Naval operations of the Texas Revolution
Part of the Texas Revolution
File:Texas Schooner Invincible.jpg Texas ship Invincible during the Battle of Galveston Harbor in 1837.
Date 1835 - 1837 Location Texas, Mexico, Gulf of Mexico Result Mexican victory, Texas Navy defeated.
Belligerents
Republic of Texas	Mexico
Commanders and leaders
Samuel Rhoads Fisher Charles Hawkins	Antonio López de Santa Anna

Naval operations of the Texas Revolution were carried out between 1835 and 1837. Following the outbreak of hostilities between Mexico and Texas, the latter organized a small navy to defend it's coastline. Over the course of two years the Texas Navy launched several operations in the Gulf of Mexico which helped supply General Sam Houston's army. Though General Houston defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, armed conflict at sea continued into 1837 until the Texans lost their last two ships in battle in August.^[1]

Operations

During the naval campaign of the revolution, the Texans had three objectives. The first was to defend their coastline from a sea-bourne Mexican invasion, the second being to escort rebel ships back and forth between Texas and the United States where the main source of volunteer soldiers and supplies was coming in from. The third objective was to inflict serious casualties on the Mexicans in the hopes of forcing them to recognize independence of Texas. Mexican naval forces had the mission of trying to blockade the long Texas coast which was impossible for the few ships stationed in the region. Due to the shortage of ships, Mexico's blockade remained largely ineffective throughout the hostilities. This allowed the Texans to import much of their war materials by sea. The Texas Navy in 1835 was nonexistent, the only rebels naval forces were six privateers authorized by the rebel government at the end of the year. However, in the first naval battle of the war involving Texas, rebels boarded the American owned ship San Felipe and the tug Laura on September 1, 1835 and then proceeded in attacking and capturing the Mexican treasury vessel Correo de Mejico off Brazoria, which was taken as a prize to New Orleans.^[2]

Other than the commissioning of privateers, the Texan government agreed to authorize the construction, or purchase, of four schooners on November 24, 1835 for use in defending territorial waters. The first of the ships aquired was the former Revenue Service ship USRC Ingham which fought a battle with Mexican naval forces on June 14, 1835 off Brazos Santiago. Ingham was a small six gun ship of 112 tons and she was renamed Independence. The Independence became the flagship of the First Texas Navy under the command of Captain Charles E. Hawkins. The second schooner was the Brutus, she was nearly twice as large as the Independence and was placed under Captain W. A. Hurd, the former commander of the privateer William Robisnon, which was also aquired for duty in the regular navy. The William Robinson was renamed Liberty and put under the command of Captain W. S. Brown, whose brother, Captain Jeremiah Brown, commanded the forth schooner, named Invincible. The next engagement after the Correo de Mejico affair occurred on December 19, 1835 when the William Robbins liberated the American merchant ship Hannah Elizabeth which had been captured by the Mexicans for carrying two cannons, allegedly intended for the rebels.^[3]

Due to the taking of Correo de Mejico and the Hannah Elizabeth, the Mexican Navy responded by escorting their merchantmen. The schooners Bravo and Vera Cruzana were two of the vessels known to have been involved in escort duty. Meanwhile, the Independence was dipatched on a solo cruise of the Mexican Gulf for the first three months of 1836. She was successful in capturing multiple small fishing vessels and disrupted communications between Mexico and General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army in Texas. On March 3, Captain W. Brown in the Liberty was sailing to the Yucatan when he encountered the armed Mexican merchantman Pelican. In the ensuing battle the Texas captured the enemy ship while under fire from the fortress at Sisal. The Pelican was then sent as a prize to Matagorda but she ran aground on a sanbar off the port and was wrecked. Over 300 kegs of gunpowder and other military supplies was found on board the ship and it eventually was utilized by General Houston's army. Liberty captured the American brig Durango shortly thereafter and it too was found to be carrying Mexican Army supplies. Around the same time, Captain Jeremiah Brown in the Invincible took the American brig Pocket at the mouth of the Rio Grande, she was carrying contraband as well but her owners informed the United States Navy.^[4]

The American Commodore Alexander J. Dallas arrested Captain Brown and his crew for piracy when they sailed into New Orleans that May for provisioning. The charges were eventually dropped on the account that all of the siezed American ships carried Mexican military stores but a civil suit remained in litigation for years afterward. Texan authorities took the time to purchase the Pocket and both the ship and her cargo was used against the Mexicans. On April 3, the Invincibe attacked the Mexican ship Montezuma off Matamoros. Captain Brown maneuvered his schooner in circles around the Montezuma until she ran aground and sank. On April 11, the privateer Flash rescued the refugees and survivors of the Ranaway Scrape, including members of President David G. Burnet's family. The next significant event of the conflict, which had an effect on the naval campaign, was the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. In it, General Houston led an attack on the Mexican Army and routed them, capturing General Santa Anna in the process who was then forced to sign a treaty recognizing the independence of Texas. The fighting on land was over at that point but because the Mexican government never ratified the Treaty of Velasco, the naval campaign continued on for another year.^[5]

After San Jacinto the Invincible was used to deliver the news of victory to President Burnet and the Liberty escorted the ship Flora to New Orleans. The Flora was an unarmed vessel carrying the wounded General Houston who needed better medical attention than what he could recieve in Texas. During the stay in New Orleans, the American navy siezed the Liberty on May 22 and sold her as compensation for unpaid bills. On June 3, twenty Texas Rangers under Major Isaac Burton joined in the naval operations when they boarded and took over three American ships near Corpus Christi. All three were carrying war materials and they were condemned by the admiralty court in Velasco. The United States Navy was quick to respond to this incident, the sloop USS Natchez was sent to Texas and she engaged in an action with Mexican ships off the Rio Grande. In the battle the Americans captured the Mexican brig General Urrea and liberated the merchantman Climax, all while under cannon fire from the two brigs General Teran and General Bravo, as well as a Mexican fort. The American commander, Captain William Mervine, was later found to have exceeded his authority in taking a Mexican warship so he was forced to apologize to the Mexicans and release the General Urrea.^[6]

While the Independence and the Liberty were conducting their missions, the other three Texan warships, Invincible, Brutus and Pocket, were directed to blockade Matamoros until September when they sailed for New Orleans and New York for repairs. These three ships remained in American waters for the rest of the year and finally returned to the war zone in the spring of 1837, by which time the Mexican Navy had sent three brigs and two schooners to blockade Galveston. On April 17, the Independence engaged the Mexican brigs Vencedor del Alamo and Libertador while she was entering the Brazos River. Captain George W. Wheelwright knew he was outgunned so he fled up the river and the Mexicans followed for five hours before finally forcing the Texans to surrender in front of Velasco, Texas and Secretary of the Navy Samuel Rhoads Fisher. The final naval battle of the war was fought on August 26, 1837, just as the Invincible and the Brutus were returning to Galveston after a successful cruise in which five Mexican vessels were captured along with the British brig Eliza Russell. The brigs Vencedor del Alamo and Libertador chased the Invincible before she ran aground and was abandoned and the Brutus was wrecked and sank. Thus the last two rebel ships were destroyed and it wasn't til 1839 that the Texans would have a navy again.^[7]