Breaking News! The Archives War
Bill's News Now! (BNN)
Brief Summary
Causes and Effects/Events of the Archives War
Causes of the Archives War
- Santa Fe Expedition: attempting to enforce their claim for some land using force; due to many Indian attacks their supplies reduced and then the little army was easily taken prisoner by the Mexicans; Texan prisoners were forced to walk 1,200 miles to their prison in Mexico City; 60 Texans died and it cost a great sum of money
- The Texas Navy: Lamar continued his campaigning against the Mexican government in spite of the failure of the previous expedition; sent the Texas Navy to the Yucatan Coast to help rebels fight the Mexican government (rebels paid $8,000 a month to Texas to use the Navy)
Events of the Archives War
The Mexican leaders were upset by the previous actions Lamar did, even though Houston was now back in office. A Mexican force consisting 700 soldiers attacked the Republic in the spring of 1842 under General Rafael Vasquez. He led attacks on San Antonio, Goliad, Refugio, and Victoria. But soon Vasquez returned to Mexico.
Many Texans were frightened when they heard that Mexican soldiers were invading. Houston also feared that there would be an attack on Austin, so he ordered that the archives and records would be withdrawn from the capitol. People living in Austin disagreed with this move because they thought the capitol would move back to Houston. Angelina Eberly led a little rebellion to stop the capitol from moving by firing at the officials that were loading documents onto wagons. That little rebellion was called the Archives War. Eventually the documents were sent back to Austin.
Mexico invaded Texas again in September 1842. Mexico's general, General Adrian Woll and 1,400 other Mexican soldiers captured San Antonio. Texan Samuel Maverick described the devastation invasion.
"We are aroused... by the firing of a... cannon... succeeded [followed] immediately by the... tramp of a body of men. A dense fog obscured [hid] them from actual observation until they had advanced into the public square... when the fog disappeared discovering [revealing] to us that we were surrounded on all sides by the bodies of regular [Mexican] troops."
Many militia and Texas Rangers went in a hurry to destroy Woll's forces at Salado Creek, several miles from San Antonio. The Mexican forces retreated after their defeat and also took captives with them.
Sam Houston
Houston led the Republic of Texas before and after Lamar's (second elected president) term. He helped Texas gain its independence during the time of the Texas Revolution, and was the first president of Texas. The causes of the Archives War weren't his fault, and theoretically it was Lamar's fault. Lamar decided to run the country a little differently then Houston, and that was where everything went hectic. Houston came in and tried to clean up the debt Texas was in, but Lamar already had us too deep in debt. Once Houston was reelected, Lamar kind of just put all the weight of this broken down country for Houston to fix it.
Here's a quote from Sam Houston: "Texas will again lift it's head and stand among the nations. It ought to do so for no country upon the globe can compare with it in natural advantages."
Angelina Eberly
Here's a quote from Angelina Eberly: " I will always choose the right road to follow... and anyone who follows me or chooses the same path that I have chosen, I feel as if it is my duty to lead them through that path."