The Archive War

Austin became the capital of the Republic of Texas in 1839, and the National Archives, including state papers and land titles, were housed on Congress Avenue. In 1842, after Mexican armies seized San Antonio and seemed likely to capture Austin, many residents fled in what was called “The Breakup.” From his home in Galveston, President Sam Houston ordered the removal of the government papers, and a local “Archive Committee” responded by burying them. He then tried unsuccessfully to have Congress create a new capital near the coast. Later, his men came secretly to haul the papers to the interim capital, Washington-on-the-Brazos, loading them before dawn on Dec. 30, 1842. Mrs. Angelina Eberly, a noted innkeeper and one of the few women in Austin during The Breakup, discovered the men loading the archives in darkness and ran to the city cannon on Congress Avenue at Pecan (6th) Street, firing at the wagons. The 26 men departed with the records, but about 68 citizens rode after them, hauling along the city cannon, and some 20 miles from Austin they retrieved the archives without bloodshed. Because the archives remained there, the President and the Congress returned in 1845, preserving Austin as the capital of the Republic and later the state.

Austin, Texas · United States