He was raised at the Henderson House in Dumfries, Virginia until he joined the Marine Corps at the age of 18.

Archibald Henderson was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps on 4 June 1806 and served aboard USS Constitution during her famous victories in the War of 1812.

Henderson is credited with thwarting attempts by President Andrew Jackson to combine the Marine Corps with the Army in 1829.

The sword presented to him at the war's end was inscribed, "From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli", giving the opening words to the Marines' Hymn.

[4] According to Marine lore, the Colonel Commandant had attempted to will his home—actually government-provided quarters in which he had lived for 38 years—to his heirs, having forgotten that they were government owned.