Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Hatfield-McCoy feud (1878 1891) is an account of American folklore that has become a metaphor for bitterly feuding rival parties in general. It involved two warring families of the West Virginia-Kentucky backcountry along the Tug Fork River, off the Big Sandy River. Those involved in the feud descended from Ephraim Hatfield (born c. 1765) and William McCoy (born c. 1750).