The first was to defend their coastline from a naval Mexican invasion, and the second was to escort rebel ships back and forth between Texas and the United States, from where the main source of volunteer soldiers and supplies was coming.

However, in the first naval battle of the war involving Texas, rebels boarded the American-owned ship San Felipe and the steamer Laura on September 1, 1835, and then proceeded to attack the Mexican treasury vessel Correo de Mexico off Brazoria, which was taken as a prize to New Orleans.

The Independence became the flagship of the First Texas Navy and was placed under the command of Captain Charles E. Hawkins; she fought a battle with Mexican naval forces on June 14, 1835, off Brazos Santiago.

The next engagement after the Correo de Mexico 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.

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.

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.

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 City 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.

Captain George W. Wheelwright knew he was outgunned so he fled up the river; 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.

[7] 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.