Early Life and Career
Archer was born at Stafford, near Havre de Grace, Maryland, to John and Ann Stump Archer, a wealthy military family. He graduated from Princeton University in 1835 before attending Bacon College in Georgetown, Kentucky. Nicknamed "Sally" at Princeton for his frail and slight physique, he studied law at the University of Maryland and passed the bar exam. He subsequently established a successful law practice. When the Mexican-American War erupted, he volunteered as a captain and served in the U.S. Army in numerous battles, being cited for bravery at Chapultepec and brevetted to the rank of major.
After Mexico, Archer moved to Texas in 1848, and was wounded there in a duel with Andrew Porter, where his "second" in the duel was Thomas J. Jackson. Returning to Maryland, Archer resumed his law practice, but decided in 1855 to join the regular army as a captain in the 9th U.S. Infantry, with whom he served primarily in the Pacific Northwest. Archer never married.
Read more about this topic: James J. Archer
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