WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Angelina Eberly? Each year the Austin History Center honors her important participation in establishing Austin as the permanent capital of Texas.___________
After Texas declared independence from Mexico in 1836, General Sam Houston was made leader of the Army at Gonzales. The Mexican Army had been victorious at the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonio and now was in hot pursuit of Houston and his rag-tag new volunteers. Houston was fleeing eastward while training the green soldiers to fight. San Felipe on the Brazos River was on the way to Houston’s choice for the final stand for against Mexico.___________
Angelina and a group of women had cheered and waved to the soldiers sent to delay Santa Anna’s men who were crossing down river from San Felipe. Realizing it was only a delay, they joined terrified citizens in the “Runaway Scrape.” The deserted town was set on fire to prevent the Mexicans from acquiring its store of goods._____________________________________________________
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In 1839, Angelina met Jacob Eberly. They married and settled in the Austin. She bought lots on W. Pecan (6th street) and built Eberly House one of the first hotels in the new city on the Colorado River. Jacob died in 1841 but Angelina and her hotel prevailed.__________
December 13, 1841, President Sam Houston entertained the senate and house members in the hotel after his second inauguration, but he had nothing good to say about Eberly House or Austin. He wrote to his wife Margaret, “I can get nothing fit to eat here. I would pity a dog that was situated as I am…destitute and miserable.”__________
The government was moved to Washington on the Brazos but defiant Austin citizens refused to part with the archives. Houston’s men stole into Austin one dark night to sneak the archives out of town. They were noticed and a cannon was rolled onto Congress Avenue. Angelia fired the warning shot to alert the townspeople who chased Houston’s men 20 miles north to Brushy Creek. The sealed tin boxes of archives were retrieved, taken to Eberly House and buried for safe keeping. Later a bronze sculpture of Angelina firing the cannon was installed in Austin on Congress Avenue.
Ref. Several Texas history books were referenced for this colorful tale. Carole Sikes 1/21
WHAT DO YOU KNOW
WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Spanish Texas? It is believed that the shoreline from Florida to Texas was first viewed by a Spaniard as early as 1519. Spanish explorers came long before the English settled the Atlantic Coast of North America______ Strong, proud Spain struggled to persuade its own citizens to colonize the vast and remote lands in North America, so in 1820, it opened up Texas to Anglo Americans. After Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, sparsely populated Texas became part of the Mexican Nation. Both Mexicans and U. S. citizens, wanting inexpensive land to farm and ranch, flocked to Tejas. This accounts for the myriad of Spanish names for towns, counties, rivers and creeks, mountains and islands.______ Spaniards brought horses. Many became wild, multiplied and were acquired and tamed by Indians. Spanish laws had established land ownership, water rights, community property and inheritance by daughters and widows. Crops were brought and irrigation was implemented. Pre...
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