that he be instructed and re-examined since he was a good sailor. Only a
few (about one-fourth) appeared for the examinations.

In October Howard was removed from New York and put in command
of the cutter he despised — the Philip Allen. He was ordered to sail her to Havre
de Grace, Maryland, where on October 27, he was visited by Assistant
Secretary Harrington.* What happened at that meeting is not reported in
letters or in Allen’s journal, but two weeks later, Howard resigned from the
Revenue Marine Service in order to join the Army. He became Colonel in
the 1st New York Artillery, remaining in the Army until the end of the war,
but changing to the 13th New York Heavy Artillery as a Colonel in 1863

That was not the last that the Revenue Marine Service was to hear of
William Howard. After the war, he was appointed by the United States Senate
to inspect all the cutters on the Atlantic seaboard. Two years later he was
put in charge of an expedition to Alaska on the new steam cutter Lincoln.
He remained on special duty until 1870 when his health failed. He died in

1871.95



The Mahoning continued to cruise in New England until 1898 when she
was ordered to join the Navy at Havana in the Spanish-American War. She
was the only cutter to serve in both the Givil War and the Spanish-American
War. She returned to Maine in 1898 and remained in that’area until 1915
After 52 years of service the cutter was sold to Thomas Butler of 15-23 Med-
ford Street, Boston, for $4,286 August 10, 1915.15

Wayanda

Built by Fardy and Brother at Baltimore, the Wayanda, (originally called
“Wawayanda”), cost $103,000.!® She was launched September 1, 1863 and
christened by the Baltimore Collector's 8-year-old daughter, Betsy Hoffman.
She was ordered to Washington Navy Yard the following May under com-
mand of Captain John J. White. Her first assignment was to take Governor
and Mrs. Sprague and friends on an overnight cruise along the Potomac
As they passed Mount Vernon, they ‘half-masted the colors and tolled the
bell.” En route they were joined by the cutter Tiger with Assistant Treasury
Secretary Harrington on board. He joined them on the Wayanda.

Ten days later Captain White was ordered to take Mrs. Sprague to
Newport. In August, the Wayanda went to New York and was put into a
drydock in Brooklyn for repairs. On February 2, 1865, there was a change
of command, Captain Faunce taking the helm briefly until Captain Merryman
arrived to take the cutter to Port Royal to join the Cotton Fleet. On February
6, Wayanda and Kewanee crossed the bar off Port Royal together and com-
municated with Admiral Dahlgren. They were ordered to convoy 24 cotton
vessels to New York, leaving February 8.

‘The Wayanda, whose number in the fleet was 23, (which she carried at the
fore) outpaced the fleet and was well ahead, even of the flagship U.S.S. Flag,
by nightfall. The Kezoanee too was in the lead but the fleet was scattered in
a severe storm—“snowing and blowing strong” — halfway up the coast. The
Wayanda reached port with split sails February 14. All the vessels were con-
siderably damaged by the gale, including the Kewanee which failed to appear
in New York until February 19.

The cutter convoyed a second fleet to New York in March, leaving Savan-

nah March 16 and arriving March 19. She was then ordered to remain at
Staten Island to protect the huge quantities of cotton piled up in warchouses
at the Quarantine Station. She was there April 19 when word of Lincoln's
assassination was received. Merryman ordered the colors set at half mast,
and the yards cock-billed. ‘That is to trim the yards by the lifts in a diagonal
manner. All work was suspended that day and the next. They fired 36 minute
guns as a tribute to the late President

In May 1865 the Wayanda was sent to Fortress Monroe where Salmon P.
Chase, now Chief Justice, came on board with a party of dignitaries to tour
the conquered South. They took a special pilot on board and left May 2,
reaching Beaufort, North Carolina, three days later. They next visited Fort
Fisher but did not go up to Wilmington, North Carolina. On the tenth they

14-4



CHAPTER II

New Flags for Old

On December 17, 1860, South Carolina statesmen in convention at Colum-
bia voted 159 to 0 to secede from the Union. Three days later, the State was
“a free and independent nation.” Church bells and cannon alike proclaimed
the momentous tidings.!

Within six weeks, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and
Texas had followed South Carolina’s example and by February 9, the seven
states had formed the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson
Davis as President. All forts and navy yards in the seceding states, except
for Fort Sumter at Charleston and Fort Pickens at Pensacola, were seized,
and all Federal officials were told to pack up and go North, or better still,
join the South.

The Aiken Hoists the Palmetto Flag

The United States Revenue Cutter William Aiken was then tied up at the
Southern Wharf on the Charleston waterfront and her commander, Captain
Goste, was in a quandary. The Aiken flew the American ensign and the
Revenue Marine Service pennant, and the Captain had taken the double oath
of allegiance, both to the United States Government and the Revenue Marine
Service. He attempted to get the cutter off the wharf but failed. Third Lieuten-
ant Horace I. Gambrill, writing the journal for the day, does not say why
the cutter was detained or why Captain Coste wanted to get her off. She re-
mained at the wharf until December 26 when she “hauled off” and went around
to her anchorage in the Ashley River off Chisholm’s Rice Mill — today a Coast
Guard station where there is still rice in the attic. Her American flag was
still flying



Bibb 1845-1861
Black, Jeremiah S, 1857-1864
Bronx (Addison Andrews) 1863-1873
Brown, Aar 864
Campbell, James 1853-1875
Cass, Lewis 1856-1861
Chase, Samuel P, 1865-1875
Cobb, Howell 1857-186
Commodore Perry 1864-1883
Corvin, Thomas 1861 (no journals)
Cravwford 1861-1869
Cushing, Caleb 1853-1863

nta Anna) 1863-1867
Davis, Jefferson 1853-1861
Delaware 1865-1873
Dobbin, James C. 1853-1881
Dodge, Henry 1856-1861
Duane, William J. 1849-1861
Fessenden, William P. 1865-1908
Forward, Walter 1842-1865
Hector 186+
Henrietta 1861-1862 (no journals)
Hercules 1861-1864
Hope 1861
Jackson, Andrew 1833-1865
Johnson, Andrew 1865-1897
Kankakeo 1863-1867
Kewance 1863-1867
Lane, Harriet 1857-1861
Lane, Joseph (Campbell) 1849-1869

874

Robert 1853-1861
McCulloch, Hugh 1865-1876
Mahoning (Levi Woodbury) 1863-1873
Marcy, William L. 1853-1862
Miami (Lady Le Marchant) 1862-1871
Miller, Joc 1862
Mocassin 1865-1891
Morris 1849-1868
Nansemond 1865-1873
Nemaha (Flora) 1862-1868
Northerner (Ewing) 1864-1874
Pawotuxet 1864-1867
Reliance 1861-1865
Seward, William H. 1864-1901
Shubrick, William 1856-1867
Stevens, EA, (Naugatuck) 1861-1889

Sumner, General 1861 (no journals)

Thompson, Jacob 1857-1869
Tiger 1861-1865

Toucey, Isaac 1857-1869
Uno 1865-1873

Varina 1861-1865

Vixen 1861 (no journals)

Wayanda (Wawayanda) 1863-1878



Ibid, Apr. 12, 1862
Ibid, May 1862

Ibid, May 5, 1862
Ibid

Sandburg, pp. 486-488

. Journal of Miami, May 7, 1862

Fort Monroe Casement Museum, Tales of Old Fort Monroe; Abraham Lincoln's Campaign Against
the Merrimack. Box 341, Fort Monroe, Va. No date, pp. 1-4

Ibid

Journal of Miami. May 7, 1862

Tales of Old Fort Monroe. Pg. 1

Journal of Miami. May 7, 1862

Ibid, May 8, 9, 1862

Ibid. Miami's officers are said (o have asked Lincoln if they should fire on the horsemen.
He told them to leave them alone.

Ibid, May 10, 1862

Ibid

Ibid, May 15, 1862

Ibid, Sept. 29, 1862

Chapter Xl—Cutters on the West Coast

1

Delgado, James P., fn the Midst of a Great Excitement; the Argosy of the Revenue Cutter C. W. Laworence.
Salem, Mass.: Peabody Muscum. ‘The American Neptune, vol. XLV, No, 2, Spring 1985
Pp. 128-129

Record of Movements, Vol. 1, p. 75

Ibid, p. 128

Ibid, Vol. 1, pp. 67, 305-306; vol. 2, p. 419

Kern, p. 69

Ibid, p. 128

Letters and Papers of William Cooke Pease. Edgartown, Mass: Dukes County Historical Society

Journal of Joseph Lane, June 1861

Ibid, Aug.-Oct. 1861

Journal of Marcy. Nov. 2, 1861

Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865. Washington, D.C.: Navy Department, Naval History
Division, 1971, pp. 61-65

Letters Received. Nov. 1861

Ibid

Journal of Shubrick. Nov. 13, 1861

Description of Revenue Cutter Shubrick. Edgartown, Mass.: Dukes County Historical Society

Letters Sent. March 5, 1862

7. Journal of Shubrick, Jan. 1862

Ibid, Jan. 18-25, 1862
Ibid, Feb. 15, 1862

Ibid, Jan.-July 1862

Letters Received. Apr.-May 1862
Letters Sent. May 1862
Sandburg, vol. 1., p. 232



THE UNITED STATES
REVENUE CUTTERS IN
THE CIVIL WAR

By FLORENCE KERN

A U.S. COAST GUARD BICENTENNIAL PUBLICATION



The Hoboken ironclad continued to assist Goldsborough during the
dramatic week of May 5 when President Lincoln and Secretaries Stanton and
Chase appeared to hasten the capture of Norfolk. A week after the city was
taken, she was ordered to go with a Navy fleet, including the Monitor, up

the James River to attach Richmond. All went well until the vessels reached

the well-manned batteries at Drewry’s Bluff, almost within sight of Richmond.
Here, although shot bounced off the Stevens’ iron sides, her guns could not
be elevated to reach the batteries at the top of the bluff. In addition, her big
West Point gun exploded when it was fired. Miraculously no one was killed
or injured but the Stevens with the rest of the fleet returned to Hampton Bay,
mission not accomplished. !

