Stephen F. Austin's Desk

What would you take if you were forced to flee your home?

Some things are too good to be left behind, such as this long-leaf pine desk which belonged to Stephen F. Austin. Austin, who created the first Anglo-American colony in the Tejas region of Mexico, fled with colony settlers when they got word of the fall of the Alamo. On March 29, 1836, in what is known as the Runaway Scrape, San Felipe was burned by evacuees to prevent it from falling into the clutches of the Mexican army.