Archives War
By: JaMaya Johnson
Angelina and other citizens firing the six-pound cannon.
Mexican leaders were angered because of Lamar. March 1842 the Mexican army
entered Texas under General Rafael Vasquez signal. They appeared in San Antonio demanding surrender of the town. Texans weren't expecting the visit so president Sam Houston called an emergency session of Texas congress. The citizens opposed and were outraged of Houston's attempt to move the archives. They were willing to fight to keep the archives in their town. The archives were important because they contained items of symbolic and legal value, land tittles, treaties between Texas and Europe countries, military records, official government papers, banners and trophies from the battle of San Jacinto and the seal of Republic.
Houston was sure to move the archives of the Republic of Texas from Austin to Houston. Since Vasquez and the Mexican army had already attacked San Antonio, Goliad, Refugio, and Victoria Houston feared his town would be next. Houston ordered the officials to remove the archives from the capital.
Angelina Eberly, a hero in the archive war, led the citizens and fired a six-pound cannon into General Land's office building, waking the town to what they considered theft. The conflict which ended on New Year's Eve in 1842 became known as the Archive war which was won by the Austinities. Austin preserved as the capital of Texas and keeper of the archives.