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On this day 105 years ago,in 1921, the infamous William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield passed away in Logan County, WV. Hatfield was the patriarch of the Hatfield family during the “Hatfield and McCoy” feud that began in 1865, lasting nearly three decades, but his life story goes so much deeper. He was born in Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1839. There are disputes about how he got the nickname “Devil Anse”. Many believe it had family origins, specifically in contrast to cousin “Preacher Anse”, and from his mother after she witnessed him fight with a mountain lion. During the Civil War he enlisted in the confederacy, commissioned as a First Lieutenant, and tasked with protecting territory near the Kentucky/Virginia border. After the border disbanded he joined the Virginia Army and routinely engaged with “Bushwackers” sympathetic to the Union along the border regions. He and his uncle Jim Vance later created a guerrilla fighting until called the “Logan Wildcats”, where they took out Union General Bill France as revenge for his unit killing on of their members. In 1964 he deserted the Army and went home to start acquiring land and opened a profitable lumber business. He would maintain this business throughout one of the bloodiest family feuds in American history. The feud resulted in 12 deaths, with some estimates going as high 20, with decades of fighting, disputes, and even romance between rivals. Hatfield was baptized in 1911 and went on to be founder of the Church of Christ congregation, despite his more agnostic view earlier in life. He eventually died in 1921 of pneumonia at his home along island creek, and is buried in get Hatfield Family Cemetery in southern Logan County.