TEXAS SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The RevolutionDuring the Texas Revolution of 1836, Gen. Sam Houston repeatedly dismayed Texans to despair andrebellion by his series of strategic retreats from Santa Anna’s Mexican forces. Discouraged Texans deserted andreturned home in increasing numbers as the army retreated to San Felipe itself. On March 30, 1836, based on anerroneous scouting report of Mexican forces approaching the town, occupants of the settlement were urged toevacuate immediately in what was later called the Runaway Scrape. 14 The young widow, responsible for manylives, could grab few necessities to provide for her large household. She pleaded with Captain Moseley Baker,saying, “Don’t burn the town—all I have is there.” 15 However, Captain Baker’s men did burn San Felipe toprevent it from being taken over by the Mexican forces. Baker later claimed that Houston had ordered him to doso, which Houston denied. 16The New CapitalAngelina’s feelings upon seeing her San Felipe inn and all her possessions destroyed may have furthereda distaste for Houston well-established among her circle back in Tennessee. Angelina maintained a lifelongcorrespondence with her politician brother Balie Peyton. As a result, she was aware of the flamboyant Tennesseegovernor’s increasingly controversial reputation long before his six-foot-five frame had darkened the door of herinn, which occurred no later than the Constitutional Convention of 1833. Back in Tennessee, her friend, ElizaAllen, had married Houston only to return home soon after the wedding. Allen told only her family and Angelina’sbrother Balie 17 why she had left Governor Houston. Vicious public speculation about the reason for her desertionsoon compelled Houston to resign his office. He retreated from Tennessee society to live with a Cherokee wife,who also soon left him. 18Texas offered Houston a fresh start. He served as commander of the Texan Army in the revolution, finallydefeating Santa Anna at the battle of San Jacinto.During the battle, a Captain Jacob Eberly had commanded the forces on Galveston Island. 19 Angelinamarried Eberly in 1836 in his hometown of Columbia. They afterwards lived briefly on Wilbarger Creek nearBastrop before moving to Austin in 1839. 2014King, Lady Cannoneer, 77-78.15Holley, “Interviews.”16Stephen L. Hardin, A Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution, 1835–1836 (Austin: Univ. of Tex. Press, 1996),188, citing David G. Burnet in Frank Tolbert, The Day of San Jacinto (Austin: Jenkins Pub. Co., 1969), 81; Thomas W. Cutrer,“Baker, Mosely,” Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fba37, accessed July 2, 2015.17Despite other variations in spelling, Balie Peyton’s first name is listed as Balie in governmental records and in a biography by WalterP. Durham, Balie Peyton of Tennessee: Nineteenth Century Politics and Thoroughbreds (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2004).18Haley, Houston, 70.19Stephen Moore, Eighteen Minutes: The Battle of San Jacinto and the Texas Independence Campaign (Lanham, Md.: Republic of Tex.Press, 2004), referencing John H. Jenkins, Papers of the Texas Revolution, 1835–1836 (Austin: Dolph Briscoe Ctr. for Am. Hist.,Univ. of Tex. at Austin, 2004), V, 253.20Dana DeBeauvoir, “Inside the Archives: The Tylee and Eberly Families–A Peek at Some of Our Most Interesting Families,” websiteof the Travis County Clerk, citing Alexander Somervell’s May 31, 1841 affidavit about the late Jacob Eberly’s 1834 sale of AustinCounty land to the late James Tylee, http://www.traviscountyclerk.org/eclerk/Content.do?code=news.somervell.affidavit, accessed June26, 2015.41