p1577 -
Gendered Contestations During the Runaway Scrape
My research examines the power dynamics between men, women, and their slaves during the "Runaway Scrape." During this turbulent episode in Texas history (1836), Santa Anna's forces were on the march, Sam Houston and the Texas army fell back to avoid the assault, and much of Texas thought the cause was lost. The women and slaves left behind responded to this crisis by joining the retreat, essentially "running" for their lives. My research will explore archival records from the Texas Revolution focusing on extant memoirs of witnesses of the Runaway Scrape (to date, scholarship on the subject remains decidedly male-centered). My paper focuses on the gendered contestations between those who took to the roads, in particular between women and the men who joined the retreat to the Louisiana border. Amid the chaos (and, likely, because of it), there are numerous examples of women who challenged the authority, decision-making, character, and even manliness of their male counterparts during the early months of 1836. In addition to the terror generated by the advancing Mexican army, the disarray provided the opportunity for increased Indian raids. Military leaders used the threat to women as a recruiting tool, vacillating between who posed the greatest threat: Mexicans, Indians, or runaway slaves. Panic gripped the transnational borderland. In a later account, Mrs. Anne Fagan Teal recalled a man on horseback riding through the country shouting, "Run, run for your lives; Mexicans and Indians are coming, burning and killing as they come."