The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in 1790 as an armed maritime law enforcement service. Throughout its entire existence the Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the United States Department of the Treasury. In 1915 the Service merged with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard.
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Immediately after the American Revolutionary War the new United States was struggling to stay afloat financially. National income was desperately needed, and the government determined that a great deal of this income would come from import tariffs. Because of rampant smuggling, the need was immediate for strong enforcement of tariff laws, and on August 4, 1790, the United States Congress, urged on by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, created the Revenue-Marine, later renamed the Revenue Cutter Service by act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat. 171).[1] It would be the responsibility of the new Revenue-Marine to enforce the tariff and all other maritime laws. In 1832, Secretary of the Treasury Louis McLane issued written orders for revenue cutters to conduct winter cruises to assist mariners in need, and Congress made the practice an official part of regulations in 1837. This was the beginning of the lifesaving mission for which the later U.S. Coast Guard would be best known worldwide.
Ten cutters were initially ordered. Between 1790 and 1798, the Revenue-Marine was the only armed maritime service of the United States. Each cutter captain was answerable to and received his sailing orders directly from the Collector of Customs of the port to which his ship was assigned. This was the case from 1791 to 1871, except for the period 1843-49, when oversight was vested in the Revenue Marine Division of the Treasury Department. A new Revenue Marine Division was established in 1871, then became the Revenue Cutter Service by act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat. 171). All crew pay, requests for supplies, arrangements for repairs to the cutter, and mission-specific tasking came directly from the port's Customs House. Standing orders for individual cutters were stated in general terms, allowing captains to exercise their discretion and judgement to the fullest. Captains also had far-reaching authority "to seize vessels and goods in the cases in which they are liable to seizure for breaches of the Revenue laws" and to send inspection parties aboard vessels already in port to ensure that cargo intended for export also did not violate revenue laws. Yet despite this considerable authority, Alexander Hamilton, in his first letter of instruction to the captains, had specifically directed that they "will always keep in mind that their countrymen are freemen, and, as such, are impatient of everything that bears the least mark of a domineering spirit....They will endeavor to overcome difficulties, if any are experienced, by a cool and temperate perseverance in their duty – by address and moderation, rather than by vehemence or violence."
During the Quasi-War with France from 1798 to 1801, the U.S. Navy was formed and the Revenue-Marine fought alongside the Navy, capturing or assisting in the capture of 20 French ships. Ten of these were captured by the USRC Pickering.
After 1794, the Revenue-Marine began intercepting slave ships illegally importing slaves into the United States. Many slave ships were seized and hundreds of would-be slaves were freed. The best-known incident of slaver interdiction is the case of the schooner La Amistad, encountered off the coast of Long Island by the USRC Washington. Although none of the original crew was aboard when the schooner was boarded, the vessel was escorted into New Haven, where the trial made famous by the film Amistad was held.
Revenue cutters were assigned to enforce the very unpopular Embargo Act of 1807, which outlawed nearly all European trade, import and export, through American ports. The Act was enforced until it was repealed in 1808.
In wartime, the Revenue-Marine was placed under the command of the United States Navy, and the cutters themselves were often placed into military service. In the War of 1812 against Britain, a Revenue Cutter (USRC Jefferson) made the first American capture of an enemy ship, the brig Patriot, in June 1812.[2]
On 3 August 1812, the boats of the British frigates Maidstone and Spartan captured the 6-gun revenue cutter Commodore Barry in the Little River, Bay of Fundy, together with three privateer schooners, Madison, Olive, and Spence (or Spruce).[3]
Then on 22 August 1812, HMS Barbadoes, under the command of Captain Thomas Huskisson, captured the USRC James Madison after a chase of seven hours. James Madison was pierced for fourteen guns but had only ten mounted, two of which she threw overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 65 men. She was seven days out of Savannah and had made no captures. Huskisson described her thusly: "[She is] coppered and copper-fastened, is two years old, and sails remarkably fast."[4]
The small Revenue Cutter Surveyor, with a crew of 16 and an armament of only six 12-pounder (5 kg) carronades, was anchored in the York River, Virginia, on the night of 12 June 1813, when a 90-man boarding party from the British frigate Narcissus attacked her. The Revenue Service seamen under the command of Captain William S. Travis were taken by surprise and the carronades could not be used. After a fierce hand-to-hand fight that left five Americans wounded and three British dead, the British succeeded in taking Surveyor. Later, Captain Crerie of the Narcissus returned Captain Travis's sword to him—an unusual gesture of respect—for his "gallant defense" of Surveyor.
