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the republic ... In an instant all our work has been destroyed! But God's will be done," he concluded with Christian resignation. 26 Filled with anxiety for his flock and the scattered shepherds, Odin felt discouraged at his inability to put into effect his sanguine plans for the expansion of the work in Texas. "I expected to be in Galveston a few weeks hence," he bemoaned. "_It was my intention to obtain a band of Sisters in the United States for service in San Antonio, as well as several priests ..." All his plans had suddenly been threatened by the scourge of war. Political developments in Texas, 1841-1844. The outbreak of Mexican hostilities was the inevitable consequence of the ill-advised Santa Fe expedition of the Lamar administration. The reelection of Houston and of a conservative Congress in 1841 was but a protest against the ambi- tious and costly program of Lamar and his associates. Santa Anna, returned to power in Mexico, utilized the Santa Fe expedition to arouse public opinion in favor of an invasion of Texas. Rumors of the extensive preparations had been rife through the winter of 1841. Early in the spring of 1842 a Mexican force under General Vasquez crossed the Rio Grande, took and held San Antonio for two or three days. Smaller hands from Matamoros surprised Goliad and Refugio, but the Mexican forces retired within three days without inflicting much damage. The incursion, which purposely timed the capture of San Antonio to coincide with the anniversary of the fall of the Alamo, was deeply resented by the Texans. Ineffectual as the whole campaign turned out to be, it, nevertheless, created a panic in the west, and impelled flight from these scattered settlements. It was to this flight of women and children in search of safety that Odin referred in his letter of March 28. It was, likewise, this panic that was responsible for the exaggerated accounts of the invasion. New Orleans papers erroneously estimated the Mexican troops in Texas at 14,000, and Odin in one of his letters put the number as high as 25,000. 27 Houston himself became alarmed, declared a state of public emergency, and ordered the archives removed to the city of Houston. The refusal of the citizens of Austin to permit the transfer of the archives almost resulted in a civil war, often referred to as the "Archive War." W. H. Daingerfield was sent to the United States to secure money 26 Odin to Etienne, March 28, 1842, C. A. T. 27 For an analysis of news in New Orleans on the Mexican threat and their effect on public opinion, see Bayard, op. cit., 271-282. See also Odin to Etienne, March 28, I 842, C. A. T.
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