The Norfolk episode may have been too much for Constable. His health
failed, and on May 29, he was detached from Stevens and assigned to special
duty in New York. In 1863 he was delegated to supervise the building of new
steam cutters for the service.'®

In November 1862 the Stevens was ordered to stand guard at Throggs Neck
at the Long Island Sound entrance to New York Harbor. She remained there
until the following February when she was ordered to the Narrows to guard
the seaward entrance to the harbor. In July 1863 she towed the schooner Varina
to Philadelphia via Cape May.'7

About this time Secretary Chase ordered that her name be changed back
to the original “Naugatuck” on the recommendation of her officers. This seems
to have caused some concern in New York for, on December 13, 1863, Barney
received the following letter from the Treasury Department:

“In regard to the Revenue Cutter called Naugatuck by the officers in com-
mand I have to say that the former name, viz E. A. Stevens is the proper
name and only one recognized by the department. '*

Back at Throggs Neck in August 1863, a terrible explosion occurred when
the pivot gun was being tested. The breech of the gun burst and went through
the wheelhouse and cabin, severely injuring Lieutenant George Walden, son
of the renouned, retired Captain Green Walden, and six other men. She was
hastily repaired and continued on duty, her men inspecting about 62 vessels
a day. She remained at Throggs Neck for the rest of the war, except for short
intervals when she relieved Miami at the Narrows. Late in 1865 she was
ordered to New Bern, North Carolina. She spent the rest of her days in New
Bern, Baltimore and Norfolk until she was sold to Henry Brown in Baltimore
April 24, 1890 for $3,025.!9



We lay there helpless for 48 hours and for the first 24 hours the sea was
making a clean breach over us. The Lane lay on her side and all that
saved us was that the seas hit the bottom of the vessel instead of the decks.
The small boats were all swamped. The steamer was bent and buckled
so that bolts were snapped off the bulkheads and the boilers were wrenched
so that is was impossible to make steam. "®

Faunce spent another sleepless night trying to save the cutter he had helped
to build and had commanded ever since she first hit the water. The next after-
noon, at 2:20 P.M. she began to move. He wrote:

“31st— Hauled fire in port boiler, and blew off water and steam, to lighten
ship. At 2:20 p.m., after laboring nearly fifty hours, succeeded in haul-
ing the vessel off the shoal. Steam tugs Fanny and Tempest took her in
tow, and at 3:30 came to anchor in Hatteras inlet, off Fort Hatteras.”"

He remained at Hatteras until September 4, making temporary repairs
and taking on seven tons of coal from the Pawnee. The cutter was in running
order at 6 A.M. on the 4th, and back at Hampton Roads September 6.

Five days later, Treasury Secretary wrote the following letter to G. V. Fox,
Acting Secretary of the Navy:

“I have the honor to transmit herewith the papers necessary to the per-
manent transfer of the Rev Steamer “Harriet Lane” to the Navy Dept
as required by law. I will thank you to cause a requisition to issue for
the amount of the enclosed account, directing the same to be covered
into the Treasury by Counter Warrant as a miscellaneous receipt to be
refunded to the appropriation for a suitable Steamer or Rev Cutter in
accordance with 5 Section of Act of Congress of 25 July 1861.

The officers and men of the “Harriet Lane” will be detached without
delay.”"7

He enclosed a message from President Lincoln written September 2, saying:
“By virtue of authority rested in me under the 5 Section of an Act of Con-
gress entitled an “Act relative to the Revenue Marine, to fix the compen-
sation of the officers thereof and for other purposes” approved 25 July

1861, I hereby transfer permanently to the Navy, the Steamer “Harriet
Lane” heretofore belonging to the Revenue Cutter Serivce.”!®

Plans for the sale of the cutter to the Navy had already gone through when

she was struggling to free herself from the Hatteras sand. She was sold for
$150,000, the sum to be used to purchase “a suitable steamer or Rev Cutter”!®
for the service President Lincoln now called the “Revenue Cutter Service.”
The deal went through, marked

Approved
Abraham Lincoln

It must have been a sad day for Captain Faunce when he heard the news.
Having commanded the cutter since she was launched in February 1858, and

7-6



Journal of Reliance. Aug. 12, 1864
Ibid, 1863-1864

Letters. Received, 1864

Journal of Reliance, 186+

Ibid, Aug. 12, 1864

Chapter XVi—The Four Great Captains
1. Personal Records. Howard, Faunce, McGowan, Ottinger

Letters Received, June 25, 1863

Ibid, 1864

Letters Sent. 1864

Ibid

Record of Movements. Vol 2, p. 67

Journal of Antietam, 1864-1871

Record of Movements. Vol. 1, p. 67

Ibid, pp. 216-220

Journal of Northerner. Apr. 19, 1865

Tid, 1865-1866

Record of Movements. Vol. 1, p. 220

Ibid, p. 270-273

Ibid, p. 273

Annual Report of the American Historical Society, 1896. Washington, D.C.: G.P.O. 1897
1, pp. 344-349

Letters Received, Oct. 18, 1864

Ibid

Ibid, Dec. 1864



Whether Ives got his boarding net or not is not known. Hope remained
in the Chesapeake only until October 11 when she was ordered to New York.
By then Ives had had enough of the Revenue Marine Service. On November
4 he asked to withdraw with his yacht from the service. Four days later she
was decommissioned. ”8

The Cruiser and the Joe Miller

Two small vessels, a schooner and a sloop, which may have been yachts,
were chartered in Chesapeake Bay in September 1862 to assist the Revenue
Marine. Both were commanded by Lieutenant Daniel D. Tompkins of the
Revenue Marine. Their logs are in the National Archives but neither is listed
in official Revenue Marine records.

The Joe Miller's journal, three sheets of London stationery sewed together
and now browned and frayed, was signed by her commander and Captain
McGowan of the cutter Reliance. The title reads:

Abstract of the Journal of the U.S. Rev. Sloop Joe Miller. Daniel D. Tomp-
kins, Lieut. Com’d’g. From Sept 3rd to Sept 11th, 1862 inclusive?®

Joe Miller had four in crew. She stood down Chesapeake Bay September
2, sailing day and night in search of canoes suspected of carrying contraband.
At 3 A.M. she was off Sharps Island. At 10:30 P.M. that night she was an-
chored off Fog Point Light in Kadges Straits where, early the next morning,
she saw rocket signals fired from a boat in the Bay. Communicating with
the keeper of the Fog Point Light she found that canoe traffic was frequent
between the Eastern Shore and Virginia. She chased several canoes but could
not catch them. Those she did stop proved to be legitimate local vessels out
fishing.

On September 8 she met the cutter Reliance and was given a captured boat
and two prisoners to be taken to Annapolis. While underway in a heavy sea
the towed boat surged into her and tore away a part of her stern. She then
had to put into the South River, below Annapolis, and make repairs. At An-
napolis she delivered the boat to the cutter Hercules and took the two prisoners
to the Marshall’s office where they took the oath of allegiance to the United
States and were given their freedom.

The Annapolis Collector ordered Tompkins to survey the damage to the
Joe Miller and it was decided to return her to her owner, who agreed to repair
her at his own expense. The Collector then authorized Tompkins to “engage
another vessel at the same rate at which the Miller had been employed.”

On September 11, Tompkins went on board the schooner Cruiser “having
negotiated with the owner thereof for her charter.” The Cruiser’s journal is
headed:

Abstract of the Log of the U.S. Rev. Schr. “Cruiser” Daniel D. Tompkins
Lieut. commanding from Sept. 12th to Sept. 30th 1862, both inclusive.”



the New York Customs Collector and several Treasury Department officials
came on board to go down the harbor and salute the incoming British steamer
Great Eastern which had broken the transatlantic speed record. The very next
day Harriet Lane was hostess to 80 citizens of Japan, the first official delega-
tion from Japan to visit the United States.

In August, still pursuing suspected slaveships, the Harriet Lane cruised to
southern New England, passing Fire Island, Montauk and Cuttyhunk, and
anchoring off Gay Head Light House, where two government agents went
ashore to confer with the lighthouse keeper about suspected vessels. Return-
ing to New York she was severely damaged in a collision with a schooner
in Hell Gate. Repairs took the last week in August but by September she
was chasing Kate again. Kate had escaped but was later seized as she left for
the coast of Africa.

In October the cutter was ordered to Washington, where on October 5,
she was hostess to President Buchanan, his 29-year old niece, Harriet, and
His Royal Highness, 19-year old Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward 7th),
visiting under the soubriquet “Lord Renfrew.” On October 6 they cruised
to Aquia Creek where Harriet Lane and the Prince witnessed a slave auc-
tion. The Prince then “took the cars” for a land tour. The cutter returned
to New York and met him at the railroad terminal at Perth Amboy. After
a cruise to West Point, the Prince, by then highly popular with officers and
crew, left for England presenting $800 to the crew and a handsome gold watch
to Captain Faunce. Faunce received special permission from headquarters
to keep the watch.!® One wonders where it is now

A few days after the Prince departed, Secretary of the Treasury Howell
Cobb and other Washington dignitaries came on board to cruise up the North
River and down the Bay. Two days later Faunce was ordered to seize the
propeller steamer Victoria suspected of slaving. In November she seized the
schooner W. L. Cogswell near Bedloes Island (then devoid of any statues)
In December 1860 the crew began shovelling snow from the decks.'®

The Walter B. Forward at Wilmington, Delaware

Third oldest cutter in the 1860 fleet was the Walter B. Forward, built at
William Easby’s shipyard in Georgetown (now the site of the Kennedy Genter),
District of Columbia, in 184220 and named for the then Secretary of the
Treasury. She was a 139 13/95 ton schooner, 90 feet long, with a beam of
21 feet 2 inches. Built of oak and locust, with copper and iron fastenings,
her mainmast was 63 feet above the hull with the topmast adding another
33 feet 3 inches. Her main boom was 51 feet 8 inches long, her foreyard 53
feet and her topsail yards 33 feet 5 inches. Her bowsprit extended outboard
19 fect. Her rigging was of 4-inch Russian hemp.

There were 6 berths in the ward room and main cabin, Furnishings in-
cluded 6 hair mattresses, 6 stone wash basins, Queensware cups and saucers,
17 bound books, 8 tablecloths, 1 looking glass, 1 artificial horizon and a cabin
stove and pipes. She cost $3,786.75 and was built under the supervision of
Captain Henry Prince.?!



CHAPTER

Cutters in Combat in 1864

Nemaha, under her former name Flora, bad served with the Army at Port Royal
soon after the port was captured by the Union on November 7, 1861. After
a year in the South she returned to New York for repairs which cost over
$30,000. In 1864 she was named “Nemaha” and ordered back to Port Royal
under command of young First Lieutenant Samuel B. Warner, with a crew
of fourteen, to work with the Army. She stood into Port Royal Harbor June
16.! On the following day she seized the bark Lindia from Philadelphia with
coal for the Navy, and after a scarch, turned her over to the Customs collec-
tor at Hilton Head under suspicion of having smuggled goods on board
Warner worked under the direction of the Gollector for the rest of the month.
He boarded and searched all incoming and departing vessels, and serviced
the Martins Industry Lightship.?