On 11 October 1814, the Revenue Cutter Eagle encountered the much larger British Cruizer-class brig-sloop Dispatch, which was guarding the Suzan, a captured American merchant ship. The Eagle was badly outgunned by the Dispatch, and Captain Frederick Lee beached the Eagle on Long Island to avoid being sunk. Not yet defeated, the Revenue Cutter seamen removed the guns from the Eagle, hoisted them up a 160-foot bluff, dragged them into position, and continued firing at the Dispatch. When the Americans ran out of cannonballs, they still did not surrender, instead retrieving the cannonballs fired at them by the Dispatch and shooting them back at the British. Even after being forced to use the ship's logbook for wadding, the crew of the Eagle fought on—until finally they were overwhelmed and captured by the British.
After the War of 1812, British and Spanish sea power in the Caribbean and Gulf Of Mexico weakened, allowing a resurgence of piracy along the Gulf Coast. Revenue cutters were dispatched to fight the pirates. In 1819, the one-gun schooners USRC Alabama and USRC Louisiana fought two engagements with pirates, one on the open sea and another at Breton Island, Louisiana. On July 19, 1820, Alabama captured four pirate ships off Belize. In 1822, with USS Peacock and HMS Speedwell, Alabama engaged pirates again, which resulted in the taking of five more pirate ships.
Revenue-Marine cutters again served under the U.S. Navy in the Mexican-American War of 1846–1848. The cutters were crucial for shallow-water amphibious assaults.
On April 11, 1861, the USRC Harriet Lane fired the first shots of the maritime conflict in the American Civil War of 1861-1865. The cutter fired a shot across the bow of the civilian steamship Nashville as it tried to enter Charleston Harbor during the bombardment of Fort Sumter because the Nashville was flying no identifying flag. The civilian ship then promptly raised the U.S. standard, and the USRC Harriet Lane broke off.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the following order to the Secretary of the Treasury on June 14, 1863: "You will co-operate by the revenue cutters under your direction with the navy in arresting rebel depredations on American commerce and transportation and in capturing rebels engaged therein."
Revenue cutters assisted Navy operations throughout the war. The USRC Harriet Lane joined a Federal naval squadron to capture Forts Clark and Hatteras, which served as bases for Confederate blockade runners. USRC E.A. Stevens, a prototype 110-foot semi-submersible ironclad gunboat, in company with the USS Monitor, USS Galena, and two other gunboats, participated in the unsuccessful sortie up the James River to Drewry's Bluff to attack the Confederate capital at Richmond. After carrying President Lincoln from Washington on May 9, 1862, the USRC Miami assisted navy transports in landing Federal troops at Ocean View, Virginia.
When Lincoln was assassinated on April 15, 1865, revenue cutters were ordered to search all ships for any assassins who might be trying to escape.
During the harsh winter of 1897-1898, Lieutenant David H. Jarvis of the US Revenue Cutter Bear led a relief party to 265 whalers whose ships had been stranded in the ice off the northern coast of Alaska.[5]
With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the Revenue Cutter Service saw plenty of action in both the Cuban and Philippine theaters. Many revenue cutters were assigned to the blockade of Havana Harbor. During the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, Revenue Cutter Hugh McCulloch fought with the American fleet under Admiral George Dewey.
On May 11, 1898, the Revenue Cutter Hudson, equipped with two 6-pounder (3 kg) guns and a machine gun, took part in the Battle of Cárdenas off the coast of Cárdenas, Cuba. Together with the torpedo boat Winslow, Hudson fought against a Spanish gunboat and coastal batteries until forced to withdraw. Under extremely heavy fire, Hudson towed the disabled Winslow away from the battle. Congress awarded Frank Newcomb, the captain of the Hudson, a gold medal for his bravery.
President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Act to Create the Coast Guard on January 28, 1915. This Act combined the Revenue Cutter Service with the Lifesaving Service to form the new United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard would further incorporate the United States Lighthouse Service in 1939 and the Navigation and Steamboat Inspection Service in 1942.
In 1990, the United States Coast Guard created a military award known as the Coast Guard Bicentennial Unit Commendation which commemorated the original founding of the Revenue Cutter Service.