New Commodore Takes Helm Of Texas Navy

By Jan. 8, 1836, Capt. Charles Edward Hawkins, new commodore of the rebel navy, was patrolling the coast of Texas and ready to fight the Mexicans on sea as well as land.

Unhappy with the slow pace of peacetime promotions, Midshipman Hawkins quit the United States Navy in the mid-1820s. Following in the footsteps of an equally disgruntled superior, he sold his services to newly independent Mexico. He prowled the Caribbean preying on Spanish shipping and distinguished himself in a major battle off the coast of Cuba.

Hawkins returned to the U.S. in 1828 and for several years piloted a steamboat on the Chattahoochee. Again answering the call of adventure, he took part in the doomed Tampico Expedition of 1835, an escapade he was fortunate to survive.

In December 1835, Hawkins presented his credentials to Gov. Henry Smith, head of the transitional rebel regime. Impressed by his maritime record, Smith referred Hawkins to the agents shopping for used schooners in New Orleans with the recommendation that he be given the first available command.

Hawkins