On taking command of the army of the Republic of Texas, on her declaration of independence from Mexico, Major General Sam Houston advised his superiors to “keep the navy busy.  To it we must look for essential aid.”  He referred to the hastily improvised navy of the newly proclaimed republic, comprising the schooners Liberty, Invincible, Brutus, and Independence.  The aid they rendered did, indeed, prove essential during the momentous years 1836 and 1837 when the very existence of the infant republic trembled in the balance.

Each of the four schooners of war raided Mexican shipping as far south as the Yucatan Peninsula, evacuated civilians barely ahead of advancing Mexican forces, and, in the face of a Mexican blockade, convoyed to Texas merchant vessels bearing army volunteers and much-needed supplies. 

More importantly, perhaps, the navy symbolized the Texians’ firm commitment to their decision to separate permanently from Mexico, and the fact that their cause was perchance more than a temporarily victorious insurgency after the army’s unexpected defeat of Santa Anna at San Jacinto.  Showing the Texian flag in the Gulf of Mexico and capturing more than a few Mexican vessels attested, more vividly than diplomatic emissaries and an unruly army, to the rise of a new nation-state with political institutions and ambitions, coupled with a fair degree of armed might, and capable perhaps of maintaining a de facto independence even after a ruinous warfare on land.