Regulator Moderator Was

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Regulator – Moderator Was in East Texas, 1839–1844

The regulator-moderator war (translated into German: regulators-moderator war) was an armed conflict between two opposing vigilante groups in East Texas at the time of the Texan Republic . The conflict between the two groups began in 1839 and lasted until 1844, when at its height it affected half a dozen other counties in addition to the Shelby County conflict center and was finally forcibly settled by the intervention of the state militia . Several dozen people were violently killed in the course of the clashes. According to current assessments, the regulator-moderator War is considered to be the bloodiest confrontation with a vigilance background that has taken place on Texan territory.

Course of conflict

History and causes

In the course of the 1830s the influx of Anglo-Saxon colonists increased in the - previously sparsely populated - areas north of the traditional East Texas settlement centers around Nacogdoches and the Ayish Bayou . Especially the east of the first Spanish and later Mexican province of Texas was the scene of various armed conflicts before the outbreak of the Texan War of Independence (see Fredonian Rebellion and Battle of Nacogdoches ). One factor that this significantly with intensified, the immediate vicinity of the war - also known as Neutral Ground known - Neutral Ground : a western Louisiana extensive strip of land which, after the Louisiana Purchase had been set up and as a buffer zone between the United States and New Spain or Mexico acted. Due to the strategic expediency of the governments involved and the resulting laissez-faire practice, the neutral ground zone had already developed into a refuge for adventurers , outlaws and land speculators in the decades before Texan independence .

The concentrated presence of outlaws and land scammers in the region was a factor that had shaped the mentality in East Texas. The uncertainty also encouraged the tendency to take the law into their own hands in case of doubt . In an attempt to get the rampant lawlessness under control, two vigilante groups formed at the beginning of the 1840s - the regulators who wanted to "regulate" the crime and the moderators, who perceived the regulators' measures as excessive and, for their part, sought their activities to "moderate". The main leaders on the regulatory side were former riverboat captain Charles W. Jackson and settler Charles W. Moorman, on the moderator side Edward Merchant, former soldier John M. Bradley and judge John M. Hansford. The center of the conflict was Shelby County and its (then) capital Shelbyville . At its peak, both groups comprised several hundred combatants; Other surrounding counties such as Harrison , Panola , Sabine and San Augustine were affected .

Chronology of Hostilities

Conflict venue: the East Texas Pineywoods landscape
Robert Potter
Sam Houston (after 1860)

The trigger for the open outbreak of the conflict was an escalated dispute over disputed land claims: After Alfred George, Sheriff in Shelbyville, accused the farmer Joseph Goodbread of land fraud, Goodbread was shot by the regulator leader Charles W. Jackson - who was called by George. The two groups were officially formed immediately after this incident: While Jackson organized the regulators, Edward Merchant organized the moderators. In the further course of the conflict, both sides tried to influence the legal process against Jackson in their favor. Since the responsible judge - John M. Hansford - was known as a supporter of the moderators and also as a personal friend of Goodbread, the regulators intimidated the court so massively that Hansford fled on June 12, 1841 while the trial was ongoing . In addition, supporters of the regulators burned the homes of two moderator supporters - including the McFadden family. In return , partisans of the moderators murdered Jackson and an uninvolved man named Lauer.

After Jackson's death, Charles W. Moorman assumed command of the Regulators Group. Moorman's reputation was controversial. Rumor had it that he fled Mississippi to East Texas because of various violations of the law . In an effort to avenge the deaths of Jackson and Lauer, Moorman drew up a contingent detaining the alleged perpetrators - the McFadden brothers - impromptu trial in Shelbyville, and then hanging two of them . Former US Congressman Robert Potter became the most prominent victim of the ever escalating conflict . Potter, a partisan of the moderators, was shot dead in 1842 as the dispute escalated.

The conflict between the two warring vigilance troops continued to smolder with varying degrees of intensity until 1844. The incident which led to the resumption of hostilities was banal. A settler who sympathized with the regulators had accused another of stealing pigs and shot him in the course of the dispute. After the shooter accused of the murder fled Shelbyville prison , his escape immediately called the moderators' supporters on the scene. The ongoing conflict was additionally fueled by the fact that in the meantime John M. Bradley, a personal enemy of the regulator leader Moorman, had become the leader of the moderators' group.

As the conflict progressed, more and more people and areas in East Texas were affected. If the first clashes were limited to the immediate vicinity of the district capital Shelbyville, the Counties Harrison, the sparsely populated Panola District between Shelby and Harrison and the Counties San Augustine and Nacogdoches were drawn more and more into the conflict. In the summer of 1844 the moderators reorganized. They called themselves "reformers" now, deposed Bradley and instead chose Sheriff James F. Cravens as their new leader. On June 24, 1844, both groups concluded a provisional armistice agreement , which promised "protection" to "honest citizens" regardless of their group affiliation. The conflict between the deposed moderator leader Bradley and the regulator leader Moorman ended in mutual murder attempts: Bradley had already visited Moorman in San Augustine on June 23 with the intention of killing him. On June 28, Moorman followed Bradley to a Baptist meeting and shot him dead while he was leaving the meeting. The moderators, in turn, retaliated by shooting a partisan of the regulators - Louie Watkins.

In August 1844 the fighting between the two groups escalated into a kind of open field battle - the so-called Church Hill Battle . 225 moderators and around 60 regulators were involved. Both groups received reinforcements from Harrison County residents. In the regulators' camp, the battle was also known as Helen's Defense - a reference to a rumored story that Moorman's wife Helen spied on the enemy camp and thus gave the regulators an advantage. Texas President Sam Houston had tended to adopt a laissez-faire attitude at the beginning of the conflict. In 1841 he said it was best to declare Shelby County and the area around the towns of Tenaha and Terrapin Neck to be independent areas so that the residents could settle their disputes among themselves. However, since the conflict had meanwhile taken hold of large areas of East Texas and negotiations were also underway over the connection of Texas to the United States, Houston changed his mind. On August 15, he sent 600 militiamen to the region to force a peace treaty .

