Beginning in 1863, the Hatfield and McCoy families engaged in a violent, decades-long feud in a region of the United States known as "Appalacia." Appalacia's population has grown from about 5.4 million in 1860 to 26.4 million in 2022.

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When the American Civil War began in 1861, family patriarchs William "Devil Anse" Hatfield of West Virginia and Randolph McCoy of Kentucky sided with the Confederacy and participated in a number of raids in the two border states between the Union North and Confederate South. Between 1863 and 1865, several Hatfield and McCoy family members and friends were killed or wounded during war-related actions that were rumored to have been tit-for-tat revenge attacks between the two families. By 1878, animosity between the Hatfields and McCoys had been simmering for more than a decade when Randolph McCoy accused Devil Anse Hatfield's cousin Floyd of stealing a hog. McCoy sought a legal resolution to the hog's ownership. Justice of the Peace Anderson Hatfield gathered a jury of six Hatfield and six McCoy family members to hear Randolph's case. After listening to evidence that included testimony from Bill Staton—a relative of both families—seven jury members (six from the Hatfield family and one from the McCoy family) sided with Floyd Hatfield. Randolph and the McCoy clan were furious. In June 1880, Randolph's brothers Paris and Sam McCoy killed Bill Staton claiming "self-defense."

Much to the chagrin of the McCoy family, Devil Anse Hatfield's son Johnson began courting Roseanna McCoy in the years after the hog trial. When the McCoys arrested Johnson for bootlegging in an attempt to end the relationship, a posse of Hatfields rode into Kentucky, surrounded the McCoy home, and demanded Johnson's release. Johnson left the pregnant Roseanna McCoy and later wed her cousin Nancy in 1881. The next year, Roseanna's brothers Tolbert, Pharmer, and Randolph "Bud" McCoy attacked Devil Anse's brother Ellison, leaving him gravely wounded. The McCoys were arrested, but intercepted by a Hatfield posse as law enforcement transported the trio to Pikeville, Kentucky, for trial. When Ellison Hatfield died from his stab and gunshot wounds, the Hatfields tied the McCoy brothers to a pawpaw tree and riddled them with bullets. Many in the region considered the murder of the McCoys a justifiable case of vigilante justice.

The feud grew increasingly violent following the "Paw Paw Tree Incident." When Jeff McCoy killed a mail carrier in 1886, constable Cap Hatfield and friend Tom Wallace gave chase, eventually shooting and killing McCoy. The following spring, Wallace was murdered. On January 1, 1888, Cap and Vance Hatfield led a group of family and friends into Kentucky and set Randolph McCoy's cabin afire. Waiting in ambush outside the home, Randolph McCoy escaped the melee, but his wife Sarah was nearly beaten to death and two of their children were killed. Following the attack, Pike County, Kentucky, Sheriff Frank Phillips organized a posse (which included Bud and Jim McCoy) to hunt down the Hatfields. After that posse killed Vance Hatfield and captured or killed several Hatfield allies, they cornered the remaining Hatfield massacre participants at Grapevine Creek on January 19, 1888. Following a brief standoff, eight men were arrested and indicted for the murder of one of Randolph McCoy's daughters during the New Year's Day violence, including Cap, Johnson, Robert, and Eliot Hatfield, Ellison Mounts, French Ellis, Charles Gillespie, and Thomas Chambers.

The Hatfields fought their supposed "illegal extradition" to Kentucky all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On May 14, 1888, the court ruled in (Mahon v. Justice, 127 U.S. 700 (1888)) that even though the Hatfields and their co-conspirators may have been forcibly returned from their home state of West Virginia without the benefit of a lawful extradition procedure, no federal laws prevented them from being tried. Thereafter, several trials between 1888 and 1901, found all eight men guilty of the murder or lesser charges, and seven received prison sentences. Ellison Mounts was executed on February 18, 1890.

The violence largely subsided about 1891, but distrust between the Hatfields and McCoys continued for decades. A symbolic reconciliation occurred during a 1976 televised special featuring descendants, but it was not a universally recognized formal truce.The two families were once again at odds in a property dispute in 2000. After a three-year court battle, a judge decided the case so each family could claim a partial victory and hopefully avoid rekindling the feud. During a televised ceremony on June 14, 2003, the Hatfield and McCoy families signed a formal truce proclaiming that the families, "do hereby and formally declare an official end to all hostilities, implied, inferred and real, between the families, now and forevermore." Today, the Hatfields, McCoys, residents of the Tug Fork Valley, and curious tourists celebrate Appalachian culture and the newfound friendship between the formerly feuding families at the annual Hatfield McCoy Heritage Days and Moonshine Festival in Pikeville, Kentucky.

You can learn more about the Hatfields, McCoys, and the region they called home using data and records collected by the U.S. Census Bureau's censuses and surveys. For example.

