Amazing Texas
by T. Jensen Lacey
Summary
The great state of Texas boasts many proud but curious traditions and trivia and this third volume of the Amazing America series enumerates fascinating facts, entertaining tales, bizarre happenings, and historical oddities that give the Lone Star State its intriguing and distinctive character. Native Texans, history enthusiasts, curious travelers, and armchair aficionados of Texas lore will be delighted by the unusual aspects and obscure details celebrated in these pages. Specific locations and visitor information make this a useful guide to further explore the history, folklore, and folkways of this vast and diverse state.
Excerpt
THE INFAMOUS ARCHIVES WAR
In the early days of Texas, one of the decisions the people were obliged to make was the site for their permanent capital. The Texas Congress wanted a place in the state’s center, but Republican President Sam Houston’s idea was to place it in--where else?--his namesake city, Houston.
In 1839, after Mirabeau B. Lamar became the next president of the republic, though, he sided with Congress. That same year, five scouts were sent to do a reconnaissance of central Texas, and the site was chosen to place the capital near Waterloo, which later became Austin.
In a few months, Congress had moved there, holding meetings in rustic log cabins. In September of that year, the archives and furnishings for the permanent capital were moved from Houston to Austin, using 50 ox-drawn carts.
None of this would seem important to anyone who did not take into account that a county seat, capital, or town hall site is nothing without its archives--its official historical documents. A war over these documents ensued, escalating over the years to the point of violence.
In 1841, Sam Houston again became president, but he refused to move to the official residence in Austin: in protest of Austin’s being the capital, he instead took rooms at a local boardinghouse under the management of Mrs. Angelina Eberly (Houston would soon come to regret this decision, as you will see).
He referred to Austin as “the most unfortunate site on earth for a seat of government,” and apparently many other Texans agreed with him. Houston and those of his ilk had only to wait for an opportune moment to seize the archives and take them to Houston, making that city the official capital.
They did not have long to wait: In 1841, the Mexican army invaded, taking control of San Antonio and two other cities, Goliad and Victoria. Sam Houston spoke before a special session of Congress, saying that the city of Houston stood a better chance than Austin of being defended against the southern invaders by virtue of geography, and he ordered the secretary of state to bring the archives to Houston.
On learning of this plan, the citizens of Austin formed a committee of their own--a vigilante committee they called the Committee of Safety. They stood poised to deter any attempt to remove the archives from Austin and warned everyone that any such attempts would be met with violent resistance.
In December 1841, Houston’s group, led by Captain Eli Chandler and Colonel Thomas I. Smith, traveled to Austin with 20 men. Their mission: get all the archives loaded onto wagons and bring them to Houston.
Chandler and Smith had three of the wagons loaded when Mrs. Eberly spotted them and fired a cannon, sending a signal to the Committee of Safety. The committee members chased Houston’s men and their wagons; the men surrounded at gunpoint just outside Austin. The committee members then took the archives and returned them to Austin. Records say that the citizens then celebrated their victory with a New Year’s Eve party.
There’s more to the story, though: The incident was investigated by a select committee of the Texas House of Representatives in January 1843, and the result was a document “highly critical” of the conduct of Sam Houston and his men, but the full House rejected this report and its findings by a vote of 19-18. The issue of placement of a permanent capital was not firmly (or legally) decided until 1850, when the citizens of the state of Texas voted to make Austin their capital city.
Author's Biography
T. Jensen Lacey, M. Ed., is the author of the Amazing America series, including Amazing Texas, Amazing North Carolina and Amazing Tennessee.
A former newspaper columnist, Lacey has published over 700 magazine & newspaper articles. In addition to writing, the author teaches English in Fairhope, Alabama.