look back to the old west and examine the infamous feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families. This feud was so famous that in America, the term Hatfield and McCoy is synonymous with the idea of two families fighting. Their fight lasted for almost two decades, and it cost the lives of almost two dozen family members and friends, extending between multiple states and eventually making it all the way to the Supreme Court and coming close to igniting a second Civil War!
The trouble started during the Civil War when a member of the McCoy family joined the Union instead of the Confederates. Ultimately, a Hatfield killed this man after a give and take of other murders. Eventually, things got worse. There was a courtship between a Hatfield and McCoy that lead to the abandonment and death of an 8 month old baby, and the alleged theft of a prize razorback hog.
Then, finally, on a wild election day in 1882, the blood started to spill. Ellison Hatfield was killed in a brawl at the polling place, stabbed 26 times and shot in the back. To get revenge, Devil Anse Hatfield kidnapped three McCoys and shot them while they were tied to pawpaw bushes. Violence only escalated from here. Eventually, the violence culminated in The New Year’s Massacre in which the McCoy home was set on fire, and the house was riddled with bullets and the family’s mother was beaten until her skull was cracked.
This led to a series of raids over state lines from family to family, and it even resulted in legal problems between West Virginia and Kentucky, militias being summoned to defend state borders, and Supreme Court involvement. So how did the feud end? Did either side win? Why did it go on for so long, and how come no local law enforcement ever got involved? Listen, laugh, learn.
Family Feud Episode with the Hatfield and McCoy Families: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqYchj3hii8
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