Hatfields and McCoys
The Hatfield-McCoy feud is a legendary bit of Americana that has become a metaphor for bitterly feuding rival parties. Something like an Appalachian Capulet-Montague fight to the finish, the two warring families of the West Virginia-Kentucky backcountry finally agreed to disagree in 1891.
Between 1860 and 1891 the feud claimed more than a dozen members of these families.
The Hatfields were led by William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield (18391921).
In the popular imagination, the Hatfields-McCoy feud became a sort of curiosity, proverb, joke. In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain's description of a feud between the "Grangerford" and "Shepherdson" families fits this pattern.
On Monday, June 16, 2003 descendants of the Hatfield and McCoy families signed a truce in Pikeville, Kentucky; this was more of a publicity event than anything else, as, in reality, the feud had ended more than a century earlier.
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Referenced By
American Folklore | Famous pairs | Folklore of the United States | List of famous pairs | Military History of the United States | Petunia Pig | United States military history
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