The Archives War
A war of official government records
The Mexicans are coming
During the spring of 1842 a Mexican General named Rafael Vasquez led his 700 Mexican soldiers on a rampage. He attacked many cities in Texas such as San Antonio, Goliad, Refugio, and Victoria: many Texans feared that their capital of Austin was next.
The Fight Begins
Due to the attacks of the Mexican troops on Texas Sam Houston decided to remove records from Austin in fear of Austin being the next city on Rafael Vasquez's list. The location the documents were to be moved to was Houston,Texas. This decision angered the citizens of Austin because they thought that if the records were moved from Austin to Houston, Houston would become the new capitol of Texas.The people of Austin decided that they would not allow the archives to be moved. so the citizens,led by Angelina Eberly, released fire on the officials loading the documents into wagons. Although the conflict was short , the event was called The Archives War. The documents ended up back in Austin where many Texans believed they should be; Their satisfaction was short lived because in September 1842, Mexican Troops were invading Texas once again; under the command of General Andrian Woll, 1,400 Mexican soldiers captured San Antonio. Hundreds of Texan forces rushed to San Antonio and conflict soon erupted. Mexico had retreated for the moment but with them they took captives.