Archer was built in Baltimore, Maryland at the Schott and Whitney shipyard.

Originally called the Galveston, she was rechristened in honor of Branch Tanner Archer, a diplomat of the Republic of Texas.

[1] She was the last ship of the Texas Navy to be delivered under a contract with the shipbuilding firm Schott and Whitney.

In response to the raids of Mexican generals Rafael Vásquez and Adrián Woll, she was commissioned in 1842.

In April of that year she was sent to New Orleans, Louisiana for refitting and re-arming, most of her guns having been transferred to the Austin and the Wharton.