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Asa Harmon McCoy is fatally shot by the Logan Wildcats
Asa Harmon McCoy, who was despised by Jim Vance (uncle of Devil Anse Hatfield) for joining the Union Army during the Civil War. He returned home to a warning from Vance that Harmon could expect a visit from the County Wildcats, a local militia group with members from the Hatfield family including Devil Anse. The Wildcats discovered McCoy and fatally shot him. -
Bill Staton is killed
In 1878, after a dispute about the ownership of a hog: Floyd Hatfield, a cousin of Devil Anse's, had the hog, but Randolph McCoy claimed it was his,[5] saying that the "notches" (markings) on the pig's ears were McCoy, not Hatfield, marks. The matter was taken to the local Justice of the Peace, Anderson "Preacher Anse" Hatfield,[6] who ruled for the Hatfields by the testimony of Bill Staton, a relative of both families. In June 1880, Staton was killed by two McCoy brothers, Sam and Paris. -
Ellison Hatfield dies in after injuries from a fight
The escalation continued in 1882 when Ellison Hatfield, brother of Devil Anse, was killed by three of Roseanna McCoy's younger brothers: Tolbert, Pharmer, and Bud. During an election day in Kentucky, the three McCoy brothers fought a drunken Ellison and his other brother in a violent brawl; Ellison was stabbed 26 times and finished off with a shot. -
The McCoy Brothers are shot and killed
The McCoy brothers were arrested by Hatfield constables. Devil Anse Hatfield organized a large group of followers and intercepted the constables and their McCoy prisoners before they reached Pikeville. The brothers were taken by force to West Virginia to await the fate of mortally wounded Ellison Hatfield, and when Ellison finally died from his injuries, the McCoy brothers were killed by the Hatfields':being tied to pawpaw bushes, where each was shot numerous times with a total of 5 shots fired. -
Hatfield clan surrounded the McCoy cabin and opened fire on the sleeping family.
The feud reached its peak during the 1888 New Year's Night Massacre. Several members of the Hatfield clan surrounded the McCoy cabin and opened fire on the sleeping family. The cabin was set on fire in an effort to drive Randolph McCoy into the open. He escaped by making a break for it, but two of his children were shot, and his wife was beaten and left for dead. The remaining McCoys moved to Pikeville to escape the West Virginia raiding parties.
