Question: A statue of Angelina Eberly was unveiled in Austin in 2004. What was she known for?
Answer: Angelina Eberly was an innkeeper who alerted the citizens of Austin to President Sam Houston’s secret attempt to remove government records from the General Land Office during the Texas Archives War. The “war” was a conflict over where such records should be stored and, by extension, what town would be recognized as the capital of the Republic.
When Eberly noticed a group of men loading up wagons with documents on the morning of December 30, 1842, she fired a six-pound cannon, preventing them from escaping unnoticed. The records were ultimately returned, and Austin remained the capital. A bronze statue of Eberly was erected on Congress Avenue near the site where she fired the cannon.
