French-Eversole War

Kentucky's Famous Feuds and Tragedies 

by Chas. G. Mutzenberg

 (copywrite 1917 by R F Feno & Co.)

Joseph C. Ever sole (my Great-Great Grandfather)

(son of Maj. John Eversole and head of the Eversole faction during the French- Eversole War. He was murdered by the French's while riding to court from Hazard, Ky. to Jackson, Ky.)

Judge Josiah Combs (my Great-Great-Great Grandfather and father-in law of Joseph Eversole)

Judge Josiah Combs was murdered by the French's while standing in the center of Hazard. 

My great-grandmother-Clara Eversole Cornett- told me many times the story about how he was gunned down by a man named Adkins.

This man was later said to be responsible for the assenation of the Republican Gov.-Elect of Kentucky a few years later.

The Black man in the middle was on the Eversole side.

What caused the French-Eversole War?

There has been a lot of speculation about cause but one story said it was because of a "woman". 

In reality, it was because of land dealings and leasing rights for coal in the Kentucky mountains. 

My great-grandmother's account to me differs somewhat.

 Essentially, she told me that her Daddy was trying to prevent West Virginia and Virginia speculators from buying land rights from generally illiterate farmers in Perry County.

 Since the Eversoles and Combs had founded Hazard and Perry County there was a bond between them. 

My great-grandmothers account is heavy on the "Eversole" perspective but nothing she told about those days has been proven untrue. She died in 1967.

Because of its size, it must be included on several separate web pages.

Click on the bar above to access the story- section by section. There were two chapters in this book related to the French-Eversole War.