History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 75

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and also soon retired. Aroused, the Texans
bristled up for another engagement, and
Houston, on the 10th of March, issued a
proclamation calling upon all citizens subject
to military duty to hold themselves in
readiness to repair to the scene of action in
the event of a formidable invasion. On the
21st he addressed a letter to Santa Anna,
again in power, which was published far and
wide. In it were criticisms incited by injudicious
correspondence between him (Santa
Anna) and Bernard E. Bee and General
lHamilton. Santa Anna declared that Mexico
would not cease her efforts until she had
planted her standard upon the Sabine. Houston
replied promptly and boldly, that Texas
would never yield, writing a very eloquent
letter to the old treacherous Mexican. He
declared blockaded all the Mexican ports on
the eastern coast from Tabasco, including
the mouth of the Rio Grande and the Brazos
Santiago. The Texan navy at this time consisted
of four vessels, the other vessels that
had been purchased by authority of the congress
having been wrecked. These vessels
'were transferred to the United States the
next year, upon annexation.
By the way, it may be observed that when
Vasquez occupied San Antonio much alarm
was felt for the safety of Austin and the government
archives. The president removed
his cabinet to Houston, where congress held
its special session of June 27, 1842, and this
aggravated the indignation of the people of
Austin. A vigilance committee was formed,
the records were packed in boxes and a guard
placed over them. Besides, a force was sent
out to guard the roads, to see that no wagon
passed with the archives. December 10,
1842, Houston instructed Captain Thomas I.
Smith to raise a company secretly and bring
the most necessary books and documents to

Washington, where congress was to convene
in regular session that month. Smith avoided
the regular patrols by a circuitous route, entered
Austin December 30, at night, and succeeded
in loading three wagons with records.
This act was a surprise to the inhabitants of
Austin. Smith hastened back, after having
been fired upon without effect by Captain
Mark B. Lewis, who, having rallied a volunteer
company and procured a cannon from
the arsenal, fired at the intruders. Smith encamped
at Kiuney's fort on Brushy creek,
and on the following morning discovered
that Lewis, with his cannon pointed, had
taken a position in front. After some parley,
Smith agreed to take the wagons back
to Austin. This affair has been called the
Archive war. No further attempt was made
to remove the records. The Austin people
retained them until 1845, when, on occasion
of the' annexation convention being summoned
to meet in July, they delivered them
over to the administration of Anson Jones,
on condition that the convention should
assemble at Austin.
THE WAR OF THE " MODERATORS" AND ".REGULATORS.'

This breeze took place during the second
administration of President Houston, in
1842. Early in this century the ," neutral
ground " became the asylum of adventurers
and desperate men. Land commissioners,
especially in Shelby county, found a profitable
business in issuing "headright" certificates.
During this year one Charles W.
Jackson, a fugitive from justice, arrived in
Shelby county from Louisiana, and offered
himself as a candidate for the Texan congress.
Being defeated, he undertook to expose
the land frauds, declaring that his de.

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