- Joined
- Aug 6, 2016
During the Civil War General Simon Bolivar Buckner would be the first general to surrender to General Ulysses Grant. General Buckner was sent to Fort Warren prison in Boston, and in August of 1862, he was exchanged and returned to fight faithfully in the Confederate Army. In June of 1865, he surrendered again to Union forces in New Orleans.
But the story I tell today takes place many years after the war, when former Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner attains the position of Governor and is faced with one of the most notorious family feuds in America.
The Civil War is over, now what do people do?,
In Kentucky and West Virginia, there’s gonna be a feud.
In Kentucky and West Virginia, there’s gonna be a feud.
The Hatfields - Public Domain - Wikipedia
What started this feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys is the stuff of legends, Randolph McCoy lived mostly on the Kentucky side of Tug Fork and William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield lived mostly on the West Virginia side. During the civil war both families fought on the Confederate side, except for Asa Harmon McCoy who fought for the Union. When Asa returned home from the war to recuperate from an injury he received in December of 1864, he was not welcomed. Within a month he was murdered by a group of Confederate Home Guards, and although Devil Anse Hatfield was a suspect he was cleared in the killing; it was believed that his uncle, Jim Vance, committed the crime. It did not hurt that the Hatfield’s would have an advantage in this feud - they were wealthier and they had more political connections.
T’was just a simple love; between a girl and boy,
except for their last names of Hatfield and McCoy.
except for their last names of Hatfield and McCoy.
The Story of a Mountain Feud, Munsey's Magazine Volume 24
Ownership Munsey's Magazine and WV State Archives
https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/media/10968
Ownership Munsey's Magazine and WV State Archives
https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/media/10968
The beginnings of this feud may be covered in a shroud of mystery and legends, but it certainly escalated when Johnson (known as “Johnse”) Hatfield and RoseAnna McCoy met. Johnse was quite a flirt and a ladies man, and RoseAnna was a somewhat naive young lady that believed everything Johnse told her. It wasn’t long before a “shot-gun” wedding is planned. In reality not one person in either family was eager to unite these two in marriage. RoseAnna would move in with Johnse’s family for awhile, but in the end they’d never marry as Johnse was not the man RoseAnna believed him to be - - -
“When her relationship with Johnse ended and just months later he married her cousin (one of the girls he had been continuously seeing behind her back all along), she pined for him endlessly, not being able to accept that he had never loved her at all. It is said that RoseAnna never got over losing Johnse and their baby, and that she died of a broken heart shortly before her 30th birthday”. {5}
This Governor from Kentucky, once a general in gray,
will soon become a player, in this deadly fray.
Governor Simon Bolivar Buckner
Public Domain
When Governor Simon Buckner is sworn into office as the 30th Governor of Kentucky on August 30, 1887, the long-running Hatfield-McCoy feud had captured the nation’s interest. In 1888, a posse from the McCoy’s Kentucky family entered West Virginia and killed a leader of the Hatfield clan. Governor Buckner has to deal with the West Virginia governor, Emanuel Willis Wilson who is complaining that the raid was illegal. Governor Buckner was eventually cleared of any connection to the raid, but time and patience was growing short for the former Confederate general. It was time to end this almost 25-year old fight and he was determined he needed to send one of his staff on a visit to plan a course of action on how this feud could conclude once and for all.will soon become a player, in this deadly fray.
Governor Simon Bolivar Buckner
Public Domain
The feud still continued, more than a dozen killed,
now it’s time for Governor Buckner to send his man - Sam Hill.
now it’s time for Governor Buckner to send his man - Sam Hill.
Facebook - Hartford, Kentucky
Samuel Ewing Hill was born January 30, 1844 the youngest of 6 children. At age 18 years of age, he enlisted in Company G, 12th Kentucky Cavalry. The United States army appointed him a First Sergeant. His older brother, John was captain of the company and acting major. John was killed at Knoxville, Tennessee on November 18, 1863. Younger brother Sam would be elected captain upon his brother’s death. He was known as the “boy captain” as his commission was given a few days before he was 20 years old.
His military career attained many accomplishments including: He pursued Confederate cavalry leader, General John Hunt Morgan during his Indiana raid. He served in eastern Tennessee under General Burnside, served in the Atlanta campaign under General Sherman; He never missed a campaign with his company or spent a day in the hospital.
After the war, he began to study law, graduating in 1867 from the Louisville law school. He returned to Hartford where he partnered with several other attorneys. In 1877, Samuel Hill was elected as a senator in the Kentucky State senator where he would serve until 1885. He then went on to serve as chairman of the joint committee on education in the Kentucky General Assembly and was a member of two of the law committees of the state senate. In 1887 when Governor Simon Bolivar Buckner assumed office, Samuel E. Hill was appointed Adjutant General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
As fate would have it, it was up to Governor Buckner to take up the problem that was known nationally as the “Hatfield-McCoy Feud” and it would be Samuel Ewing Hill, he’d relied on as the best man to ferret out what was happening. The Kentucky State Senate was putting pressure on the governor to end “The Pike County Troubles”.
The media was attentive to the action that Samuel E. Hill was embarking on and eagerly awaited word of what was happening. As time passed questions began to be asked, headlines were written, the public was listening and everyone was wanting to know - - -
"What in the Sam Hill is going on?”
This catchy question now becomes a euphemism, and Sam Hill’s name is inserted in lieu of an “offensive” word that someone may want to say. Many people acknowledge the phase became used at some point in the 1800’s and many claim different sources of its’ origins.*** However, Samuel Ewing Hill the Adjutant General from Kentucky has a place among the list. General Hill, as he was called for the rest of his life died May 30, 1904 at 60 years of age.
Where in the name of "Sam Hill" is Sam Hill now?
Lexington, Kentucky
Find a Grave (Photo)
Find a Grave (Photo)
***Apparently there are a lot of people that claim to their name is the origin to Sam Hill - but for my narrative - I choose this Sam Hill. Here is a list of some that I found - - -
- Derived from the phrase - Samiel the name of the Devil in an opera in performed in NYC - 1825.
- A mercantile owner, Sam Hill, of Prescott, AZ when shoppers found something unusual in his store would ask: “What in the Sam Hill is that?”
- A politician in Connecticut.
- A surveyor in Michigan
- A millionaire in Northwest Pacific
Sources
1. https://www.grantcottage.org/blog/2018/7/10/the-unbroken-bonds-of-affection
2. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hatfields-and-McCoys
3. https://web.archive.org/web/2012060...ky.gov/history/3qtr/addinfo/hatfieldmccoy.htm
4. http://moranfamilytn.blogspot.com/2012/06/hatfields-and-mccoys-moran-connection.htm
5. https://appalachianlady.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/johnse-and-roseanna/
6. Facebook - Hartford, Kentucky - “A Moment in Time The Samuel Ewing Story”
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