Archives War

The Archives War was an altercation over possession of the archives of the General Land Office in 1842. When the Mexican Army appeared in San Antonio in March 1842, President Sam Houston called an emergency meeting in Houston and ordered the Texas government be moved there, including all official papers. Residents of Austin, fearing that the removal of the archives would lead to the end of their city, formed a vigilance committee to prevent their removal. After a couple aborted attempts, Houston ordered a group of Texas Rangers along with some Land Office officials to retrieve the archives, which they did at night. A local innkeeper, Angelina Eberly, noticed what was happening and fired off a cannon that was used for home defense to alert the town. The vigilance committee chased the Rangers a few miles outside of town and retrieved the archives. The papers were taken to Eberly’s inn, where they were buried and held hostage. Despite repeated requests, the citizens of Austin refused to turn the archives over to the government until being assured that the government would return to Austin.