In 1880, Johnse Hatfield, who lived on one side of a border stream in Logan County, West Virginia, courted Roseanna McCoy, who lived on the opposite side in Pike County, Kentucky. Hatfield and McCoy were members of large, tightly knit clans that had been in conflict since the Civil War, when Southern-sympathizing Hatfields killed a McCoy who had fought for the Union. The tension intensified in 1878, when a McCoy accused a Hatfield of stealing one of his hogs.

Two years after Johnse’s romance with Roseanna, the Appalachian mountaineer families suffered major bloodshed. Three McCoy brothers, arrested for killing a Hatfield, were abducted on their way to jail and subsequently murdered by a posse of Hatfields. The feud erupted into brutal, armed warfare that became front-page news nationwide.

Police action proved ineffective against the violence. Because of local support and influence, Hatfields and McCoys arrested in their respective counties routinely were released. Then, in 1888, following a climactic attack on the home of the McCoy patriarch, Pike County authorities invaded West Virginia and seized nine Hatfields for trial in Kentucky. West Virginia complained to the federal courts, but the United States Supreme Court ultimately allowed Kentucky to proceed. All nine McCoys were found guilty, and one was hanged.

PostScript: By the 1920s, the Hatfields and the McCoys had ceased fighting. Their feud still is legendary, and Johnse and Roseanna have been likened to the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet. In June 2000, descendants of the clans for the first time held a joint reunion in Pikeville, Kentucky.