Case 13: Blood Feud on Tug Fork

The series of violent events that erupted in southern Appalachia in the 1870s and 80s, known as the “Hatfield-McCoy Feud,” evokes stereotypes of backwoods blood feuds and caricatured “hillbillies” with loaded shotguns. This episode will offer a very different version of the Hatfield-McCoy story that uncovers clues to the real reason for the feud and how the caricatured image of the hillbilly was born. The rugged borderland between West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky are famous for its rich veins of anthracite coal, which have profoundly shaped its national image and regional landscape. But our story will take place in the era just before the coming of the mines and the company towns; it will describe the series of violent events that erupted in this region in the 1870s and 80s that have come to be known as the “Hatfield-McCoy Feud.” The mention of that feud evokes stereotypes of Appalachian blood feuds and caricatured “hillbillies” with loaded shotguns, but we’ll tell a very different version of the Hatfield-McCoy story that uncovers some clues to the real reason for the feud and how the caricatured image of the hillbilly was born. Music and FX Credits Richard Hood : two-finger fretless banjo : Needlecase, copyright 2010, courtesy of Richard Hood, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyFYakZPd-o Nature Streamside, mvines, Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (3.0) license, https://freesound.org/people/mvines/sounds/250743/ Jabbour, Alan, Alan Jabbour, and Henry Reed. Little Stream of Whisky. Reed family home, Glen Lyn, Giles County, Virginia, 1966. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afcreed000126/ Richard Hood, 2-finger banjo, Catlettsburg, copyright 2016, courtesy of Richard Hood, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYexOLR-6NY Thing For Itself by unreal_dm (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/unreal_dm/34278 Ft: Pitx Dueling Banjos, Dave Banjoseed, copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (3.0) license, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLXQXy2NAK4 Richard Hood – two-finger banjo – Bull at the Wagon, copyright 2015, courtesy of Richard Hood, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__QyKiPO-wQ “What Wondrous Love” (Mountain Dulcimer), by kellydiver, copyright 2016, Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (3.0) license, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NczVYjWb5J8&t=27s Jabbour, Alan, Alan Jabbour, and Henry Reed. Frosty Morning. Reed family home, Glen Lyn, Giles County, Virginia, 1966. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afcreed000115/.