Texas Archive War facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Texas Archive War |
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 Statue of Angelina Eberly firing a six-pound cannon in downtown Austin |
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The Texas Archive War was a disagreement in 1842 about where to keep important government papers, called the national archives. The president, Sam Houston, wanted to move them from Austin to Houston. This dispute was also about his bigger plan to make Houston the capital city of the Republic of Texas.
Contents
How the Archive War Started
The Republic of Texas was created in 1836. During the Texas Revolution, government officials had to move their important papers often to stay safe from the Mexican Army. After the war ended, Columbia became the first capital, and the archives were kept there. Later, the government and its papers moved to Houston.
In 1839, Mirabeau B. Lamar became the President of Texas. He convinced the Texas Congress to create a new city to be the capital. This new city was Austin. It was on the edge of the frontier, close to several Native American tribes. It was also hard to get supplies to Austin.
People who supported Austin believed it would become the center of the nation as more people moved there. However, others, like former President Sam Houston, wanted the government to stay near the main population areas along the Gulf Coast.
The nation's archives were moved to Austin between August and October 1839. Fifty wagons were needed for the move. President Lamar and his team arrived in Austin on October 17. Over the next few years, the Comanche tribe sometimes raided areas near Austin. People in Houston used these raids to argue that the capital and archives should return to Houston.
Sam Houston was elected president again in September 1841. He won by a lot, so he felt he had the public's support to move the capital. But Congress kept saying no to his plans to move the archives.
Before the Conflict Began
Congress took a break in February 1842. The next month, Mexican troops, led by General Rafael Vásquez, invaded Texas. By March 5, over 1,000 Mexican soldiers were in San Antonio. A few days later, a group in Austin told people to leave the city for safety. Only a few people stayed behind. President Houston went back to the city named after him.
General Vásquez and his troops left after a few days. President Houston might not have known this. On March 10, he told George Washington Hockley, his Secretary of War, to move the archives to Houston. He said the Constitution of the Republic of Texas allowed him to move offices in an emergency during wartime.
Colonel Henry Jones, the military leader in Austin, met with citizens to talk about Houston's order. People in Austin felt the city was safe. They believed Houston leaving had made people lose trust in Austin, which lowered property values. On March 16, the citizens' group decided that moving the archives was against the law. They set up patrols near Bastrop to stop any wagons carrying government records. President Houston's private secretary, W.D. Miller, wrote to him that Austin residents would "much rather take their rifles to prevent a removal [of the archives] than to fight Mexicans." To solve the problem, the president called a special meeting of Congress. They met in Houston on June 27, 1842. Congress did not agree to move the capital.
The Conflict Itself
In September 1842, General Arián Woll led another Mexican attack into Texas. He briefly captured San Antonio. President Houston then called the Seventh Texas Congress to meet at Washington-on-the-Brazos. Houston told Congress they must support moving the archives. He called the Austin citizens who protested "seditious," meaning they were causing trouble against the government. He said there was "no reasonable doubt" that moving the archives was necessary.
On December 9, Senator Greer suggested a bill to keep the National Archives safe. The vote to quickly pass the bill ended in a tie. Senate President Edward Burleson, who did not like Sam Houston, voted against the bill, so it failed. But Senator Greer did not give up. On December 10, he introduced another bill to move the General Land Office. He left the name of the new city blank, which led to weeks of arguments about where it should go.
Also on December 10, President Houston secretly told Colonel Thomas I. Smith and Captain Eli Chandler to move the nation's archives to Washington-on-the-Brazos. Houston wrote that it was very important to move the public archives from Austin because they were in a "dangerous situation." He said no one knew when they might be "utterly destroyed." The men were told to gather a small group of soldiers by pretending they were going to fight Native American tribes. Then, they were to quickly get the archives and move them.
Smith led over 20 men and 3 wagons into Austin on the morning of December 30, 1842. The men were almost done loading the wagons with papers when Angelina Eberly saw them. She owned a boarding house nearby. Eberly ran to Congress Avenue, where a six-pound howitzer (a type of cannon) was located. She aimed the small cannon at the General Land Office and fired it. Some of the shot hit the building, but there was no real damage, and no one was hurt.
Smith and his men quickly left. They headed northeast to avoid the men patrolling the road through Bastrop. Two clerks from the General Land Office went with them. Their job was to make sure the records were not damaged or changed. Their journey was slow because heavy rain made the roads almost impossible for their oxen. The group managed to travel about 18 miles (29 km) before stopping for the night at Kinney's Fort, near Brushy Creek.
In Walnut Creek, north of Austin, some of Houston's agents were caught by angry citizens. These citizens got back some of the stolen documents and returned them to Austin.
In Austin, Captain Mark Lewis gathered a group of men to get the archives back. Some of these men had no horses, and some had few or no weapons. Lewis's men reached Smith's camp in the middle of the night. Smith had not posted guards, so they were not seen. On the morning of December 31, the records were returned to Austin. It is not clear if Smith's men took them back, or if the Austin group took the records and brought them back.
What Happened After
The Texas House of Representatives created a committee to look into the attempt to move the archives. The committee criticized President Houston for trying to move the capital from Austin without Congress's approval. A Senate committee said they did not agree that Austin should be the capital. However, since there was no immediate danger to the city, Houston had no legal reason to move the records.
In 1843, the Senate voted that the archives should be moved if Texas was not at peace with Mexico. The vote was tied again. This time, Burleson voted in favor of the bill, and it passed the Senate. But the Texas House of Representatives rejected it.
The Senate also passed a resolution asking Houston to move government offices back to Austin. Even so, the legislature and government offices continued to operate from Washington-on-the-Brazos. Former president Lamar received a letter in March 1843 saying that Austin was almost empty. Most businesses were closed, but the archives were still there.
On July 4, 1845, a meeting was held in Austin to discuss Texas joining the United States. At that time, all the government records created in Washington-on-the-Brazos were moved to Austin. This created one complete archive.
A bronze statue of Angelina Eberly was placed on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin in the summer of 2004.