Militia leaders Travis G. Broocks and Alexander Horton immediately restored state authority in the affected areas. They had ten leaders from both sides arrested and taken to San Augustine. Those arrested were soon released. However, chaired by Judge William B. Ochiltree, Isaac Van Zandt and Senator David S. Kaufman, both sides signed an agreement that formally declared the two vigilante groups to be dissolved. The moderators were signed by James Truitt and John Dial. Middleton T. Johnson and John McNairy signed for the regulators. The last prominent death in the conflict was Charles W. Moorman. He was born on February 14, 1850 in Logansport , Louisiana, by physician Dr. Robert Burns was shot in the back and was fatally injured. Burns was acquitted in the ensuing trials - a circumstance historians attribute to Moorman's controversial and sometimes semi-silly reputation.

Consequences and conflict assessment

The number of people violently killed in the conflict ranged from 30 to 40 after the clashes ended. The economy of the main location Shelby County was at least temporarily set back by the activities of the two vigilante groups. The San Augustine Redlander newspaper, for example, lamented the extremely low prices for land at the time - they had fallen to a twentieth of the value before the conflict broke out. In addition, according to the Redlander, the events also had a detrimental effect on immigration to Texas - with the result that newcomers avoided the East Texas region. However, the economy stabilized comparatively quickly after the end of the fighting. The population of Shelby County reached the level of the two neighboring counties Panola and San Augustine as early as 1847.

An indication of the durability of the peace treaty was the fact that members of both vigilante groups fought in the same battalion in the Mexican-American War in 1848. Nonetheless, the feud flared up again and again even after the conflict was settled. Acts of violence, including murder, continued for many years. According to the Texas historian Archie McDonald, the long-term effects were so severe that even twentieth-century disputes could be traced back to animosities that originated in that period. The vita of the authoritative regulator leader Charles W. Moorman is valued differently to this day. While Michael Moorman Fricke's biography in the Handbook of Texas Online portrays Moorman's lawless past as factually dubious and unproven, author Kathy Weiser-Alexander describes Moorman as the main promoter of terror in the region and as someone who has temporarily considered it to overthrow the Texas government and declare yourself dictator .

The Hatfield Clan involved in the Hatfield-McCoy feud (1899)

Today, the assessment that the regulator-moderator War was not an isolated phenomenon is largely undisputed. In his book Hollywood Justice: Vigilante Justice in American Film 1915–2015, the author Peter Vogl portrays vigilance as a typical American frontier problem - as a conflict resolution method that goes back to the time of the American Revolutionary War . For example, “regulators” and “moderators” already existed in the hinterland of South Carolina in 1767 . The scheme that appeared there was perpetuated in later conflicts - one causal reason being that there was no fully developed law in the frontier regions and, accordingly, no “legal security” that is commonly associated with it.

Historian and travel journalist Kathy Weiser-Alexander sees similar causes. On its website Legends of America led a number of similar feuds and turf wars, which in the course of the 19th century were held in the US - from the Lincoln County War ( New Mexico , 1876-1818) over the revenge of the Earp brothers after Shootings at OK Corral and the Johnson County War ( Wyoming , 1892) to the Hatfield-McCoy feud in West Virginia , which began after the Civil War and did not end until 30 years later. The historian Bill O'Neal notes a peculiarity in that there have been more blood feuds in Texas than in any other state or territory . The regulator – moderator War was the first and at the same time the bloodiest within this scheme. In the end, according to O'Neal, 31 men were killed - more than any other blood feud in America.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Sources Overall presentation: Regulator-Moderator War , Gilbert M. Cuthbertson, Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), June 15, 2010 (Engl.) And The Regulator-Moderator War of East Texas , Kathy Weiser -Alexander, Legends of America, Upgrade: November 2017 (Engl.)
  2. ↑ For the biographies of individual participants see personal entries Moorman, Charles Watt , Bradley, John M. , Hansford, John M. , Dial, John and Johnson, Middleton Tate in the portal of the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA); June 15, 2010 (English)
  3. ↑ Potter, Robert , Joe E. Ericson, Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), June 15, 2010 (Engl.)
  4. ^ Shelby County , Cecil Harper, Jr., Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), June 15, 2010.
  5. ↑ The Regulator-Moderator War , Archie P. McDonald, Texas Escapes, 2001, accessed November 10, 2018 (Engl.)
  6. ↑ See: Moorman, Charles Watt , Michael Moorman Fricke, Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), June 15, 2010 (Engl.) And The Regulator-Moderator War of East Texas , Kathy Weiser-Alexander, Legends of America, upgrade: November 2017 (Engl.)
  7. ↑ Peter Vogl: Vigilantism in American History. In: Hollywood Justice. Vigilante justice in American film 1915 - 2015. Mühlberger Filmbuchverlag, Frankenthal 2016, ISBN 978-3945378298 , p. 27 ff .; excerpts online at Google Books
  8. ↑ Frontier Feuds & Range Wars , Kathy Weiser-Alexander, Legends of America, Upgrade: October 2018 (Engl.)
  9. ↑ Regulator-Moderator War , Bill O'Neal, Lone Star Historian 2, November 30, 2015 (Engl.)

literature

  • Bill O'Neal: Was in East Texas. Regulators vs. Moderators. University of North Texas Press, 2016, ISBN 978-1574417289 (Engl.)
  • Leila Stone Lagrone: The Regulator Host War: An East Texas Feud . Eakin Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0890159606 (Engl.)

Web links