The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953 Page: 46
641 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
and all the baggage of a flying multitude."42 With the approach
of the Mexican army on April 15, the government followed the
example of its people. Aboard the repossessed steamboat it made
its way to Galveston. On the same day Mexican troops rode into
Harrisburg deserted except for three printers who, on the pre-
vious day, had pulled the April 14 issue of the Telegraph and
Texas Register, the first piece of printing in the municipality's
history.43 The Mexicans took the printers captive, tossed the
printing establishment into the bayou, and burned the town. By
some strange inadvertence they left standing but one building,
the home of John W. Moore, who had signed the Declaration of
Texas Independence from Mexico but a few weeks previously."
With the battle of San Jacinto, the most important event to
occur within the municipality, this paper is not concerned. It is
interesting to note that despite Travis' praise of the spirit of the
men of Harrisburg, there were few of them at the battle. Two-
thirds of the municipality's militia had been ordered into service
on March 17 ,5 and in addition there was a Harrisburg Independ-
ent Volunteer Company,6 but apparently both the militia and
volunteers found that they could best serve their country by
escorting the women and children to the United States or by
riding about the countryside impressing foodstuffs and materiel
for the use of those more anxious than themselves to stand up
before Mexican guns.
After the tumult and the shouting attendant upon the over-
whelming victory at San Jacinto had died down, the victorious
army soon marched to the Navidad, and the government set up
housekeeping at Velasco. Most of the participants of the Runaway
Scrape took heart and retraced their steps to their abandoned
homes. Within a few weeks the Municipality of Harrisburg was
again populated with civilians. Since the town of Harrisburg
was hardly more than a site scattered with ashes and charred
42Gray, From Virginia to Texas, 151.
4aTwo copies of this issue are preserved, one in the Houston Public Library and
the other in the University of Texas Library.
44Petition of William P. Harris and others, Harrisburg, October 31, 1836, in
Kemp, Signers, 30-231.
45Thomas J. Rusk to John W. Moore, March 17, 1836, in Binkley, Official Cor-
respondence, I, 512.
46Comptrollers Military Service Records, file David Harris.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953, periodical, 1953; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101145/m1/64/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.