Feuds by C. L. Sonnichsen illuminated to me a more local version of a much broader history of violence between vigilante and criminal groups that clashed during the 19th century. This was not an uncommon occurrence, but in the case of the Regulators and the Moderators, who were based in central Texas, it reached new extremes. The violence became so appalling that a group of counter-vigilantes arose to combat the extreme actions of the Regulators.
The article encompasses a great span of this history, from the 1830’s to the 1880’s. Special attention is paid to the era directly before and after the Civil War, during which there the intensity of these conflicts were fanned into flame to a greater extent than at other times. Of particular interest to me was the way in which the author, Sonnichsen, juxtaposed to motivations of the earlier feuds to those of the later periods. The article granted me a better look at the often romanticized lawlessness of the old west.
Handbook of Texas Online, C. L. Sonnichsen, “FEUDS,” accessed September 08, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jgf01.
