Hatfields and McCoys

[davepi2]

that is a good point about western VA. Isn't why the state left VA in the first place? Oh well I will be in Huntington too watch my Bobcats continue their undefeated 2012 football season this year and as well as visiting the Marshall memorial I might just have to take an extra day and drive south and check out some more history while I am at it.

 

[rhp6033]

The problem for those in West Virginia was that the rivers were the highways of the Civil War era, and mountain ranges were near-impassable obsticles for much of the year. This left West Virginia having more in common with Ohio than it did with Richmond. Having their interests seemingly ignored for quite some time didn't help matters any, Richmond politicians were regularly from the FFV (First Families of Virginia), from the Potomac/Tidewater region.

 

[Dave Hull]

Up to a point, right?

....right?

Which point? Take a look at a topographical map of the area. Where you see nothing but wood and steep ridges, folks live back in there. Other than some fire and logging roads, the only way to get back in those Hollers is on foot. My wife's first home, until very recently looked exactly like the shack Anse Hatfield was staying in at the end of the show. Dirt floor, no water, no electricity, nothing. One of the floods of the Tug river got up high enough to wipe the place off the map. Lori's uncle, who was living in the "house" got a brand new trailer from the US Government, who had to clear the land and install a septic system.

 

[JRJ]

My thoughts on the mini series: I watched the mini series with childlike amazement. Being that the history channel rarely (if ever in my knowledge) has "sponsored" a mini series I was ready for something great and I wasn't disappointed. Great cast and crew and the promotionals kept me on edge. I did a bit of research over the past week over the Hatfields and McCoy's, nothing in depth or anything, and I think the creators did a fine job handling the deaths of family members. Some of them were a stretch, but for the most part it was in sync with histories account.

 

[K Hale]

Which point? Take a look at a topographical map of the area. Where you see nothing but wood and steep ridges, folks live back in there. Other than some fire and logging roads, the only way to get back in those Hollers is on foot. My wife's first home, until very recently looked exactly like the shack Anse Hatfield was staying in at the end of the show. Dirt floor, no water, no electricity, nothing. One of the floods of the Tug river got up high enough to wipe the place off the map. Lori's uncle, who was living in the "house" got a brand new trailer from the US Government, who had to clear the land and install a septic system.

Well, I meant the point where people stopped kidnapping, raiding, executing, and whipping one another with cow tails. I wasn't necessarily referring to a rustic living environment.

 

[tmh10]

Well, I meant the point where people stopped kidnapping, raiding, executing, and whipping one another with cow tails. I wasn't necessarily referring to a rustic living environment.

We still do all that, but now just for the tourist.

 

[K Hale]

We still do all that, but now just for the tourist.

It's good to know that traditional values still reign in some parts of our nation!

 

[bama46]

Well, I meant the point where people stopped kidnapping, raiding, executing, and whipping one another with cow tails. I wasn't necessarily referring to a rustic living environment.

Don't wander too far back in the hills and offend the wrong people... W.Va, Western Tennessee, or North Alabama..
and DO NOT go down a dirt road/path that you do not already know where it comes out, and what is there...huge mistake!

 

[tmh10]

Don't wander too far back in the hills and offend the wrong people... W.Va, Western Tennessee, or North Alabama..
and DO NOT go down a dirt road/path that you do not already know where it comes out, and what is there...huge mistake!

That is where we hide the gold and or the still.

 

[rhp6033]

Don't wander too far back in the hills and offend the wrong people... W.Va, Western Tennessee, or North Alabama..
and DO NOT go down a dirt road/path that you do not already know where it comes out, and what is there...huge mistake!

I think you meant EAST Tennessee, but the principle remains the same. People there are pretty protective of their "property" rights, and you had better know you are welcome in advance. It's gotten worse now that meth lab has replaced the still as the manufacturing agent of the drug of choice. Anybody who thinks you might be a federal agent might swear up and down that they thought you were a wild hog when they shot you.

 

[16thVA]

Defend his home from what? I thought western VA was largely Unionist.

