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Every source of strength was desperately needed
by the Texans, for in these early spring months,
Mexico's armies were everywhere victorious. Santa
Anna pushed northward, keeping close to the Gulf,
and hoping to use the sealanes to provide him with
logistic support. Throughout the campaign, the
Mexican President kept looking for ships that never
came. The activity of the small but active Texas
Navy spelled the difference.
Finally, on 21 April 1836, General Sam Houston
turned on his pursuer, penned Santa Anna's army
against Buffalo Bayou-which it could not crossand
completely destroyed it, capturing Santa Anna
himself. Houston's soldiers justly received credit for
the decisive battle of San Jacinto; but nevertheless
the victory could not have been won-or the battle
even fought-had temporary naval superiority not
been achieved. Santa Anna was trapped due to his
need to stay near the sea. Weakness afloat prevented
his escape. He was inadequately supplied because
his ships could not reach him.
Like the French fleet at Yorktown in an earlier
American revolution, the Texas squadron did not
see the final land battle. But neither the decisive
engagement in 1781 nor the one in Texas 55 years
later could have been fought successfully without
the victor having first achieved at least a momentary
naval superiority.
The defeat at San Jacinto forced the other two
wings of the Mexican Army to withdraw from Texas.
This retreat ended for all practical purposes any
Mexican pretense of retaining authority in Texasand
made the task of reconquering it by land prohibitively
difficult. The almost impassable arid area
across northern Mexico and southwestern Texas
served as an effective impediment to the use of landpower
alone. The prevention of necessary communications
between central Mexico and the Texas coast
remained the key to successful defense of the new
Republic.
Warship Invincible brought to President Burnet
his first information of the victory at San Jacinto.
Afterward, the little fleet continued its operations
along the coast. Liberty escorted Flora when she took
the wounded General Houston to New Orleans for
hospitalization. While there Liberty, unable to meet
her refitting bills, was detained in May 1836 and
later sold to satisfy her creditors-an event which
illustrated the shoestring budget under which the
Texas Navy was forced to work despite the demands
on it.The other three vessels (Invincible, Brutus and
Pocket) began a blockade of Matamoros at the
mouth of the Rio Grande in an effort to interfere
with attempts of the Mexican Army to return to
Texas. In early September 1836, all three ships went
to New Orleans or New York for overhaul because
Texas lacked the industrial and commercial facilities
to do the work locally.
A typically derring-do Texan incident occurred
on 3 June 1836 when a detachment of twenty Texas
Rangers captured three merchant ships near Corpus
Christi. The Rangers, under Major Isaac Burton,
had been scouting the retreating Mexican Army
when they learned a strange ship was offshore. They
enticed her to send a boat in and, in short order,
captured the boat and the American vessel Watchman,
which was carrying supplies for the Mexicans.
Shortly thereafter, two more American merchantmen,
Comanche and Fanny Butler, also came in
with supplies for the Mexican Army. The Rangers
surprised the crews and seized the ships. The Admiralty
court at Velasco condemned all three vessels
and their cargoes.
By the spring of 1837, while all three Texas
warships were repairing in the United States,
Mexico had a squadron of three brigs and two
schooners blockading Galveston and other Texas
ports. In their zeal to close the coast, the Mexican
ships seized a number of American merchant
vessels suspected. of carrying contraband to the
enemy. The United States consul at Matamoros
requested naval assistance to protect the nation's
shipping, and Commodore Dallas ordered Commander
William Mervine's sloop-of-war Natchez
to investigate.
Mervine entered the Rio Grande in time to witness
the Mexican brig General Urrea escorting the
captured merchantman Louisiana into port. He
swiftly obtained Louisiana's release and then had
a sharp engagement with the Mexican brigs,
General Urrea, General Teran, and General
Bravo, which were supported by fire from the
Mexican-manned fort. Mervine closed the battle
by capturing General Urrea and retaking the
American merchant ship Climax. He took the
former to Pensacola where Commodore Dallas
ordered a court of inquiry to look into what he
regarded as Mervine's precipitous action. He returned
the Mexican brig and apologized for the
incident.8
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U.S. Navy Department. Naval History Division. Texas Navy, book, January 1, 1968; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2419/m1/10/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.