The Hatefield-McCoy feud began with the murder of Asa Harmon McCoy on January 7, 1865. Jim Vance, the uncle of Devil Anse Hatfield, despised Harmon because he had joined the U
…nion Army during the American Civil War. When Harmon returned home from the war, he was warned that Devil Anse's Wildcats (Hatfields) were going to kill him. Frightened, Harmon hid in a nearby cave, but the Wildcats discovered Harmon and shot him fatally. Further violence occurred between the two families throughout the following years. Well they started just for confidence ........ i think .......... i was trying to find out that answer to. Don't pressure me I'm only 11. The mccoy and hatfiel feud was about two mccoy and a hatfield that served in the civil war and the mccoy brothers were not rascist like the hatfield was so they killed a mccoy for associating with a black person so the other mccoy killed him and that's when it started not with a pig that a hatfield stole off of randolf mccoy Wrong on several points. Yes, the Hatfields did fight for the confederacy, because the McCoys were already fighting for the union. The feud, however, started long before that. Old man McCoy, Randolph by name, sparked up to a little lady named Mary Elizabeth. She, however, chose Eperson Hatfield. McCoy hounded them, and they constantly moved away because 'big ep' had promised her he would not fight Randolph. However, Mary died and Big Ep died 6 months later. Their eldest son, William Anderson, was short. That included both his stature and temper. His nickname was 'Devil Anse'. Randolph saw a chance, sold them a pig. Then claimed they stold it. In court, the Hatfields won. Randolph and his sons waylaid the 12 year old son of Williams. They tied him to a tree and stabbed him repeatedly. It took him three days to die. Devil Anse proceded to begin the fued. One of his brothers, John Granville, told him to let the law handle it. When the fighting began, John took his family away--he only had one son. They were still drawn into the feud but not for lack of trying to stay out of it. Anyhow, Devil Anse and his other sons proceded to go to Randolph's cabin, take his wife out of the cabin, then burn it down with several of his young sons in it. As you can tell, neither of these men who began the feud were saints. 'Legend' goes that the fued ended when one of Devil Anse's sons married a McCoy girl. Well, not true, even though the families did inter-marry, the female joined her husbands side of the feud. Incidently, the marriage named ended in divorce. The feud ended on the western side of the Mississippi in 1973 when the patriarch of the Hatfields, William Riley Hatfield, met with the patriarch of the McCoys in Silver City, New Mexico. They declared peace for their side of the river and that peace still stands today even if the hard feelings continue. Over on the other side of the river, on the publics perception, the feud is good natured fun. Down deeper, politics play a greater role than guns. Which, in itself, is much like the story of the United States itself. A bloody beginning between enemies, to a nasty political fight between parties. And neither being guiltless. An interesting note; during the time period when the miners were trying to organize a union for the coal mines in Kentucky, a hatfield and a mccoy fought together to bring the union into existence, and were murdered together on the front steps of a courthouse, in front of their wives. Because of their deaths, the miners united and brought the union into being. Their story is told in the book, "Fire on the Mountain", and it is worth the read. (MORE) 