Not really. It was at least half loyal to Richmond. The most mountainous areas of western Virginia were also the most loyal to Richmond. It was the counties that had the B&O railroad lines that were heavily pro-Union. The success of the Wheeling government in creating a new state had nothing to do with the people living there. As one Wheeling delegate (Peter Van Winkle) said in Dec. 1861

"Well, sir, if these counties are inhabited by secessionists, some disposition has got to be made of them. They must be, as some remarks made by gentlemen here seem to point to - they must be exterminated by exile or death, or remain where they are. But in either case, sir, we want the territory. If they are going to remain upon it, still we want it."

And it was just those counties like Hatfield's Logan County that the Wheeling government wanted.

 

[K Hale]

I think you meant EAST Tennessee, but the principle remains the same. People there are pretty protective of their "property" rights, and you had better know you are welcome in advance. It's gotten worse now that meth lab has replaced the still as the manufacturing agent of the drug of choice. Anybody who thinks you might be a federal agent might swear up and down that they thought you were a wild hog when they shot you.

Southern hospitality.

 

[TheSouthernCause]

I think you meant EAST Tennessee, but the principle remains the same. People there are pretty protective of their "property" rights, and you had better know you are welcome in advance. It's gotten worse now that meth lab has replaced the still as the manufacturing agent of the drug of choice. Anybody who thinks you might be a federal agent might swear up and down that they thought you were a wild hog when they shot you.

You sure are right about east Tennessee!

 

[bama46]

I think you meant EAST Tennessee, but the principle remains the same. People there are pretty protective of their "property" rights, and you had better know you are welcome in advance. It's gotten worse now that meth lab has replaced the still as the manufacturing agent of the drug of choice. Anybody who thinks you might be a federal agent might swear up and down that they thought you were a wild hog when they shot you.

Well,maybe East Tennessee as well,but I specifically meant South West Tennessee,the area around McNairy County, and east of there

 

[bama46]

Southern hospitality.

Southern Reality

 

[Delhi Rangers]

Not really. It was at least half loyal to Richmond. The most mountainous areas of western Virginia were also the most loyal to Richmond. It was the counties that had the B&O railroad lines that were heavily pro-Union. The success of the Wheeling government in creating a new state had nothing to do with the people living there. As one Wheeling delegate (Peter Van Winkle) said in Dec. 1861

"Well, sir, if these counties are inhabited by secessionists, some disposition has got to be made of them. They must be, as some remarks made by gentlemen here seem to point to - they must be exterminated by exile or death, or remain where they are. But in either case, sir, we want the territory. If they are going to remain upon it, still we want it."

And it was just those counties like Hatfield's Logan County that the Wheeling government wanted.

Lincoln wanted West Virginia because of and for that railroad.

 

[K Hale]

Southern Reality

Oh, I know. I've been to middle Tennessee.

 

[tmh10]

West Virginia had a lot of mixed loyalies. As a kid growing up in Greenbrier county the old timers still argued over the war, some for the South and some for the North.

 

[JWheeler331]

He left to defend his home, western Virginia was virtually abandoned by Richmond. Lt. Gov. (1863-65) Samuel Price of Greenbrier county had complained to the Sec. of War late in 1861 . "Why is the whole of Western Virginia to be given up ~ Is Virginia too large in this scale of States ~ Is there any real desire to have Virginia dissevered and the west given over to the Federals ~ I am pained to think of the treatment which we have received."

Hatfield was only protecting his territory, along with Vincent Witcher and Rebel Bill Smith. I recommend this essay to anyone interested. "The Devil at Large, Anse Hatfield's War" by James M. Prichard in "Virginia at War, 1863".

http://books.google.com/books?id=nMXvLW3XUIEC&pg=PT1&dq=virginia at war william davis&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nDPJT9_7F8Ps0gHpiJGEAQ&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=prichard&f=false

Also, Im pretty sure in real life Randall deserted to head back home also. Not just Anse.

 

[bama46]

West Virginia had a lot of mixed loyalies. As a kid growing up in Greenbrier county the old timers still argued over the war, some for the South and some for the North.

I spent a couple of years in the late '50's in Kanawa county (Charleton) and the same was true there as well.