On July 1 Nemaha “hauled alongside the wharf” at Beaufort and received
rations and baggage for General Rufus Saxton and his staff. The General
and staff arrived that afternoon and were immediately taken on board at Hilton
Head. En route Nemaha aided the steamer Mary Boardman which was stuck
on a sand bar. The following day General Saxton and his staff were taken
to Edisto where they exchanged places with General James D. Foster and
his staff who were then taken to Stono, At Stono Nemaha picked up 8 barges
loaded with troops and towed them back to Edisto, training her guns on shore
to cover the troops when they went ashore late that afternoon.

On July 3 she was under attack while assisting land forces. She fired back
at the battery with her bow gun, a 20-pounder Parrott rifle, using all her
ammunition after firing 60 rounds. Her commander then borrowed a
12-pounder Dahlgren gun and ammunition from the nearby steamer Croton
and procecded to assist more troops in landing. In the later part of July Nemaha



Many of Reliance’s missions were charitable. She often took aboard stranded
negroes fleeing from their masters, and once picked up a rebel whose home
was in Union territory. She took him to Annapolis, where he swore allegiance
to the United States before a judge. Reliance then returned him to his family
She had reunited families divided by the war, one of them the Kent family
Mrs. Kent and her child were picked up on the Great Wicomico River and
taken to Annapolis to join Mr. Kent.'?

On August 12, 1864 Reliance left Point Lookout at 8:55 A.M. and by 10:30
had passed Smith’s Point Lighthouse. She stopped shortly after so Captain
Dungan could communicate with the men on the lightship off Smith’s Point
At meridian she steamed up the Great Wicimico, coming to anchor off Tib-
bots Creek in 15 feet of water. A boat was sent ashore, under Lieutenant
Henry D, Hall, to find the Appleby children and bring them back to the cut-
ter. The boat returned without the children.

Meantime a number of unfriendly people congregated on shore near a fleet
of canoes. Captain Dungan thought it wise to “secure” the canoes to “prevent
their use by persons whom we saw collecting on the shore.” Coxswain G. W
Agus and four ordinary seamen, Sam Lewis, Peter Cooper, Eli Cantley and
David Smithers were sent ashore in a boat to get the canoes. Two canoes
were brought to the cutter but when the men went back for the third they
were fired on and captured

Captain Dungan then opened fire on the shore, using Reliance’s small pivot
gun and small arms. More and more belligerents gathered on shore. Since
he did not have enough men or ammunition to confront “the guerillas,”
Dungan decided to slip his anchor and get away. Almost as soon as he issued
the order he was struck by a bullet and mortally wounded. At the same time
Thomas Roberts, in charge of the pivot gun, was wounded

The men continued to fire on shore as they turned the cutter in the river
and headed down stream. They took Roberts to Point Lookout to have his

wound dressed and then continued on to Baltimore where they landed the
m3

remains of “our gallant Gaptain

As far as can be determined from Civil War records, Captain Dungan was
the only man in the Revenue-Cutter Service to lose his life in combat in the
Civil War,





left the cutter and went into Galveston to see what was happening. The water-
front was in an uproar. Rogers felt there was no use holding out, especially

with rations and water getting low on the cutter. Returning to East Bay, he
prepared the Dodge for a return to the city. She sailed, against a head wind,
February 25th, and was so sluggish that the captain was forced to anchor
the next night two miles below the city. It was February 27th before she

reached Galveston. “For reasons before mentioned,” as the Journal reports,
“she came to anchor not off the Government Wharf but off the ‘upper
wharves.’”

The next day, Mr. Butler from the Custom House came on board and
paid off the officers and crew for the month of February. He reported that
the Collector of the Customs refused to sign any requisitions for the month
of March

On March 2, the Dodge was turned over to the Quartermaster of the Con-
federate States of America at Houston, Texas.3! Lieutenant Tennison had
left several days before on a month’s leave of absence to see his family in
Washington. He had tendered his resignation before leaving, but on February
28, he wrote the Secretary of the Treasury that this was “in the heat of the
moment” and he regretted it. It was not, he said, “from any feeling for either
the North or the South.” Tennison was allowed to remain in the service. He
was ordered to the Varina at New York but was dismissed later in 1861 for
intoxication.

Lieutenants Rogers and Roche both resigned on March 2 to join the Con-
federacy. Ironically, Rogers was commissioned a Captain in the Revenue
Marine Service on March 1.3?

There were now 19 cutters in the Revenue Marine Service

The Duane is Attacked

In Norfolk, Virginia, although the waterfront seethed with talk of seces-
sion, the cutter William J. Duane continued her usual duties of boarding and
examining the vessels that passed in Chesapeake Bay, and of visiting the
lightships. Then abruptly, on February 17, she was ordered by the Treasury
Secretary to “get ready for sea” and sail to New York.

The next few days were spent in feverish activity. The Duane received many
supplies, including “blocks” of matches, a 28-second glass, candles, a log line,
and a dozen sail needles.

She was commanded by Captain Richard Evans who made haste to obey
orders. As the journal for February 18 reports:

Crew employed through the day overhauling and refitting fore and jib
sheet block straps, making chafing gear for the rigging, marking deep
lead line and getting ready for sea.*9

Then the order was revoked. On February 20, a telegram was received
from the Secretary ordering Captain Evans to await further instruction.



Five days later the steamer was ordered “to get underway for the purpose
of going up the Sacramento River to relieve the Depressed Rancheries from
the Flood.” Heavy rains had caused the river to overflow and many were
homeless. Picking up supplies furnished by San Francisco Relief, Captain
Pease steamed through Carquinez Straits to the river. At Georgiana Slough
he rescued 27 men, women, and children, took them on board, and gave
them food and clothing. After transferring them to the Antelope, which was
returning to San Francisco, he picked up 22 more and put them aboard the
steamer Chrisopoles. Before he returned to San Francisco he had rescued
another 18.18

Soon after the rescue, the Captain went aboard the ship Vitula to quell a

mutiny. Nineteen members of the crew were put in irons and taken ashore
to jail. He also assisted the Flying Dragon aground on Island Rock near Little
Angel. On February 8 the cutter towed the sailing cutter Joseph Lane (en route

to Puget Sound) out to sea, and on the following day was back in port to
assist the U.S. Army. As reported in the Journal February 15, 1862

At 10 A.M. Joint Committee on military affairs appointed by the State
Senate to inspect the various land points and sights of the Harbour, in
view to fortify such places that might be necessary agreeable to the recom-
mendations of the Secretary of War.

On board were “General Wright and his staff, Colonel de Russey and staff
of the Army, Collector Ira J. Rankin and company.” The Shubrick took the
men to Fort Alcatrez in the morning, and later sailed them past Larrie Point,
Point Bonita, Mile Rock, Fort Point, Raccoon Straits, Waterman Stone
Quarry, and Mission Rock. Two days later the telegraph brought word of
the Union victory at Fort Donelson and the surrender of 15,000 Confederate
soldiers. Captain Pease “dressed ship with colors in honor of this achievement.”

On February 26 he assisted the steamer Nevada, her bow high and dry on
the beach near Rio Vista, and on March 15, took Captain Stanley, a United
States lighthouse inspector and his assistants out to inspect the Farallones
Lighthouse. They brought the assistant light keeper, William Underwood,
ashore April 3. On April 29, the Shubrick towed the clipper ship Sierra Nevada
off Fort Point

On a constant lookout for enemy ships, the Shubrick patrolled off shore in
May and June. On May 4 she spoke the clipper ship Mary T. Robertson, 125
days from New York, bound to China. The same day, the 24-pounder
Howitzer was exercised with several rounds of shrapnel. She spoke the barks
Charles Devans, Nahumkeag, and Sunshine on May 31 and assisted the steamer
Orizaba. When in the harbor, she frequently anchored off Meiggs Wharf.2°

Some commercial interests did not appreciate all the rescue work Shubrick
did. When she pulled the steamer Nevada off the beach in the vicinity of the
Sacramento River, six steamboat towing companies protested her action to
Secretary of the Treasury Chase, claiming the Nevada had struck in inland
waters 65 miles from San Francisco. They said the Shubrick was “interfering
with the legitimate rights of Citizens owning steamers adapted to and employed
in the towing business.”2!



before being dispatched on Bibb during the War with Mexico in 1846. He
was one of a group of Revenue Marine men who went ashore at Tabasco
and captured the town

In 1847-49 at Baltimore, he was ordered to superintend the building of
William J. Duane and Crawford at Philadelphia. In 1852 he was commissioned
Captain, after taking the cutter Polk to the Pacific. Captain William W. Polk
recommended him, saying “I know you, Sir, to be a sailor, and officer and
a gentleman.”® Captain Henry B. Nones commended him for his actions at
Alvarez and Tabasco in the War with Mexico. Captain Henry D. Hunter
called him “one of the best navigators in the Service.”6 In 1849 Treasury
Secretary Meredith congratulated him for “efficient aid rendered the Packet
Ship Tusacrora near Cape Henlopen.”” His resignation in 1853 was accepted
with regret, but none coulld deny that his “numerous family” would be better
supported by the pay in the merchant marine.®

‘As master of merchant vessels he continued to be highly respected. When
in command of Empire City, he was given a $1,000 reward for recovering
“treasure” (money) and valuable cargo from the steamship Illinois wrecked
on coral rocks on the coast of Cuba. His “skill, ability, and seamanship” were
highly praised.?

He had commanded Star of the West for some time. To avoid suspicion,
the steamer was secretly laden with supplies at her pier at the foot of Warren
Street, New York, and cleared for New Orleans and Savannah. At sunset
on January 5, 1861, she left the pier and steamed down to Governor's Island
Here, in darkness, she took on four Army officers, 250 artillery men and
marines with their arms and ammunitions.!°

The Star Departs

She passed Sandy Hook at nine o'clock that night and headed South. Mean-
time word had reached Washington from Major Anderson at Charleston that
he was willing to hold out with what troops he had until his supplies were
exhausted, and that any unarmed vessel would be destroyed by the strong
batteries at the harbor’s entrance if it attempted to reach him. All buoys had

been removed from the approaches to the harbor, and all lights in the city

were doused at night. A telegram was sent from Washington to stop the Star
of the West. It arrived after she had sailed. There was no way to reach her.

