The Hay Meadow massacre occurred on July 25, 1888, and was part of the Stevens County War in Kansas.

In July 1888, Sam Robinson, the marshal of Hugoton, and a group of men supporting Hugoton for the county seat went to No Man's Land just south of the county. Ed Short, the marshal of Woodsdale and Woodsdale supporter and some men of the opposing faction caught up with Robinson, but he escaped. Short was joined by Sheriff John M. Cross and four others to search for the Hugoton party. Not finding them, they camped for the night on a hay meadow at Wild Horse Lake, just across the border in the present-day Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, some of Robinson's friends headed out to rescue him. After meeting up with Robinson they located the Woodsdale camp at the hay meadow and surrounded the Sheriff's party and killed four of them and injured the fifth. The Hugoton party said they had killed the Woodsdale party in a shootout, however, the surviving member and a group of witnesses stated that the Woodsdale party had been captured, disarmed, and then executed.

The case was tried before the United States Court for the Eastern District of Texas, at Paris (United States v. C. E. Cook. Orin Cook, Capt. C.E. Frease, Johnnie Jackson, Ed Boudin, John Colbert, et al.). Samuel Newitt Wood was the lead prosecutor. Seven men were convicted of murder and sentenced to death, however on appeal, it was determined that the Paris court had no jurisdiction and no sentence was carried out.