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If
we can sort this out, it goes something like this: a feud that grew
into a war erupted in East
Texas in 1839 and raged until 1844, with occasional flair ups
at various times for years afterwards.
It started
in Harrison
and Shelby
counties but eventually involved San
Augustine, Nacogdoches,
and other East Texas
counties.
One side was
called the Regulators, who, as their name implies, wanted to "regulate"
the activities of rivals. Naturally, the Moderators wanted to "moderate"
being "regulated." Now it gets confusing.
Trouble brewed
between rival groups who had settled along the border between Louisiana
and Texas earlier in the century
when neither the United States or Spain made much effort to control
the area. Many were rough and ready fellows accustomed to settling
disputes with firearms. In the beginning the cast of characters
included Regulator leaders Charles W. Jackson and Charles W. Moorman,
Moderator leaders Edward Merchant, John M. Bradley and Deputy Sheriff
James J. Cravens, with President
Sam Houston in a minor role.
Land swindling,
cattle rustling, and various other affronts provided the fuel and
the spark for the war. Jackson shot a man named Joseph Goodbread
in Shelbyville.
That led to the first of many armed confrontations between the sides
at Jackson's trial. Jackson was later killed from ambush and the
war was on. Deaths on one side or the other always required avenging
and the fighting continued, sometimes reaching the level of actual
battles. President Houston, who was familiar with the area and its
residents, at first said that the only thing to do was let the Regulators
and Moderators fight it out. Obviously that policy was unacceptable.
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