McGowan sailed on, not knowing that Anderson had warned him away
and that spies in Washington had already informed Charleston that he was
en route. He approached the coast of South Carolina, and early on the morn-
ing of January 9, reached Charleston bar at half past one. The Star of the
West was anchored until dawn with lights extinguished. At dawn she was
spotted by the scouting Confederate steamer General Clinch who immediately
sent up flares and spread the alarm. McGowan got underway, ordered all
troops below, and approached the harbor. He was within two miles of the
Fort when a shot ricocheted across his bow from a hidden battery on Morris
Island marked by a Palmetto Flag.'!



Pease, Capt. William Cooke 2:12-13; 11:2-9; 14:7
Perry, Commodore U.S.R.G. 16:5, 7
Peters, Capt. Osmond 4:6

Phillips, Lieut. Morton 6:10

Pocohontas 81

Polk, U.S.R.G. 1:3; 6:2; 11:1-2

Pook, Samuel 2:4

Port Royal, SG 13:3; 14:2, 6; 15:1

Port Townsend, WI 11:1

Porter, Gommodore David Dixon 5:3
Porter, Lieut. Henry O. 2:3; 3:2; 6:10
Portsmouth, NH 2:4-5; 2:2-3
Portsmouth, VA 2:6, 8, 10

Potomac Flotilla 15:6

Powhatan 5:2-4

Propeller 2:10

Prouty, Capt. John 2:2

Pride of the Sea 14:2

Prince of Wales 2:5

Pulsifer, Chief Engineer Frank H. 13:45 7:5
Quebec, Canada 9:1-7

Rail, Pilot 10:3

Rankin, Collector Ira 11:2-3, 5-8
Raritan Ganal 8:1-3

Read, Capt. Charles W. (Savvy) 12:1-7
Red Malia 14:2

Reliance U.S.R.G. 6:6, 10; 13:1; 15:6-7
Revenue Cutter Service” 7:6

“Revenue Marine Service” 7:6
Richmond, VA 16:2

Ritchie, Licut, David 3:5-6

Rivera, Governor 1:3

Robb, J.A. and Company Shipyard 14:6
Roberts, M.O. 4:1-4

Robertson, Mary T. 1:7

Roche, Lieut, William G. $:7-8; 2:11
Rogers, Lieut. Anson P, 2:8; 3:4-5
Rogers, Lieut. Wil nF, 2:10-11; 3:7-8
San Francisco, CA 2:11; 111-9

San Francisco 2:3, 7, 9-10

Santa Anna (sec Cuyahoga)

Sands, Capt. Thomas 2:6
Santa Cruz 11:2

Saranac, U.S.S. 11:5
Savannah, GA 2:7; 3:3; 15:4-6

Saxton, General Rufus 15:1-2



Her junior officers in the April-September 1861 period included Revenue
Cutter Second Lieutenant Henry O. Porter (brother of David Dixon Porter),
Thomas M. Dungan, and Third Lieutenant Horace J. Gambrill. Both Porter
and Gambrill had been on board the Aiken in Charleston when Captain Coste
surrendered her to the South. Porter was to join the Navy and remain on
the Harriet Lane in September. The other two lieutenants were later assigned
to cutters in Baltimore.

A few days after she arrived from Sumter in April, the cutter was ordered
to convoy the troop ship Star of the West from New York to the Potomac River.
Faunce was instructed to “land and destroy any interfering batteries along
the way,” and, if the approach to Washington was “absolutely closed,” to go
to Annapolis. Faunce had no trouble in delivering the Star of the West and
her priceless cargo to the Navy warship Pocohontas at the mouth of the
Potomac.®

His next assignment was to proceed to the mouth of the Patapsco River,
also on Cheasapeake Bay, and scrutinize all vessels leaving Baltimore.
Secretary Welles had heard that there was a “movement on foot” to seize Navy
transports and “other vessels on Government service.” Faunce found no
evidence of such a plot; indeed, he said, Baltimore was “strong for the Union.”®

That spring, Harriet Lane was also ordered to accompany the fleet that
transported the Naval Academy from Annapolis to war-time quarters at
Newport, Rhode Island.? Faunce was temporarily relieved of command of
the cutter May 13, 1861, but was back in command on June 7 when he was
ordered by General Benjamin Butler of the Army to scout out enemy bat-
teries on the James River. Here, on June 5, he drew fire from a hidden rebel
post at Pig Point on the south side of Nansemond River, About 50 shots and
shell were fired at the cutter, wounding five of his men. In a lengthy report
to Flag Officer G. J. Pendergast, commander of the squadron at Fortress
Monroe, Faunce described the action and commended his officers and men.
This was headed:

Reconnoissance by the U.S.S. Harriet Lane, Captain John Faunce, U.S.
Revenue Marine, of Hampton Roads and vicinity, June 4, and an engage-

ment with Confederate battery at Pig Point, Va., June 5, 1861.°
In his report he said:

“Two of the shot took effect on the vessel, one passing through the plank-
sheer forward of the fore rigging on the port side and out through the
starboard bulwarks; the other through the fore rigging, grazing the
foremast...Having accomplished my mission of drawing the fire of the
enemy, and thereby discovering the strength of their battery, and fin-
ding the range of my guns less that theirs, after an engagement of forty-
five minutes I drew off out of range.”?

The five wounded were John Brainerd, Peter Woods, Chris Kane, Charles
Johnson, and Nicolas Payne. Their wounds were superficial.'°

In light of the circumstances it is hard to believe that Captain Faunce could

be criticized as disloyal, but he was worried about rumors to that effect on



Om Series 1, vol. 2, pp. 432-435
Wilmington, N.C. Journal. Feb, 13, 1862
Letters Received. Apr. 29, 1862
Parkinson, p. 49

Letters Received. Aug. 1861

Ibid

Ibid

Ibid

Ibid, Nov. 4, 1862

Journal of foe Miller, Sept. 3-11, 1862
. Journal of Cruiser. Sept. 12-30, 1862

31. Ibid

Chapter IX—The Chilly Voyage of Captain Ottinger
Letlers Sent, Oct. 1861
Ibid, Aug. 13, 1861
Kern, p. 66
Letters Received. Oct. 6, 1861
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid, Oct. 22, 1861
Ibid
Ibid, Oct. 23, 1861
Ibid, Dec. 6, 1861
. Ibid
Tbid
Journal of Morris, Dec. 25, 1861
Record of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 417
Letters Received. Dec. 30, 1861
Journal of Morris, Dec. 25, 1861
Personal Records. Anson L. Hyde
Journal of Black. 1862
Journal of Brown. 1862
Record of Movements, Vols. 1 and 2
Letters Sent. Jan. 1862
Letters Received. March 1862

Chapter X—President Lincoin on Board Cutter Miami

1. Nicolay, John G. and Hay, John, Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Francis
D. Tandy Company, 1882. Vol. 7, p. 153

2. Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln, The War Years. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company,
1939. 4 vols. Vol. 1, p. 486

3, Journal of Miami. 1864. Evans calls her a yacht

4. Letters Sent. Apr. 3, 1861

5. Journal of Miami. Jan 1, 1864

6. Ibid, Apr. 10, 1862



YW Zo
Mat id Flow in»
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITWD STATES OF AMBRION,
To all who shall see these presents, Greeting:

TrroW ve, That wposing petal rast and confidence tn the
integrity, diligence, and contludt of Str BY 60
F co offaint him (Zann of a Con tr He roi of
Ha ited States, Ar Ha jfroteation of He revenue, and do aulherire
and. empower hin to eavaus and filfd the dati of that offtcs acording
6 law: And t have and to hold. the said offtie 0th all the righ andl

jwiribges Hereunts legally ofjpertatning wnle him the said, FL»
— Leen daring Ha ploarare of tha President of the
United. Sates for tha tine being
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOE, % 4ace awed! Huse ltors to: fe!
made pralon and tha seal of tha Trearury Den
ferrimont. of tha United States to bs horeants
ofraed.
BLVEN wndor my hand, at He City of Washington,

in Hh yet of our Lard one Howand aght

handbed and Going e.and of Ke
Sndjpondoncs of the ted. States of Aomonita
Me A ae

By hs Prvilonts Aten > Fabien

co Le tag yn me

Commission of Captain John McGowan
National Archives



and Monticello nearby to cover the landing. Meantime the other vessels at-
tacked Fort Clark and Fort Hatteras, and received fire in exchange. The Harriet
Lane was later commended for “good execution” with her rifled guns. At 12:30

P.M. the forts ceased firing and hauled down their Confederate flags.

‘Thinking that the rebels had surrendered, Stringham ordered the Monticello
into the inlet. When she neared Fort Hatteras, there was gunfire from the
Fort. The Monticello responded. By six P.M. the Fort ceased firing again and
by noon the next day both forts had been abandonned. The tug Fanny was
then sent into the inlet with the Harriet Lane behind her. The cutter had a
good pilot on board, but she went aground on a shoal. She was able to back
off without much difficulty. Faunce then went back to the flagship for another
pilot whom he sent into the inlet in a small boat to explore the channel. While
he was without a pilot he was ordered to proceed through the inlet. Although
he protested that he had no pilot on board and that the Harriet Lane drew
too much water to chance the inlet without a pilot, he was told to follow the
George Peabody. He obeyed and at 1:15 P.M. found the vessel “took the ground.”
She was high and dry on a sand bar.

In his report later to Stringham, Faunce wrote

“29th—When I found it was impossible to move the ship, for her preser-
vation commenced lightening by throwing shot, shell, and coal overboard,
and made every exertion to get her off; about 5 p.m. throwing the four
32 pounders over to windward. A boat came from the Susquehanna and
was sent back with a request for more boats and men, which were sent
by that vessel and also by the Pawnee. The engines began filling with
sand from injection pipe, and the feed pumps having stopped, I was
obliged to use the donkey pump to supply boilers. During the night kept
all hands employed lightening ship, and made sail, endeavoring to make
her beat over the shoal, but without effect, as we had no boat large enough
to carry out an anchor in the sea then running.”!3

Having secured the forts with troops and taken command of the inlet after
the Confederates signed a surrender, Stringham and most of the fleet went
back to Chesapeake Bay leaving the Harriet Lane at the mercy of the sand
and heavy seas of Cape Hatteras. There seemed to be little hope for the paddle-
wheeler who had withstood tests at Paraguay and Sumter, and now met an
enemy more deadly than South Americans and Confederates. On August 30th,
Faunce wrote:

“30th—The ship labored heavily, lifting the engine frames. Found star-
board air pump disabled; disconnected it, took off foot-valve bonnet, and
worked starboard engine high pressure. At 8:30 a.m., the starboard boiler
leaking badly, hauled fire, blew off water, shut stop valve, and used port
boiler only. With the assistance of the Susquehanna’s launch got out port
bower, stream, and large kedge anchors, and at flood tide hove the ship
about six times her length toward the channel. All hands at work throw-
ing over spars, stores, provisions, etc.”!*

His chief engineer, Frank H. Pulsifer, also graphically described the
desperate plight of the cutter in a letter home. He said, in part:



Chase wrote to San Francisco Collector Rankin reminding him of the Act
of Congress of December 22, 1837 which authorized cutters to cruise along
the coast in severe weather and to render aid to distressed navigators, but
said he did not believe this meant they were to make a practice of towing
vessels. Only vessels in distress, or where there was danger to life or prop-
erty, could claim assistance. Steamers on inland waters should in general look
to private parties or companies when in trouble.

