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Branch T. Archer


Branch Tanner Archer (December 13, 1790 – September 22, 1856) was a Texan who served as Commissioner to the United States and Speaker of the House of the Republic of Texas House of Representatives and Secretary of War of the Republic of Texas.

Archer was born in Fauquier County, Virginia on December 13, 1790 to Major Peter Field Archer and Frances Tanner. He attended the College of William and Mary and received his medical degree in 1808 from the University of Pennsylvania. Archer married Eloisa Clarke on January 20, 1813; their union produced six children. Archer practiced medicine and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates representing Powhatan County from 1819-1820. Archer was elected as a presidential elector in the United States presidential election, 1820, casting his vote for Virginia's native son, James Monroe (Democratic-Republican). On May 13, 1828, Archer killed his cousin, Dr. James Ottway Crump, in a duel fought with pistols near Scottsville, Virginia, in Powhatan County.

Archer arrived in Texas about 1831, residing in Brazoria County. Archer was an active Mason and helped organize a Masonic Lodge in Brazoria. He was also an outspoken advocate of Texas' independence from Mexico and was elected to represent Brazoria at the Convention of 1833. In October 1835, Archer fought at the Battle of Gonzales which ended in a Mexican withdrawal. The next month he was elected Chairman of the Consultation of 1835, meeting in San Felipe de Austin which formed a provisional government for Texas. Although Archer was a hard-liner in favor of independence, he acceded to the will of the majority which voted to support a return to the Mexican Constitution of 1824.


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