• The Hatfields and McCoys lived on opposite sides of Tug Fork—a tributary of the Big Sandy River—which separates Kentucky and West Virginia. The Hatfields lived in Logan County, West Virginia, and the McCoys lived in Pike County, Kentucky. The feud grew most bitter and violent following the 1880 Census. In 1880, Logan County's population was 7,329, and Pike County had 13,001 residents. By 1890, Logan and Pike Counties had grown to 11,101 and 17,378, respectively. Thanks to its rich coal reserves, Logan County's population peaked in 1950 with 77,391 residents. An estimated 33,154 people called Logan County home in 2019. Like nearby Logan County, the population of Pike County grew thanks to the massive deposits of coal mined from its mountains. Between 1900 and its peak in 1950, Pike County's population grew from 22,686 to 81,154. More recently, Pike County was home to 59,497 in 2019.
• In 1895, West Virginia divided Logan County to create Mingo County. In 1900, Mingo County recorded 11,359 residents. Like neighboring Logan and Pike counties, Mingo County's population peaked at 47,409 in 1950, thanks to the region's abundant natural resources. In 2019, Mingo County had an estimated 24,290 residents.
• Animosity between the Hatfield and McCoy families began during the American Civil War, but erupted into an outright feud over the disputed ownership of a hog in 1878. The census of agriculture found that farms in the United States produced 47,081,100 swine in 1880, including 2,225,225 in the McCoys' home state of Kentucky and 510,013 in the Hatfields' state of West Virginia. Iowa led the nation with more than 6 million produced in 1880. More recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that on September 1, 2021, the nation's inventory of hogs and pigs was 75.4 million. Iowa farmers raised more hogs and pigs than any other state with 23.6 million. Minnesota and North Carolina were a distant second and third raising 8.7 million and 8.5 million, respectively.
• The Hatfields, McCoys, and many other Appalachian families were prolific moonshiners, producing homemade liquor without paying taxes on its production to the government. Although it is unknown how much illegal moonshine was produced while the Hatfields and McCoys were feuding, the production of taxed alcohol rose from 72.6 million gallons of distilled spirits in 1870 to 109,000,000 gallons of distilled spirits (including industrial alcohol) in 1900.
• The idea that residents of the Appalachian region of the United States are poorly educated is an undeserved stereotype. In 2019, American Community Survey data estimated that 88 percent of the U.S. population 25 years and over was a high school graduate or higher, and 32.1 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher. In Kentucky, 86.3 percent of people 25 years and over had a high school diploma or higher, and 24.2 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher. Of West Virginia's population 25 years and over, 86.9 percent had high school diplomas or higher and 20.6 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher. That same year, 77 percent of Pike County's population 25 years and over had a high school diploma or higher, and 13 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher. Among the same age group in West Virginia, 79.8 percent of Logan County's residents had a high school diploma, and 10 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher. In nearby Mingo County, 75.5 percent were at least high school graduates and 9.9 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher.
• Popular representations of the Hatfields and McCoys in movies, television shows, and literature often depict the families as poor, bumbling "hillbillies." In reality, many Hatfield and McCoy family members were prosperous farmers, businessmen, and community leaders. For example, William "Devil Anse" Hatfield—patriarch of the Hatfield family—was a successful timber merchant in Logan County. The Hatfields owned thousands of acres of land and employed scores of workers to cut and transport lumber from West Virginia's forests. Data from the 1880 Census shows many people living in the Appalachian region benefited from its wealth of natural resources. For example, 65,497 West Virginians reported they were farmers and planters; 41,767 were agricultural laborers; 212 identified as lumbermen, raftsmen, and woodchoppers; and 778 owned or worked in the state's sawmills. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor estimated that nationally, 45,500 people worked in the logging industry and 888,300 were farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers.
• The economies of West Virginia and Kentucky have changed considerably since the days of William "Devil Anse" Hatfield and Randolph McCoy. Data from the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns series for the pay period that included March 12, 2019, found that the employers leading West Virginia's economy included the Health Care and Social Assistance sector (NAICS 62) employing 132,802; the Retail Trade sector (NAICS 44-45) employing 80,482; and the Accommodations and Food Services sector (NAICS 72) with 69,024 employees. In Kentucky, the Health Care and Social Assistance sector led the state for the number of employees with 260,342, followed by the Manufacturing sector (NAICS 31-33) with 252,706, and the Retail Trade sector with 217,788 people employed.
• The Appalachian region of the United States is famous for more than just the feuding Hatfield and McCoy families. The region is the setting for the Academy Award-winning movie Coal Miner's Daughter as well as the young adult novel and movie series The Hunger Games. Famous Appalachians include: explorer Daniel Boone; National Basketball Association All-Star Hal Greer; frontiersman and Texas Alamo defender Davy Crockett; President of the United States Abraham Lincoln; National Aeronautics and Space Administration mathematician Katherine Johnson; test pilot Chuck Yeager; former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance; Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson; singer Tennessee Ernie Ford; Welch, West Virginia, comedian and game show host Steve Harvey; and Pittman Center, Tennessee, singer and actor Dolly Parton.

A January 10, 1921, fire in the basement of the U.S. Department of Commerce building in Washington, DC, destroyed most of the population schedules from the 1890 Census.

An investigation was inconclusive, but potential causes of the fire included careless disposal of a cigarette or match, faulty wiring, and the spontaneous combustion of sawdust in the building's workshop.