“It is my purpose,” he wrote, “to keep them [Revenue Cutters] actively cruis-
ing, and ready at all times to render the most efficient aid to the Revenue,
and as far as it can be done, to the Commerce of the country.”??

Early in the war, after a conference with Secretary Welles and other Navy
men, Lincoln had reported:

then and there with their unanimous concurrence I directed that an armed
revenue cutter should proceed to sea to afford protection to the commer-
cial marine, and especially the California treasure— ships on their way
to this coast.*4

There is no evidence that Shubrick ever patrolled beyond the three-mile limit
or encountered a privateer. Although Shenandoah and other armed rebel vessels
prowled the Pacific on the hunt for cargoes of gold, they kept well off shore,
far beyond the range of California’s one steam cutter.

Chinese immigration, a problem since the early 1850's, continued to keep
Pease on the alert for illegally overcrowded vessels from the Orient

A Troublemaker in Puget Sound

When the Shubrick towed the Joe Lane out to sea February 8, 1862, the Joe
Lane did not return to her former station at Astoria, Oregon, but sailed to
Puget Sound where Secretary Chase’s new appointee and friend, Collector
Victor Smith, was keeping not only the Custom House but much of
Washington Territory in a state of confusion. Zealous to raise funds for the

Treasury Department, he had the mail delivered by Revenue Cutter, turned
the cutter Davis into a hospital ship, gave the Custom House funds to a friend
for safe-keeping, allegedly sold the Marcy, and aimed to move the Custom
House from Port Townsend, where it had been located since Washington
attained territorial status, to Port Angeles. If anyone disagreed with him, he
immediately suspected that person of being in league with the Confederacy.

A former newspaper man from Cincinnati, Ohio, Smith knew little about
Customs, or the Pacific Coast, or Revenue Cutters, but proceeded to make
drastic changes in policies not only in Washington Territory but in Califor-
nia and Oregon as well. By the Spring of 1862, he had made so many enemies
that he was obliged to return East to seek support in Washington, and to
persuade Congress to change the location of the Custom House. He left Lieute-
nant Merryman of the Joe Lane in charge of Customs at Port Townsend while
he was away.?

Returning via San Francisco in the summer, Smith commandeered the
Shubrick, saying she was needed in Puget Sound. Captain Pease, either ill or

11-8



On August 16, 1864, Captain William Cooke Pease took command of the
Kewanee at her wharf in Hoboken, New Jersey, opposite Manhattan. He spent
a week getting her ready to cruise through Long Island Sound to New England
in search of rebel privateers. They cruised as far as Boston where the Kewanee
met her counterpart, the Mahoning, and challenged her to a race. The cutters
left Boston Harbor at 10 A.M. and headed towards the Cape Ann Lighthouse
‘The turning point was the point at which the lighthouse bore due north, at
which time each cutter fired a gun and reversed course. The distance was
55 miles. Some records say that the Mahoning won by four seconds; others
that the Kewanee won by seven seconds. At any rate, it was close when they
crossed the finish line at Fort Independence, Boston.?4

Back in New York October 25, the cutter was once more ordered to cruise
from New York to Boston. In January 1865, she was sent to Port Royal to
meet and convoy 26 cotton-laden vessels escorted by the U.S.S. Flag

On the way north, a severe storm broke up the cotton fleet and sent the
Kewanee off course and into Newport with a half-frozen crew and a damaged
keel. She returned hastily to New York but had to break her way through
the ice in Long Island Sound and stop for repairs before she docked at her
usual place at Hoboken. She was almost immediately sent to Port Royal again
to convoy another Cotton Fleet. Later that year she spent some time guard-
ing the cotton at the Quarantine Station at Staten Island before it was auc-
tioned off to pay war debts. She was then assigned to guard duty at the en-
trance to New York Harbor

In July she took Stillman on a tour of inspection of the revenue cutte
along the New England coast. They stopped at Newport where they picked
up Chief Justice Chase and the Honorable Samuel Hooper for a cruise under
sail on Block Island Sound, with some fishing off Point Judith. While under-
way under steam on the way home, they met the British steam yacht Octavia
and challenged her to a race. The Wayanda crossed the Octavia’s bow before
they reached Newport.

Putting the Chief Justice and his friends on shore, they continued on to
New Bedford, Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard, Pollock Rip Lightship, Hand-
kerchief Lightship, Monomoy Light, Chatham Light, Nauset Light, Highland
Light, and Boston Light. The cutter came to off India Wharf, Boston, where
Superintendent Stillman transferred to the Paiwluxet for the rest of the voyage

up the coast. The Kewanee returned to New York. Before she left she challenged

the Pazwluxet to a race in Massachusetts Bay. She left her a mile astern and
“fairly beaten.” On the way to New York, she stopped for a few hours in Edgar-
town, Massachusetts, where Captain Pease went ashore to see his wife and
son. Kewanee made the voyage from Edgartown to Hoboken in 31 hours and
15 minutes.

The Kewanee was next ordered to Charleston where Captain Pease had been
stationed twice in the 1840’s and 1850’s. She spent some time in both
Charleston and Savannah, and was then ordered to search the coast from
Savannah to Fernandina for smugglers and others violating the revenue laws
In December, at Charleston, the Captain was stricken with typhoid fever.

1457



fleet into the harbor) and three tugs, Major Anderson was facing a crisis in
Fort Sumter. He had promised the Confederates that he would evacuate the
Fort if no provisions had arrived by April 15, but at 3:20 A.M. April 12,
he was notified by Confederate General Beauregard that Southern forces would
open fire on the fort in one hour.

At six o'clock in the morning on April 12, the firing began. At almost the
same time the Pawnee arrived at the rendez-vous. The Powhatan was still miss-
ing. Fox was left with two small Navy vessels, the chartered Baltic and the
Revenue Cutter Harriet Lane. The three tugs never appeared. One had not
left New York; one had been driven by the storm into Wilmington, Delaware,
and one had gone to Savannah. Powhatan had by-passed Charleston and gone
on to Pensacola, Florida, by order of President Lincoln.!!

In a major mix-up, President Lincoln had ordered the Powhatan to Pen-
sacola and changed her command without notifying Secretary of the Navy
Welles. Shortly before she was scheduled to leave New York for Charleston,
Captain David Dixon Porter had arrived on board off Staten Island and
handed Captain Mercer orders that countermanded those of Secretary Welles.
Mercer went ashore and the Powhatan, with Porter at the helm, left for Pen-
sacola. In fact, Lincoln had deliberately deceived Welles and Fox when he
relieved Captain Mercer from the command of Powhatan, replacing him with
Captain David Dixon Porter, and ordered the powerful war vessel to by-pass
Charleston and proceed to Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Florida. While she was
still at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, he had written the yard’s Commander Foote
saying:

She is bound on Secret service and you will under no circumstances com-
municate to the Navy Department the fact that she is fitting out.

Not knowing what had happened to the Powhatan, Fox tried to lead his

decimated fleet into Charleston harbor. The Pocahontas chose to remain behind
while the other three ventured nearer the Fort. The Baltic led the way, followed
by Harriet Lane and Pawnee. By then, firing at the Fort was already intense.
The vessels were in danger of being caught in cross fire between Sumter and
Moultrie as well as fire from Morris Island. Fox gave the signal to retreat
Harriet Lane and Baltic turned away. The Pawnee continued on for a short
distance and then joined them. All three were soon out of range of the big
guns of both nations.!%

That morning, the Harriet Lane met an oncoming steamer flying no flag,
and true to her Revenue Marine Service traditions, ordered the vessel to come
to and show her colors. The vessel ignored the signals and the Harriet Lane
fired across her bow, whereupon the vessel falsely hoisted an American flag
and was allowed to proceed. The vessel was actually the Confederate steamer
Nashville and in firing on her, the Harriet Lane is said to have fired the first
shot of the Civil War from a vessel. The shot was fired by Lieutenant Daniel
D. Thompkins.



Delays, by adverse gales and other causes beyond my control, have fre-
quently taken place since I left Milwaukee, at which port prompt dispatch
was obtained in getting the cutter fitted for sea, through the attention of
E. Brown Esq. Collector of that port

On arriving at Mackinaw I found the “Isaac Toucey” was laid up in a small
river about eighteen miles from that Island. We took on board its equipment,
furniture and kentlarge, and the following day brought the “Toucey” into the
lake and put ballast and furniture on board, also stores and crew that came
in the “Brown” from Milwaukee for that cutter.

At Detroit a master was obtained for the “Jacob Thompson” to go to sea,
and one to take the “Toucey” to , Penna. The master who came in charge
from Mackinaw did not agree to go any further than Detroit

I also engaged a master to command one of the cutters from Erie to the
sea coast, he having a certificate as ship master issued by the Board of Trade
at Liverpool, he proved entirely incompetent however, and left at port Col-
burne at which place we discovered that the “Thompson’s” foremast was broken
entirely off at the wedges. I forwarded the dimensions of the several parts
of the mast to St. Catherines and made arangements to have a new one made
which was completed and put in without delaying the vessels only some four
hours

It was then understood that the cutters were to go to Kingston as soon as
practicable and I proceeded to Oswego by railroad at which place there was
more difficulty in getting persons to go as masters and mates than I had met
with before. The weather was stormy and seamen had been getting such high
rates of wages on the lakes that they did not wish for further employment.
3 dollars per day was paid for men by a schr bound westward in the day I
arrived at Oswego. After considerable exertion on the part of William O'Leary,
Deputy collector, and a shipping master, a crew was obtained who worked
on board a few hours and left. Riggers were then employed who agreed to
work the “Cobb” to Kingston at 2 dollars per day, and passage back, but in
the following day they declined going, and also a person who had agreed to
go master to the sea coast informed me he had decided not to encounter the
cold weather.

