War in East Texas: Regulators vs. Moderators
July, 2018
Published
206
Pages
43 b&w illus. 2 maps. Notes. Bib. Index.
Features
About O'Neal's War in East Texas
From 1840 through 1844 East Texas was wracked by murderous violence between Regulator and Moderator factions. More than thirty men were killed in assassinations, lynchings, ambushes, street fights, and pitched battles. The sheriff of Harrison County was murdered, and so was the founder of Marshall, as well as a former district judge. Senator Robert Potter, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, was slain by Regulators near his Caddo Lake home. Courts ceased to operate and anarchy reigned in Shelby County, Panola District, and Harrison County. Only the personal intervention of President Sam Houston and an invasion of the militia of the Republic of Texas halted the bloodletting.
The Regulator-Moderator War was the first and largest of the many blood feuds of Texas. Bill O’Neal includes rosters of names of the Regulator and Moderator factions arranged by the counties in which the individuals were associated, along with a roster of the victims of the war.
About the Author
BILL O’NEAL is State Historian of Texas and the author of more than thirty books, including The Johnson-Sims Feud, The Johnson County War (2005 NOLA Book of the Year), Historic Ranches of the Old West, Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters, and Cheyenne, 1867-1903. He is retired from teaching at Panola College.