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Tuesday, Jan 1, 2013 3:15 PM UTC

Artifacts help pinpoint key Hatfield-McCoy battle

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Artifacts help pinpoint key Hatfield-McCoy battleFILE - In a Saturday, June 9, 2012 file photo, Jordan Stamper, right, and James Ball look over a cabin that marks the site of key events in the Hatfield-McCoy feud, warring families known for violent clashes during the Civil War era, near Matewan, W.V. Artifacts unearthed last year during filming of a new National Geographic Channel show appear to pinpoint the location of an 1888 ambush on Randolph McCoy's cabin by the Hatfield clan in the woods of eastern Kentucky. Excavators found bullets believed to have been fired by the McCoys in self-defense, along with fragments of windows and ceramic from the family's cabin. Property owner Bob Scott, a Hatfield descendant, plans to capitalize on the historic 70-acre site in eastern Pike County near the West Virginia line. The options include a housing development featuring horseback and ATV trails, he said. (AP Photo/James Crisp, File)(Credit: AP)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Artifacts recently unearthed during the filming of a new National Geographic Channel show appear to pinpoint the location of a turning point in the yearslong feud between the Hatfield and McCoy clans.

On New Year’s Day of 1888 in eastern Kentucky, the Hatfield clan set Randolph McCoy’s cabin ablaze and gunned down two members of the rival family.

Excavators have found bullets believed to have been fired by the McCoys in self-defense, along with fragments of windows and ceramic from a cabin.

Kim McBride, co-director of the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, also says the deed to the land was traced back to Randolph McCoy.

The property is owned by Bob Scott, a Hatfield descendant who suspected for years the land was the site of the attack.

More By Bruce Schreiner.

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