Regulator – Moderator War The Regulator – Moderator War , or the Shelby County War , was a nineteenth - century feud in East Texas during the Republic of Texas years between those that wanted to " regulate " the activities of rivals and those that wanted to " moderate " the regulation . Background . Both the United States and Spain ignored a strip of land between Spanish Texas and the Louisiana Territory ( in what is now the U . S . state of Louisiana ) , because they were unable to agree on the boundary and did not want to go to war over it . The area , known as the Sabine Free State or the Neutral Ground , developed into a lawless patch that neither country controlled . The lawlessness spilled over into the adjacent portion of East Texas , still under Spanish control . Even after Spain and the United States signed the Adams - Onís Treaty ( 1819 ) and Mexico gained its independence ( 1821 ) , little changed in regards to the region . After Texas won its independence from Mexico , the land remained wild and lawless . War . The Regulator – Moderator War was a land feud in Harrison and Shelby counties in East Texas from 1839 to 1844 . The feud eventually involved Nacogdoches , San Augustine , and other East Texas counties . The main leaders were Charles W . Jackson and Charles W . Moorman for the Regulators and Edward Merchant , John M . Bradley , and James J . Cravens for the Moderators . Their differences date back to land frauds , cattle rustling , barn burners , and revenge killings . Dozens had been killed over the years . The conflict began over fraud , cattle rustling , and land swindling in the Neutral Ground , the lawless area between the American border and Mexican Texas . This conflict reached a boiling point after Charles W . Jackson , a former Mississippi riverboat captain and a fugitive from Louisiana justice , shot one Joseph Goodbread at Shelbyville in 1840 . Jackson soon organized a militia he named the Regulators to prevent " cattle rustling . " In turn , the Moderators were organized by Edward Merchant to moderate the Regulators . When Charles Jackson went on trial on July 12 , 1841 , before Judge John M . Hansford , a friend of the Moderators and Goodbread , the Regulators intimidated the court so much that the trial could not proceed . Open hostilities broke out , resulting in numerous killings and house burnings . Jackson himself and a companion were later ambushed and killed by the Moderators , and Charles Moorman replaced Jackson as leader of the Shelby County Regulators . Moorman , who may have been wanted for forgery in Mississippi , led a party to avenge Jackson and Lauer . They surprised the assassins twenty - five miles north of Crockett . The McFaddens were tried in Shelbyville in October 1841 for the Jackson - Lauer killing , and all were hanged with the exception of the youngest brother . In the summer of 1844 , the Moderators met at Bells Springs and renamed themselves the Reformers . They excluded Bradley and elected James J . Cravens as their leader . They determined to occupy Shelbyville . Republic of Texas president Sam Houston grew tired of the lawless fighting and attempted to settle the matter once and for all . He sent George W . Terrell to investigate the mayhem . Terrell wrote to Sam Houston , " It really appears to me as if society were about to dissolve itself into its original elements " . On 14 August 1844 Houston ordered Travis G . Brooks and Alexander Horton to lead 500 militia into East Texas and make peace between the factions . Brooks was immediately arrested , held , but soon released . Exasperated , Houston himself rode to East Texas and set up headquarters the last two weeks in August at San Augustine to take charge . Through his diplomacy of fairness and even - handedness , Houston was able to get both factions to sign a peace treaty . The feuding groups signed a truce on July 24 , 1844 , which protected " good and unoffending citizens . " Both factions put aside their differences during the Mexican - American War and joined together with Captain L . H . Mobitt ' s company . Harrison County Sheriff John J . Kennedy and county judge Joseph U . Fields helped end the conflict siding with the law and order party .