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. | 
