Abstract:
Before the advent of modern civilization in the mountains of western Virginia, the natives lived primarily by subsistence farming on their small hillside farms.

When their way of life was threatened by the coming of the railroads and industrialists seeking to enrich themselves by the exploitation of the region’s natural resources of coal and timber, conflict was inevitable.

From this conflict rose men of strength and stature who would forever live in American History. Chief among those men was Smilin’ Sid Hatfield, an illegitimate child born on May 15, 1893 near a place called Matewan.