On the third day after arriving at Owego, I succeeded in agreeing with
Captain Williams, Captain John Brown, two mates and two seamen to go
in the cutters to Boston and in the morning of November 24th we sailed from
that port and arrived at Kingston at 6 P.M. in a thick snow storm. On the
following day, after attending to business at the Custom House we took steam
at 2 P.M. for Montreal, passed through the ice floating in detached fields
for about five miles and met another severe snow storm and freezing. On
arriving at Montreal the entire party that came on board at Oswego left to
go home. I could not obtain any persons suitable for masters, mates or seamen
in Montreal and took steam for Quebec, at which port we arrived at night
on the Ist of December, blowing strong and snow falling fast.

On the 2nd at 8 P.M. left Quebec in tow of steam tug, with masters and
mates for each cutter, one cook and four seamen

I. W. Hawes Esq. Vice Consul General for the U.S. at Montreal gave me
valuable assistance while at that port. A. M. Cohen Esq. U. S. commercial
Agent at Quebec gave me important aid in matters of business and in com-
municating with the Custom House and pilot commissions.

I would further state that it was found necessary to caulk the cutters
A. V. Brown, Isaac Toucey & Howell Cobb from the water to the plank sheer
and put new pieces in the waterway of A. V. Brown and H. Cobb and several
pieces of plank in the deck of each



vessels. It was not until Harriet Lane went down the ways in 1858 that another
steam vessel joined the service.

In the 1840-1860 period, additional duties were assigned to the cutters,
including winter cruising off the coast for the protection of mariners.? They
were also ordered to enforce immigration laws.!° This was of major impor-
tance on the West Coast where Chinese coolie labor meant overcrowded
vessels. The immigration laws were explicit about the steerage passengers
between the United States and Europe, or ports on the Pacific. The number
of passengers was limited to “one for every 14 clear superficial feet of the lower
deck, not occupied by ship’s stores or cargo, where the height between decks
exceeds six feet.” Children were not counted. Short persons were allowed less
room. Deck houses with windows and doors were required, and every vessel
carrying more than 50 persons was required to have a “camboose” (stove)
for their use. For each person on an Atlantic voyage it was ordered that “60
gallons of water, 100 pounds of salted beef, 100 pounds of wholesome ship
bread, and one gallon of vinegar” be provided. The master was also required
to provide a “water closet or privy for every 100 passengers, under a penalty
of 50 dollars.”

ion to all these duties, cutter officers had to be “semper paratus”
to receive on board and entertain domestic and foreign dignitaries. Even
George Washington had enjoyed outings on the cutters. He had fished from
the decks of Scammel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Vigilant in New
York Harbor. Harriet Lane was hardly afloat before she was visited at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard by two Russian diplomats, and Mohammed Pasha,
youngest admiral in the Turkish Navy. They were taken on a cruise down
New York Harbor to Coney Island.'!

Some of the collectors entertained so frequently —and so lavishly —on the
cutters in the 1850s that the press called the service a “pleasure flect.”!* There
was public pressure to abolish it altogether, or transfer it to the Navy.

War in the Offing

With war on the horizon in December 1860, Secretary of the Treasury
Howell Cobb voiced his opinions on the Revenue Service as follows in his
annual report to Congres:

In this connection [revenue laws] the attention of Congress is called to
the condition of the revenue marine service. With the exception of the
Harriet Lane, there are none but sail vessels employed in the service
Steam vessels are so rapidly supplanting sail vessels in the commercial
service that the present sail vessels of the revenue service however well
adapted to a former state of things are becoming almost useless for the
purpose for which they are employed. I have before represented to the
Congress that this service could be transferred to the Navy Department
with benefit to the public interest and I entertain the same opinion now. '%

Cobb recommended that in the meantime steam vessels should be
substituted for the sailing cutters, that the officer corps be maintained, and



“‘Nor must Uncle Sam’s Web-feet be forgotten. At all the watery margins they
have been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay and the rapid river,
but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little
damp, they have been and made their tracks.””

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN
August 26, 1863



Kern, p, 75

Ibid, p. 84

Basler, vol. 6, p. 202

Hubert Howe Bancroft. History of the Pacific States of North America. San Francisco, ‘The History
Company, 1890, p. 230

Kern, p. 11

Chapter XlI—Cushing Captured at Portland, Maine
1. Letters Received. Disposition taken at Portland, Maine, June 29, 1863
2. Ibid
3. Herbert C.F, Adams, The Comedy of the Caleb Cushing. Reprinted from the Civil War Times

No date
Letters Received. Disposition
Ibid
Adams, p. 32
Letters Received. July 24, 1863
Adams, p. 35
Letters Received. June 29, 1863
Adams, p. 33
Letters Received. July 1863
Adams, pp. 33-35
Ibid, p. 33
Letters Received, July 1863
Ibid
Letters Received. June-July 1863
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Adams, p. 33
Journal of Dobbin, Aug. 13, 1863
Ibid, Aug, 1863
Ibid, 1864
Ibid
Ibid, Feb-June, 1864
Ibid, Jan 1865

Chapter Xill—Sail Bows to Steam

Record of Movements. Vols. | and 2
Journals of Cruiser and Joe Miller

Record of Movements, Vols. 1 and 2

Om Series 2, vol. 1, p. 215

Record of Movements, Vols | and 2

Ibid vol. 2, p. 416

Ibid

William A. Still Jr. Iron Afloat. Vanderbilt University Press, 1971,
Harper’s Weekly, July-Dee. 1862, p. 585

Letters Received, May 28, 1862



ing as the first “practice” or “school” ship from 1877 to her sale at New Bed-
ford, Massachusetts, for $5,166 on April 6, 1881.28

‘The Forward also left Wilmington for Philadelphia. Captain Nones wrote
Chase April 25 saying:

I have the honor to report to the department the inefficient condition
of the U.S. Cutter Forward under my command. Her Battery as well
as her small arms are almost useless, and in her present conditions badly
calculated for a defence. I am of the opinion that an attempt may be made
to get possession of the Cutter. Indeed ] am convinced that a plot now
exists, headed by respectable persons, to make an attempt to capture her.
Ihave, in view of the condition of things, run her up the river for her
safety.2+
In addition to having six cutters seized by the rebels between December
1860 and April 1861, the Treasury Department received a stream of resigna-
tions from officers, some of them with long and honorable records. They in-
cluded Captains Napoleon L. Coste, Levy C. Harby, Richard Evans, William
B. Whitehead, Osmond Peters, James J. Morrison, John G. Breshwood,
Robert K. Hudgins, and Lieutenants Edgar O. Murden, William E. Hudgins,
James F. Milligan, Samuel B. Caldwell, Thurston M. Taylor, John R. C
Lewis, John G. Blackwood, John J. Hunt, Bushrod W. Frobel, Johnston de
Lagnelle, Marshall Brown, Thomas Fister, William G. Roche, Thomas Mof-
fett, Alexander Abercrombre and William F. Rogers.

The Distant Cutters

The commencement of hostilities had little effect on the six cutters on the
Great Lakes. By December all of them were in winter quarters waiting for
Spring to thaw the ice in the lakes. On the West Coast the William L. Marcy,
in California, the Joseph Lane in Oregon Territory and the Jefferson Davis in
Washington Territory continued their normal operations, slow to learn that
Confederate vessels were on the prowl for Union ships laden with gold dust

There were many Southern sympathizers along the Pacific, and it was ironic
that two of the cutters—the Joseph Lane and the Jefferson Davis—were named
for Secessionists, one for Governor Lane of Oregon who had dropped out
of public life and retreated to his home in Oregon, and the other for the man
who became President of the Confederates States of America.

Chief Engineer William C. Davis of the Navy, among others, was upset
by these names. He wrote Secretary Chase saying:

Union loving people on this coast would be much pleased to have the
foregoing names deleted and names better suited to the times substituted.”°

The names were never changed. Nor were the names of the six Great Lakes

cutters, all of them honoring public officers who defected to the South.



Fort Dickens 5:3

Fort Pulaski 3:3-4; 15:

Fort Sumter 4:1,

Fort Wool 10:5

Fortress Monroe 10:1, 4-6; 4:5
Forward, Walter B. U.S.R.C. 2:5-6
Foster, General

Fox, Admiral Gustavus 4:1; 5
Frazier, Capt. Alexander V. 1:1

#:4-6; 13:1; 6:2, 6, 8

Freehorn, Joseph U.S.R.C. (see Nansemond)

Freeman, Capt. Edward 9:2
Galveston 2:10-11; 3:7-8
Gambril, Lieut. Horace 2:4; 3:2
Georgetown, D.C. 2
Girard Hotel, Philadelphia 7:7
Glory 6:10

Gold Rush 2:12

Goldsborough, Commodore Louis M. 10:3; 13:4

Grapeshot 6:4, 7, 9
Graves and Fenbie Shipyard 2:12
Great Eastern 2:5, 6

Great Lakes 2:13; 16:2

Great Lakes cutters 2:13

Great Wicomico River 15:6-7
Guaymus 11:3-3

Hall, Lieut. H.D. 6:10; 15:7
Hamilton, Alexander 1:2, 3

Harby, Capt. Levi G, 2:10, 11; 3:7
Harriet Lane (sce Lane, Harriet)
Harrington, George 6:1-3, 8, 11; 13
Hawes, 1.W. 9:4, 5

Hector, U-S.R.C. 16:5-6

Henrietta, U.S.R.G. 8:4-7
Henriques, Lieut. John 16:4
Hercules U.S.R.G. 6:6, 10; 13:1
Hilton Head, 8.C, 15:2

Hoboken, N.J. 13:3

Hoffman and McBride Shipyard 9:3
Hood Shipyard 2:2, 3, 7,9, U1
Hope U.S.R.C. 8:5

Howard, Capt. William A. 1:1; 2:2,
Hudgins, Capt. Robert K. 2:8; 3:5
Hunt, Lieut, J.G. 3:5

Hunter, Capt. Henry D. 2:9; 4:3; 5

Hyde, Capt. Amasa 6:6, 10; 8:2-3
Mlinvis 4:3

45 M41

6:11; 8:5; 16:1

16;



Collector ordered a survey of the vessel. As a result she went into the screw
dock and all hands were put to work lashing on more empty water casks.

