The notorious conflict between the Hatfield and the McCoy families of West Virginia and Kentucky is often remembered as America's most famous feud, but it was relatively brief and subdued compared to the violence in Breathitt County, Kentucky. From the Reconstruction period until the early twentieth century, Breathitt's 500 square miles of rugged upcountry land was known as "the darkest and bloodiest of all the dark and bloody feud counties" due to its considerable number of homicides, which were not always related to the factional conflicts that swept the region.
In Bloody Breathitt, T. R. C. Hutton casts a critical eye on this territory for the first time. He carefully investigates instances of individual and mass violence in the county from the Civil War through the Progressive era, exploring links between specific incidents and broader national and regional events. Although the killings were typically portrayed as depoliticized occurrences, Hutton explains how their causes and implications often reflected distinctly political intentions. By framing the incidents as "feuds," those in positions of authority disguised politically motivated murders by placing them in a fictive past, preventing outsiders from understanding the complex reality.
This meticulously researched volume offers the first comprehensive narrative of the violence in this infamous Kentucky county, examining Breathitt's brutal history and its significance to the state, the South, and the nation. While the United States has enjoyed unparalleled longevity as a republic, Hutton's timely study reminds readers that the nation's political stability has had a tremendous cost in terms of bloodshed.
T. R. C. Hutton is a lecturer in the department of history at the University of Tennessee.
Table of Contents
The darkest and bloodiest of all the dark and bloody feud counties To them, it was no-man's land: Before Breathitt Was Bloody Suppressing the late rebellion: Guerrilla Fighting in a Loyal State The war spirit was high: Scenes from an Un-Reconstructed County The civilizing and Christianizing effects of material improvement and development Deaths of a Feudal Hero There has always been the bitterest political feeling in the county: A Courthouse Ring in the Age of Assassination The feudal wars of Eastern Kentucky will no doubt be utilized in coming years by writers of fiction: Reading and Writing Bloody Breathitt Epilogue
