Commodore Henry Livingston Thompson was the second commander of the Texas Navy during the Yucatan Expedition of 1837, under Secretary of the Navy, S. Rhodes Fisher. The Battle of San Jacinto ended the land war of the Texas Revolution, but the war continued at sea between Texas and Mexico’s navies. Although President Houston believed that the Texas Navy should maintain a purely defensive posture in Texas waters, Fisher and Thompson took a more aggressive course of action, calculated to break the Mexican blockade of Texas. They raided and claimed possession of several Mexican islands and battled with Mexican brigs. Thompson’s ship the Invincible was destroyed by storms and could not be salvaged. Both Fisher and Thompson were forced to resign, and Thompson was threatened with court-martial. However, Thompson died before the proceedings could begin.
The papers of Henry L. Thompson, 1837, include a bound volume of letters, depositions, and statements
of charges gathered as evidence for Thompson’s anticipated trial. The papers relate
to charges against Thompson of
The collection is open for research.
Henry L. Thompson Papers, 1837, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s