When she returned to the canal December 13, she was towed through
“without incident,” reaching Trenton at 6 A.M., Princeton at 11:30 A.M.,
Kingston at 5 P.M., and the Raritan River at New Brunswick at 9 P.M.
Here she was taken in tow by the steamer Weehauken and hauled into the At-
lantic Dock at Brooklyn where she “made fast alongside of an English ship.”8

Hyde was exonerated, although criticized by men at the Philadelphia Navy
Yard. He fastened the blame on the people who told him there was a nine-
foot depth of water in the Raritan Canal, and that if he made it through the
Delaware and Chesapeake Canal he could get through the Raritan Canal.

Ithad taken Tiger 19 days to make the voyage from Baltimore to New York
but make it she did! Once back in shape she relieved the steam cutter Bibb
at the Narrows in New York Harbor. On her first day on duty she chased
an English brig down the bay and had to fire a blank cartridge across her
bow to bring her to. That day she boarded 20 vessels, 10 of them American,
8 of them British, 1 Russian and 1 Spanish

In February Captain Rufus Coffin took command of the cutter. He liked
to cruise around the harbor “under easy steam.” In March Tiger left The Nar-
rows and was ordered to stand guard at Perth Amboy to prevent goods from
being smuggled on board vessels bound for the South. Captain Frances Martin
took command when Captain Coffin was ordered to Port Royal, South
Carolina that month.

Tiger was ordered to Washington in December 1862 but NOT through the
canals. She went the long deep way around. Even so she managed to go
aground twice, once off Cape May, and again near Baltimore.'®

At Washington in 1863, under command of Captain John Jones, she was
used to transport officials (and the unofficial Kate Chase) up and down the
Potomac. In mid-June when Washington feared an invasion by the rebels
she was stationed near the Washington Navy Yard. As her Journal said:

Anchored off the Navy Yard to assist in protecting the City in the event

of an attack by the Rebels. Moored ship in a position to command the
Navy Yard bridge and the Roads leading thereto.”!!

She remained in the service at Washington and Baltimore until she was
sold July 10, 1865 at Baltimore for $1,950. Her gear was transferred to the
Reliance, the Nemaha and the Jackson. 12

Yachtsmen Offer to Help

Soon after rebel guns fired on Fort Sumter several yachtsmen offered their
yachts and their services to the Union. At a special meeting of the board of
directors of the New York Yacht Club at the Breevort House on April 30
the annual regatta and cruise were cancelled and it was proposed to inscribe
the following motion in the minutes:





Title page from Revenue Marine Journa



a cartel with the Shindler’s passengers. He transferred to the Tacony and
destroyed the Clarence. He then burned or bonded 19 ves: before the Navy
ordered a dozen vessels to be chartered and manned to search for him.

On June 24, Savvy took the fishing vessel Archer of Southport, Maine, and
shifted his crew to the new prize to elude the Union vessels chasing him. He
then burned the Tacony

Titcomb and Bibber had no idea that the schooner they boarded was
privateering, or that the young man in the dark pants and frock coat who
commanded her was Savvy the “pirate.” In fact, it seemed to them that all
this was just a prank of fishermen “who had just been fitted out from Portland
and had been drinking and wanted to have a spree with us.”*

They soon learned otherwise. As they sailed westward, the young captain
asked many questions about Portland—what time the steamers came and
went, how many forts there were, the best passages, and if there was a cutter
in the harbor. The fishermen gave evasive answers. Bibber said he thought
he saw the cutter going into Boothbay. Asked to pilot Archer into Portland,
they declined, saying that they did not know how to pilot a deep-draft vessel
like the schooner. As they sailed across Casco Bay, the fishermen saw arms
being brought up from below. After sunset they entered the harbor and an-
chored about a third of a mile off Pomeroy Rock. About nine o'clock that
night they were sent below and told to stay there or suffer serious conse-
quences. They crawled into the berths assigned to them but could not sleep
a wink. Until midnight there was much commotion on deck. After that all
they could hear was the tramp of the watchman’s feet. At daybreak they were
told to come up and get into their boat. It was still not quite light, and there
was no wind.

It was hard to believe what they saw. A few hundred yards away, the cut-
ter Caleb Cushing, with all her sails set, was being silently towed out of the
harbor by two boats

Both men were rowed to the cutter but Titcomb was sent back to the Archer
to help get her underway.®

The Rebels Invade Portland Harbor

Thwarted in his hopes of entering Hampton Roads, Savvy had decided
to invade Portland Harbor and seize one of the two large steamers, Fores!
City and Chesapeake, which sailed between Portland and New York, or, fai
ing that, take the revenue cutter. His dreams also included bombarding
Portland and planting the Confederate flag on Maine territory

As he entered Portland Harbor, the Chesapeake was docked at the Franklin
Wharf, the Caleb Cushing was at anchor and small sailboats darted around
off Cushing Island where a dance was in progress at the big old wooden Ot-
tawa House. Forts Preble and Lincoln loomed in the distance. A June moon
hung in the sky, and Savvy knew he would have to wait until it set after mid-

night to carry out his daring plan. So he waited patiently as music from the

Ottawa House dance drifted over the harbor.



troops from Boyds Landing to the plantation and towed boats with army
equipment by order of General Foster.

Among the items captured were sixteen barrels of whiskey which were
shared by Nemaha and the steamer Canonicus. This must have helped the men
on Nemaha get through what was a long day. After leaving the plantation,
the cutter returned to Hilton Head, where General Foster and his staff disemn-
barked. She was next sent out to the schooner Plandome trom New York to
take on board 618 Navy rations, and then ordered to St. Helena Sound to
have her boiler repaired. The intense firing at Gregory's Plantation had loos-
ened the rivets in her boiler and “set it to leaking.” She reached the Sound
at midnight

It took just a day to repair the boiler.

The following day, with Treasury
Agent Browne on board, Nemaha took 3,000 feet of lumber on board and
delivered it to a military outpost on the Fullafinney River

General Foster returned on board the next day and hoisted his flag. The
cutter made a trip to Gregory's Plantation to deliver three barrels of whiskey
and then anchored in the Coosawhackey. After delivering another three bar-
rels to Colonel Place the next day, she steamed back to Hilton Head and im-
mediately left for Fort Pulaski and Savannah, arriving there at 1:30 P.M.
Here, after communicating with Admiral Dahlgren commanding the Nav
fleet, the cutter took on board three scouts from General Sherman's forces
and left for Ossabaw Sound and the Ogeechee river.

At 5:20 P.M. General Foster was in communication with the gun boat Flag
and put one of the scouts, a signal officer, on board. They then steamed for
Warsaw Sound where they communicated with the iron clad USS Passaic. By
midnight they were anchored in the Wilmington River.*

General Sherman on Board

The next day they returned to Fort Pulaski and then to Hilton Head arriv-
ing at 6:20 P.M. An hour later they were on their way back to the Ogeechee
River. At 1:10 A.M. they communicated with the Flag and found that General
Sherman had captured Fort MeAllister on the Ogeechee River. Steaming up
the river, they anchored off Fort McAllister at 7 A.M. December 14. Almost
immediately General Sherman came on board to be taken to Admiral
Dahlgren on the flagship Philadelphia. They put him on board and later re-
turned and took him back to Fort McAllister. Nemaha then went back to Hilton
Head, where Gencral Foster and his staff went ashore at 5 P.M. The cutter
went on to Beaufort and took on 20 tons of coal and 200 gallons of water.

It was near midnight—a calm and clear midnight —when they finished

By 9:15 the next morning, they were back at Hilton Head for General Foster
and his staff and on their way to Ossabaw Sound where they took the Ad-
miral off the USS Harvest Moon and up the Ogeechee River to Savannah. A
boat was sent to sound the river and remove obstructions. At the Savannah
and Gulf railroad bridge they picked up Gencral Howard of General Sher-
man’s forces and six river pilots to be taken aboard six Army transports. After

15-4



Index

Abercrombie, Lieut. Alexander R. 2:8; 3:3
Aquia Creek 2:5; 10:2

Adelso 8:7

Agassiz, U.S.R.C. 6:6

Agawan, U.S.S, 12:7

Aiken, William, U.S.R.C. 2:7; 3:1-3; 4:4
Alisha 14:4-5

Allen, Phillip, U-S.R.C. 2:6, 10; 6:2-3, 4, 7, 1; 15:1
Amazeen, Lieut. Joseph 2:3

America’s Cup 13:3

Anderson, Major Robert 4:1, 3-4
Andrews, Addison F., U.S.R.C. see Bronx
Antietam, U.S.R.C. 13:1; 16:3-4
Appleton, John, U.S.R.C. 2:8

Arago 6:2, 6, 7

Archer 12:2-5

Argus 11:1-2

Ashland 11:5

Ashuelot, U-S.R.C. 14:3

Astoria, Oregon 11:1

Auchile, Lieut. P.A. Jr. 3:4

Baker, Captain John G. 14:6

Baird, General: 15:5

Baltic 5:2-3

Baltimore 2:6; 10:6

Barney, Collector Hiram 6:1, 7, 9; 9:1; 13:4, 5; 14:1; 16:2-3;
Barney, Miss Susie 14:6

Barr, Licut. Frank 6:10

Beaufort, S.C. 15:1-2

Bell, Lieut. 3:7

Bennett, Lieut. James Gordon 8:5-7
Bibb, U.S.R.C. 6:1-3, 6, 7; 8:3

Bibber, Albert P. 12:1-7

Black, Jeremiah S. 2:13; 9

Black Diamond 8:2

Blackwood, John G. 2:8; 3:3

Blake, Lieut. E.C. 6:4

Boardman, Mary 15:1

Bohemia 12:8

Boston, MA 9:1-3, 6, 7; 2:2, 3

Boston, Collector John 3:3, 4
Breshwood, Capt. John G. 2:8, 9

XVIII



Foreword

The United States Coast Guard is very fortunate to have Florence Kern devote
her considerable talents to presenting its history. The Service has learned much
concerning its early years through her writings. Mrs. Kern is a foremost scholar
of the early years of the cutter service and this work adds to her already substan-
tial reputation. She points with great pride to the fact that she studied under
the late Howard Chapelle. And, I am sure, he would take the same pride in
her numerous accomplishments.

Robert L. Scheina
Historian, U.S. Coast Guard



The one engineer in his crew said it would be impossible for him to handle
as large a steamer as the Chesapeake. Savvy was then obliged to settle for the
cutter. He had some idea he might intercept and destroy the Forest City which
was due to arrive about 4 A.M.

