French Eversole Feud - Cause of The Feud

Cause of The Feud

There are two supposed causes of the feud. One is romanticized and probably not true though it is the popular and much more interesting cause. The other is a definite and more reasonable cause for the start of the feud.

The popular story for the cause of the feud is a disagreement over a woman. As the story goes a clerk that worked in French’s store was madly in love. One day the clerk saw the woman with French and he became infuriated. He went to the Eversoles and told that he had heard French say he sought to take Joe’s life. When Joe questioned the clerk about the allegations he sat silent. Eversole warned him that he was taking his silence as fact that the allegations were true. This is what caused Eversole to begin to gather his clan. French followed suit closely after and a war was unavoidable. It is believed that this was the clerk’s revenge on Fulton French.

The actual story is that the two were businessmen and they came at odds with each other. After the civil war, companies began buying huge amounts of land for the timber and coal underneath the mountains. French worked for one of these companies while Eversole was a local merchant. French was worried about getting the land at bottom dollar for the large companies. Eversole saw this practice as atrocious. He was always more worried about the welfare of the people and their treatment and he began to resent French for his unfair treatment in the business dealings with the mountain people. The resentment grew until they eventually raised their armies, which French reportedly paid $2 - $2.50 a day for his hired guns.