Mrs. Angelina Bell Peyton Eberly
Indianola, Calhoun County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(about 1800 - March 15, 1860) A Tennessean, Angelina Peyton came to Texas in 1822. With her husband, J. C. Peyton, she operated an inn in San Felipe, capital of the Austin colony. Peyton died in 1834; in 1836 the widow married Jacob Eberly. She and Eberly had a hotel in Austin by 1842, when Angelina Eberly discovered men secretly removing records from the capital. Firing a cannon, she started the "Archives War", and rescued the original records of the Republic of Texas. Later she lived at Indianola. Her burial place and marker (3/4 mile NW) were destroyed in a flood in 1875. Recorded - 1978
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Angelina Peyton Eberly came to Texas in 1822 and ran frontier inns and hotels through the turbulent years of the Austin colony and the Republic. In 1842 she spotted men quietly hauling the government's records out of Austin and touched off a cannon to sound the alarm, sparking the so-called "Archives War" that kept the capital—and its papers—in Austin. She later moved to the Gulf port of Indianola, and even her grave was later swept away by the flood that helped doom that town.
Why it matters
Her defiant shot is one of the great origin stories of Austin as Texas's capital, and a reminder that ordinary innkeepers—often women—shaped the fate of a nation's records and seat of government.
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Related people
- · Angelina Bell Peyton Eberly
- · Jacob Eberly
Related events
- · Archives War
Themes & tags
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