| “ | They made me do it! They hornswoggled me with love! | „ |
| ~ Ellison's last words. |
Ellison "Cottontop" Mounts was a secondary antagonist in the 2012 television miniseries Hatfields and McCoys.
He was portrayed by Noel Fisher.
History[]
Mounts was the illegitimate son of Ellison Hatfield and Harriet Mounts. His father was the younger brother of clan patriarch William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield. Mount's father was killed by three members of the McCoy clan.
He was a slow individual who was easily manipulated by other members of the family, such as his Uncle Devil Anse and especially his Great Uncle Jim Vance.
On New Year's Day of 1888, Mounts was part of a group led by Vance to attempt to smoke Randall McCoy out of his home. They started a fire in the cabin where McCoy was escaping. While Randall escaped, the rest of the family was not so fortunate, with Mounts shooting and killing young Alifair McCoy.
Later Mounts was arrested for murdering the young McCoy girl. By then Devil Anse was starting to tire of all of the violence which had claimed so many Hatfield lives, and decided that for the good of not only the Hatfields but the McCoys as well Mounts had to die to put an end to the feud. He ordered that no rescue attempt was to be made to save Mounts from hanging.
Mounts was hanged on February 18, 1890. His last words were that the Hatfields had made him commit the murder, that he had been manipulated by their love for him. With both Mounts and Vance dead much of the energy went out of the feud.