Why is anderson hatfield called devil

Anolther New York reporter, John Spears wrote in the same year. Anse Hatfield was sued by several people in the years immediately following the Civil War, and was indicted in Pike County for murder alleged to have been committed during the War. In , Anse was charged with assault along with his brother and several of his Kentucky Hatfield cousins. As one of the other Hatfields was also named Anderson, the court had to distinguish them in the indictment.

If he was known as Devil Anse, surely the court would have used that nickname to distinguish him from Preacher Anse. Perry Cline, however, changed all that in when he convinced the governor of Kentucky to put up a reward for the capture of Devil Anse and the others.

Cline also brought in "Bad" Frank Phillips to help round up these wanted men. Other bounty hunters and detectives also joined in the pursuit, hoping to get that reward money.

Phillips was able to capture several of the Hatfields, including Devil Anse's brother Valentine. The Hatfields—some believe it may have been Devil Anse—came up with a devious plan to end the hunt and prevent the trials of their imprisoned relatives. Believing if the McCoys were dead that the murder case would fall apart, the Hatfields organized a group to attack the McCoys at their home on New Year's Day Some reports state that Devil Anse stayed home because he was ill.

Others claim that he didn't know about the plot. The attack proved to be only partly successful. The group killed several members of the McCoy family, but Randall McCoy, his wife and two of their daughters managed to survive. Reports of this savage assault made national news, and the brutal feud turned into a media frenzy. The ensuing court battles received a lot of press attention as members of Hatfield's family and his supporters were eventually brought to trial.

Nine of them, including his brother Valentine, were found guilty in and given life sentences. Devil Anse, however, was never tried for his role in the murder of the McCoy brothers or for his possible involvement in the New Year's Day attack.

Shortly after that fateful day in , Hatfield bought some land in a more remote location known as Island Creek, and there he took special measures to avoid capture. Hatfield went through a transformation in the later years of his life. He had once said, "I belong to no Church unless you say that I belong to the one great Church of the world.

If you like, you can say it is the devil's Church that I belong to. Hatfield lived peacefully on his farm in Island Creek, where he raised hogs. He remained a crack shot until the end, and he reportedly carried a rifle with him wherever he went.

The feud got worse after Hatfield's younger brother Ellison was murdered in the early s by a group of McCoys. Feeling that the legal system was not serving or protecting them, Hatfield decided it was time to take matters into his own hands, and fight to protect his family. Over the next several years Hatfield led his family into a series of escalating conflicts with the McCoys, and by the late s had come to the conclusion that Randall McCoy had to die.

Sick with pleurisy at the time, the raid on McCoy's home was led by Jim Vance in his place. Meanwhile Randall had managed to escape with his life. Seeing the death toll beginning to pile up, Hatfield decided to stop fighting and let those Hatfields arrested face justice. Hatfield deliberately ordered that no rescue attempt be made for his nephew Cottontop, feeling that once Cottontop was hanged for the murder of the McCoy girl the blood lust would go out of the McCoy family. After Cottontop died, the intensity of the feud diminished somewhat.

While there was still some tension, there were no further violent incidents between the families. A drunk Randall McCoy later died when he was burned to death in a house fire. About 50 years after the feud had begun, Hatfield was finally baptized with his wife and surviving family members looking on. She said today, it would take a lot longer if they had to make moonshine that way. But the moonshine tradition goes back even before the 50s, according to Nancy's mom, Billie Hatfield; often people call her 'Granny Hatfield'.

And I got pretty good on my 90 proof and all of that. Back then we made 90 proof and proof. You had to watch the feds all of the time because they were all the time after us. Today, the family business is legit, a registered, tax-paying business that helps them make a living and stay in West Virginia. In addition to the distillery, Nancy Justus also runs a small lodging company that rents vacation cabins and hotel rooms to tourists.

Just recently, Nancy's moonshine company won a long battle with producers in other states, including Missouri and California, who were trying to use the name for their own brands of liquor. Nancy and her company won the lawsuit. Now they get to keep the name, Hatfield and McCoy Moonshine, to label their liquor.

Chad said it's good for tourism too. I mean, they use the name but I think if anybody's got the right to use it, it should be them. After all, the craft and recipe for this liquor was developed and preserved in the backwoods of the West Virginia hills. So the only way for it to be authentic, is to keep the name.