Daily Double Texas News
The Archive War
Trouble is Coming
The Beginning of the worse
Blood Shed Everywhere
"The importance of removing the public archives and government stores from their present dangerous situation at the City of Austin to a place of security, is becoming daily more and more imperative. While they remain where they are, no one knows the hour when they may be utterly destroyed."[9] The men were encouraged to raise a small troop on the premise of conducting an excursion against the native tribes, then quickly secure the archives and transport them.[9]
Smith led over 20 men and 3 wagons into Austin the morning of December 30, 1842. The men were almost finished loading the wagons with papers when they were noticed by Angelina Eberly, owner of a nearby boarding house.[9] Eberly ran to Congress Avenue, where a 6-pound howitzer was situated. She turned the small cannon toward the General Land Office, and fired it. Although some shot hit the General Land Office, there was no real damage and no one was injured.[10] Thank to these men were there . President Houston called the Seventh Congress into session at Washington-on-the-Brazos and at the end of December 1842 sent a company of rangers under Col. Thomas I. Smith and Capt. Eli Chandler to Austin with orders to remove the archives but not to resort to bloodshed.
Smith and his men left quickly, headed northeast to avoid the men patrolling the road through Bastrop.[10] They were accompanied by two clerks from the General Land Office, who were tasked with ensuring the General Land Office records were not harmed or modified
Aftermath
The Texas House of Representatives formed a committee to investigate the attempted transferral of the archives. The committee admonished President Houston for his actions in trying to move the capital from Austin without the approval of Congress.[13] A Senate committee reported that they did not agree that Austin should be the capital, but without an immediate threat to the city, Houston had no legal reason to move the records.[14] In 1843, the Senate voted that the archives should be moved if there was not peace with Mexico. The vote was again tied, but this time Burleson cast his deciding vote in favor of the bill. The Texas House rejected it.[14]
The Senate also issued a resolution encouraging Houston to move the governmental agencies back to Austin.[15] Nevertheless, the legislature and government offices continued to run from Washington-on-the-Brazos.[16] Former president Lamar received a letter in March 1843 that said the town of Austin was almost deserted; most businesses were closed, but the archives were still present.[16]
On July 4, 1845, a convention met in Austin to consider the annexation of Texas to the United States. At that time, the governmental records created in Washington-on-the-Brazos were transferred to Austin, creating a single archive.[16]