East Texas Feud Jeopardized Annexation
The Longview News-Journal, Saturday, August 28, 2004By Van Craddock
Sam Houston was trying to convince the United States to annex Texas, but a bunch of redneck East Texans were gumming up the works.
The so-called Regulator-Moderator War began in 1839. The two fighting factions had killed dozens by August 1844 when Houston, president of the Republic of Texas, finally had enough of the bloodshed.
An exasperated Houston ordered 600 militia to Shelby County to end the war.
East Texas long had been lawless because of conflicting claims by the U.S., Mexico and Texas over its ownership. As a result, the area attracted more than its share of unsavory characters.
Charlie Jackson and Watt Moorman had organized a group of vigilantes to "regulate" law in the Piney Woods. An opposing group then formed to "moderate" the Regulators, calling themselves the Moderators.
Jackson, a former Mississippi riverboat captain, killed a Moderator in Shelby County and was arrested.
The trial was scheduled in Marshall (Harrison County) with Judge John Hansford presiding.
Jackson's friends figured he would be railroaded because Hansford, a former Texas congressman, was a well known supporter of the Moderator faction. A plot developed to help Jackson escape.
The judge learned of the plot a day before the trail was to begin. When he arrived at the courthouse to preside, Hansford discovered the courtroom was full of armed supporters of Jackson.
Fearing for his life, Hansford wrote a note to the local sheriff that he was "unwilling to risk my person in the courthouse any longer, when I see myself surrounded by bravos and hired assassins."
So Hansford adjourned court (ending the trial before it began) and left town post haste.
This enraged the Moderators, who enacted their own justice. Not long after the aborted trial, Jackson was gunned down in an ambush.
The regulator-Moderator War escalated at that point. The reign of terror spread from Shelby County north to Panola and Harrison counties. With no law to speak of, residents lived in constant fear.
Led by Watt Moorman, Regulators burned homes, hanged Moderators and drove others from East Texas. His henchmen became so strong that Moorman considered overthrowing the Texas government and declaring himself dictator.
In August 1844, more than 200 Moderators attacked some 60 Regulators near Shelbyville. Few casualties resulted in what is known as the Church Hill Battle, but that's when Sam Houston decided enough was enough.
Houston long had worked toward Texas' annexation by the U.S. Texas had become a republic in 1836, but independence had not been easy.
There were hostile Indians out West to deal with. Santa Anna and his Mexican Army continued to invade the republic on occasion. Texas, which had more land than it knew what to do with, was more than $10 million in debt.
Many in the U.S. wanted Texas because it would open up expansion to the West. However, some Americans opposed taking in Texas because of its wild and woolly reputation. The Regular-Moderator War wasn't helping the annexation attempt.
Houston had enough headaches without a civil war in East Texas. On August 15, 1844, he ordered state militia to Shelby County to sin the peace.
The show of force worked. There was some initial resistance, but the militia led by Gen. James Smith, arrested leaders of the two factions, including Watt Moorman.
Ironically, not long after the demise of the Regulator-Moderator War, men from both sides joined forces and fought side by side in the Mexican War of 1846-1848.
Moorman was shot to death in 1850 in Louisiana. The aforementioned John Hansford was murdered on his front porch by Regulators three years after he had halted Moorman's murder trial. Hansford County in the Panhandle was named for the unlucky judge in 1876.
Additional Comments:
I have enjoyed visiting your website. There is a great deal of very interesting information concerning the early days of east Texas. One of your articles, however, concerns me. The accuracy of the information it contains is questionable. Apparently it is written with a very slanted point of view. To give another perspective I would suggest reading a booklet written by my g-g-g-grandfather John W. Middleton entitled "The Regulators and Moderators and the Shelby County War of 1841 and 1842". He was an active participant, arriving in Shelby county in 1838. The following link leads to the University of North Texas online publication of his book. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth31000/
The following article is the one which I question its total accuracy.
Sincerely, Clyde M. Edmonds