John M. Bradley

 There was more than one man by the name of John M. Bradley who lived at the same time in Texas.

The John M. Bradley I talk about in this post was born in about 1800 in North Carolina. Whether and how he was related to our Bradley family line, I do not know. However, our direct ancestor John Bradley Jr., was born in 1799, in North Carolina as well. Possibly there is some family relation between the two men, but I did not discover it.

Not much is known about the ancestors of John M. Bradley and his family members. By the time when John M.  arrived in Texas with his four children, his wife passed away. I wish I knew the children’s name or what name the initial M. stood for.

John M. Bradley became the captain of Texas Militia regiment (Tenaha Militia). They fought in the battle of Nacogdoches in August 1832. Then, the man attended the Convention in San felipe as the Tenaha District representative.

In 1835, John M. Bradley was the captain of the San Augustine and Tenaha company, which he commanded during the Grass Fight. He and his company also took part in the siege of Bexar. Subsequently, Bradley and his San Augustine Cavalry joined the Texas army and participated in the fights which led to expelling the Mexican army from Texas.

John M. Bradley’s company was discharged in July 1836.

From 04 February 1839 to 31 January 1841, the man served as the Shelby County Sheriff. During that time, the Regulator – Moderator conflict arose, and John M. Bradley was chosen as the leader of the  Moderators.

After the death of Charles Jackson, the leader of Regulators, Charles Watt Moorman, took over their leadership. According to (1), he was a “young psychopath ”, and a “cruel and dangerous man” who did not tolerate anybody daring to stand in his way. Moreover, he was a man of impressive appearance and striking personality, who was able to make people think that Regulators’ actions was righteous. The Regulators controlled Shelbyville which they had chosen as their headquarters. Whoever did not agree with them was either forced to leave the county or face death. The Regulators followed their opponents even to adjacent counties. 

Clipping source: Cruger & Moore. Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 47, Ed. 1, Wednesday, October 20, 1841, newspaper, October 20, 1841; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth48156/: accessed March 1, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

Clipping source: The Morning Star. (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 243, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 25, 1841, newspaper, September 25, 1841; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1497666/: accessed March 1, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu

Moorman’s plans reached high and included the idea of a revolution, overthrowing the Government of Texas and becoming the state governor.

Gradually, the situation in the county was becoming more serious and dangerous.

Clipping source: Cruger & Moore. Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 46, Ed. 1, Wednesday, October 13, 1841, newspaper, October 13, 1841; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth48155/: accessed March 1, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

At the end of December 1841, a certain letter was published in a local newspaper. The alleged author of the letter was John. M. Bradley – as the publication stated (2). The letter content showed Bradley in a very bad light, the least to say.

On the next day, information of J. M. Bradley’s protest was published in the same paper. Bradley had announced that the letter was a forgery and he was not the one who had written the letter.

Clipping source: Whiting, S. Daily Bulletin. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 22, Ed. 1, Friday, December 24, 1841, newspaper, December 24, 1841; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth80076/: accessed March 1, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

It was probably Moorman and the Regulators who were behind the letter publication. If it was meant to slander Bradley’s name and ruin his good reputation, it seems they succeeded. In 1842, when Moderators reorganized themselves, John M. Bradley was excluded from the group. James J. Cravens became their leader.

Researching the information on John M. Bradley, I came across the newspaper note on the legal case Bradley vs McGrabb (1843). 

Clipping source: The Planter. (Columbia, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 40, Ed. 1, Saturday, September 9, 1843, newspaper, September 9, 1843; Columbia, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth80181/: accessed March 1, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

Most likely – it was John M. Bradley who tried to clear his name after the slandering post in the paper and took it to the court. Considering the fact that most jury members at that time were Regulators supporters, and others, who were not, would not have dared to vote in favor of Bradley (due to the obvious reason, as it was in case of the McFadden brothers), John M. Bradley presumably lost the court case and failed to restore his good name.

24 July 1844 – a truce between Regulators and Moderators was signed by Cravens and Moorman. The truce was to protect citizens regarded as “good and unoffending”. However, Moorman composed “Articles of Agreements” in which he was supposed to include some escape clauses for himself.

Soon, a man by the name of Lindsey was shot in an ambush by Regulators. The man managed to get to the Moderators and let them know who he had been attacked by.

After a Regulators’ meeting at San Augustine, they came up with a list of 25 men who were “doomed” by the Regulators. The list was later placed on the courthouse door. It was believed that  Moorman himself posted the paper with those names. The listed citizens of Shelby County were:

• Sheriff Llewellyn,
• John F. Cravens – leader of Moderators,
• Five men of the Haley family: Thomas, John, Richard, Allen, and Mark,
• William Todd,
• I. Strickland, 
• D. Strickland,
• Isaac Hall,
• Jonathan Anderson,
• Laurel Lang,
• Charles Lindsey,
• E. Ritter,
• M. H. Moseley,
• J.D. Raines,
• Joshua English,
• John Choate,
• Moses F. Wooten,
• James West,
• W. J. Thomas,
• Samuel Todd,
• Henry Thorne,
• David Harris.

Some of the above men had family connections to Jospeh Goodbread, who was shot and killed by Jackson in 1841, and the McFadden brothers hanged some time later. I will come back to those men in my future posts.

28 July 1844 – on a Sunday evening, when John M. Bradley was leaving the Baptist church camp meeting he had attended at St Augustine, he was approached by Charles W. Moorman and a few other Regulators. It was dark, when light was brought, Moorman shot Bradley in the chest and killed him at instant. The story mentions that Moorman had had a dream about Bradley in which the latter wore a steel jacket. That is why Moorman shot Bradley below the line where the jacket could have been. Later it appeared, Bradley was indeed wearing a steel jacket as seen by Moorman in his dream. The steel jacket factor - true or false? Seems probable.

Clipping source: De Morse, Charles. The Northern Standard. (Clarksville, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 40, Ed. 1, Wednesday, August 7, 1844, newspaper, August 7, 1844; Clarksville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth80525/: accessed March 1, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

The conflict  between Regulators and Moderators continued to escalate. Finally, President  Houston took actions which led to the end of the bloody conflict and disbanding both fractions of the feud.

Clipping source: De Morse, Charles. The Northern Standard. (Clarksville, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 43, Ed. 1, Wednesday, August 28, 1844, newspaper, August 28, 1844; Clarksville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth80528/: accessed March 3, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

Sometime later, Moorman was arrested and trialed.

Clipping source: De Morse, Charles. The Northern Standard. (Clarksville, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 45, Ed. 1, Wednesday, September 11, 1844, newspaper, September 11, 1844; Clarksville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth80530/: accessed March 1, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

The result of the trial was no surprise regarding the state of the affairs regarding members of the jury (as mentioned above).

Charles W. Moorman met his end in Louisiana, on 14 February 1850. He was shot/killed by Dr. Robert Burns.

God bless their souls.

Sources:

1. East Texas Genealogical Society. East Texas Family Records, Volume 11, Number 3, Fall 1987, periodical, Autumn 1987; Tyler, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth38028/: accessed March 1, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting East Texas Genealogical Society.

2. Cruger & Moore. Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 47, Ed. 1, Wednesday, October 20, 1841, newspaper, October 20, 1841; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth48156/: accessed March 1, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

3. East Texas Genealogical Society. East Texas Family Records, Volume 11, Number 3, Fall 1987, periodical, Autumn 1987; Tyler, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth38028/: accessed March 1, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting East Texas Genealogical Society.

Texas Handbook Online

Photos Sept. 2020