Savvy did not know that Caleb Cushing was ready to go in search of his former
command Tacony whose ashes now lay at the bottom of the sea off Southport.
On July 24 Portland’s Custom Collector Jedidiah Jewett had wired Secretary
of the Treasury Chase saying:

The underwriters here have requested me to send the Caleb Cushing out
to cruise for pirate Tacony. Shall I provide and dispatch her immediately
under command of the Ist Lieut.”

Jewett was told by Chase to load the cutter with ammunition but to delay
her departure until Lieutenant James Merryman arrived to command her.
He was due to reach Portland on the Forest City early July 27 to replace Cap-
tain George Clarke who was terminally ill. In fact Captain Clarke died July
26 and many of Cushing’s men were ashore that day and night laying him
out and arranging his funeral. About half the crew was on board the cutter
under the command of Lieutenant David Davenport, a native of Georgia,
faithful to the Union although he had once been accused by a disgruntled
junior officer of favoring the Confederacy. He had failed his examinations
several times but had been allowed to remain on board Cushing.

As Lieutenant Davenport lay asleep in his cabin after moonset July 27,
Savvy and his men rowed across the harbor with muffled oars and clambered
aboard the cutter, scuffled with the one watchman on deck (the other had
gone below) and hoisted the sails. Davenport came on deck in his night clothes
and was handcuffed. With a total lack of wind the sails hung lifeless so Savvy
ordered two boats lowered to tow her out of the harbor. At least the tide was
in his favor. It is alleged that Savvy then went into the cabin and donned
the late Captain Clarke’s uniform, several sizes too big for him.®

After taking Bibber on board and ordering the Archer to follow the cutter.
Savvy stole out of the harbor passing, at close quarters, the steamer Forest
City coming in with Lieutenant Merryman on board. The steamer’s baggage
master, Reuben Clark, who was later to reminisce about the episode, saw
the cutter leaving under tow but thought nothing of it. Some reports say that
Merryman also saw the departing cutter.

Once out of the harbor and past Fort Preble, Savvy hoisted sail and went
below to have a gam with Lieutenant Davenport whom he chided for not
joining the Confederacy. Archer limped behind. Both Bibber and Titcomb were
asking to be put ashore and both were promised they would be given their
freedom before dark.

Portland in a Frenzy

In Portland, Cushing’s boatswain stumbled down to the wharf, somewhat
the worse for wear after a night ashore. He looked out in the harbor and could
not the cutter. Then as the Forest City’s baggage master said later:

12-3



Meantime, the McClelland sailed down the Mississippi to cruise at the delta.
In November her commander, Lieutenant Rogers, was sent to command the
Lewis Cass at Mobile, and Captain John G. Breshwood of the Cass took com-
mand of the McClelland. Breshwood, a veteran of the ser was a native
of Norfolk, Virginia, and well acquainted with many leaders in the South
He was described as a “representative of the Old Dominion and a warm-
hearted Republican.” Although he had served on 11 cutters North and South
and had fought in the War with Mexico in 1846, he had been dismissed from
the service in 1849 when drastic cutbacks were made. After many protests
by his friends, he was recommissioned in 1851. Among those who recom-
mended him was John Slidell of Louisiana, later a prominent Confederate
in the Civil War.?#

During December, many vessels were boarded and examined, among them
large passenger and cargo steamers from London, Liverpool, Greenock,
Bristol, Glasgow, Rio di Janeiro, Boston, New York, and Havana. Most were
reported to be in ballast, or carrying passengers, salt, coffee, and fruit. No
slaves were mentioned in the McClelland’ journal. A new officer, Lieutenant
Thomas D. Fister, arrived in December. All three officers—Breshwood,
Caldwell, and Fister—were avowed Southerners.?°

Late in January, when the cutter was back in New Orleans, a special agent
of the Treasury Department, J. H. Hemphill Jones, arrived in New Orleans
to confer with the Customs Collector. He ordered Captain Breshwood to take
the McClelland to New York

According to a sworn statement made later by crew member David Rit-
chie, Jones appeared in the MeClelland’s cabin and ordered Breshwood to obey
the order. Breshwood refused and was put in irons for disobedience. When
Jones reported the situation to the Treasury Secretary, the Secretary wired
back to put First Lieutenant Caldwell in command and “if anyone attempts
to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot.”?° This was an idle
gesture. Caldwell was as committed to the Confederacy as Breshwood.
However, the American flag remained at the peak pro tem

“About a week after this,” Ritchie reported later, “the revenue flag was taken
down from the McClelland and put in the signal house [a cupboard where flags
are stored]. For about two weeks no flag was raised, then the secession flag
was run up to the peak.”?”

On January 26, Louisiana seceded from the Union. On January 31 both
McClelland and Washington were seized by the state. McClelland was taken
into the Confederate Navy with Breshwood in command. The Washington was
then on the ways. Her commander, Captain Hudgins, went North to report
for duty.

Breshwood, Caldwell, and Fister all wrote formal notes of resignation to
President Buchanan, Breshwood wrote:

I have the honor to inform you that by Virtue of the Ordinance of the
State of Louisiana my functions as Captain in the U.S. Rev. Service will
cease and determine this day and I herewith tender my resignation.”?*



and from three to four feet of planking completely gone, and cleaned com-
pletely out inside, also broken into abaft the waist. The “Howell Cobb
is in the hands of the wrecking “Story” and everything is being saved from
her that can possible be got off. Made arrangements to take the officers
and crew on board.!7

Ottinger was given a short leave of absence but was soon ordered to com-
mand the newly acquired steam cutter Miami at New York. Captain Anson
L. Hyde was dispatched to Boston to take charge of the four Great Lakes
Cutters and repair them for service."

The Black was sent to Eastport, Maine, under command of Lieutenant
David Moody. At the time of her departure, she was in good condition and
was described as a 65 ton schooner, 68 feet long, 16 feet wide, with a depth
of 5 feet 8 inches. Her foremast extended 50 feet above deck, her main mast,
54 feet. Topmasts added another 25 feet. The Black’s sails were good but she
needed new rigging.!9

The Brown was later ordered to Salem, Massachusetts, as a guard ship.
She was described at that time as a 58-ton schooner, 60 feet long, 17 feet
wide and 6 feet deep. She could carry 700 rations and 400 gallons of water
In 1863, she was sent to Beaufort, North Carolina, to police the conquered
but troublesome inland waters of that rebel state.??

In August 1862, the Toucey was ordered to Castine, Maine, under com-
mand of the veteran Captain Rufus Coffin. She remained at Castine
throughout the war. The Thompson remained in Boston until September when
she was assigned to the Newport, Rhode Island, station. The Floyd, which
remained on the Great Lakes, was shifted from Lake Huron to Detroit.?!

As for the men who had helped Ottinger bring the schooners from Quebec
to Boston, Chase wrote Boston Collector Goodrich saying:

Pay Ottinger and tell him to discharge the masters, mates, and crews
of the vessels.??

In March, when Captain Ottinger took command of the Miami at New
York, he returned $198.31 to the Treasury Department. It was what he had
left out of the $1,000 he had been allowed for expenses.

Strangely, all six of the cutters from the Great Lakes were named for men
who seceded from the Union. They kept these names throughout the war.



Barney informed Harrington that it would be impossible to bring the center-
board vessels through the Erie Canal. Ottinger was then asked to give an
estimate of the cost of moving five vessels from their stations on Lakes
Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, Erie, and Ontario via the St. Lawrence River
to some American port on the Atlantic. The sixth cutter John D. Floyd was
to remain on Lake Superior.

On October 6, Ottinger, then President of the Revenue Marine Service
Examining Board in New York City, answered the “Honorable” Harrington
as follows:

In compliance with your direction I respectfully submit to you the follow-
ing estimate of expenses and time necessary to move the Revenue vessels
from Lakes Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, Erie, and Ontario.*

For the cutter Aaron V. Brown stationed at Milwaukee he gave the follow-

ing estimate:

From Milwaukee to Lake Erie towage $200

Towage through Welland and St. Lawrence Canals 88

Pilotage from Montreal to sea 50

Wages for 4 seamen | month

Wages for one cook

Rations for five men one month

For the Jsaac Toucey stationed at Michilimackinac, the total would be
somewhat less, $423.50. It would cost only $100 to tow her to Lake Erie.
For the Jacob Thompson at Detroit, it would be $338.50, with towage at $15,
and for the other two cutters, Jeremiah S. Black and Howell Cobb, with no towage
necessary, it would be $323.50 and $313.50. It would cost ten dollars less
to tow the Howell Cobb, smallest in the fleet, through the canals.®

Ottinger went on to discuss the time element. He said:

“The time necessary to move the above mentioned Revenue schooners
from their present stations to Boston or New York would be about five
weeks. If only those at Detroit, Erie, Penna., and Oswego, N. York are
needed to be moved one week less time would be sufficient. The naviga-
tion on the Lakes is considered extra hazardous after the 15th of
November. There would probably be incidental expenses of sixty (60)
dollars for each Cutter exclusive of the estimates as detailed.””

In his estimates, Ottinger was expecting that Revenue Marine Service of-
ficers would be detailed to command each cutter. He recommended
Lieutenants Edward Freeman of Boston, Vancuel Colesbury and Timothy
Treadway of Philadelphia, John G. Baker of Cleveland, and Daniel Tom-
pkins and Thomas M. Dungan of New York. If five of these officers were
assigned, he said, he need not engage masters from the Merchant Marine.®

Chase inquired about Ottinger and was told by Collector Barney that he

was a “useful officer,” especially in the capacity of an examiner. He would
be missed on the examining board but his place could be taken by Captain
John McGowan.9



the laws of the Revenue Marine Service. United, many of them for years,
against foreign law-breakers, their ranks were now divided. In cabins and
ward rooms in all the major ports of the United States, Southern officers
argued for the South, Northerners for the North.

The Andrew Jackson at Eastport

The cutter Andrew Jackson, a schooner, was the oldest in the fleet. She had
been built about 1832 at the Washington Navy Yard, and named for the
seventh President of the United States. Most of her early life was spent in
the South. In 1833 she was one of five cutters sent to Charleston under com-
mand of Captain William A. Howard to enforce the revenue laws when South
Carolina threatened to nullify the Constitution. A few years later she took
part in the Seminole War. She also fought pirates off Florida.?

For 17 years she went North only for repairs but in 1855 she was ordered
to Eastport, Maine, on the Canadian border. Here she hunted smugglers,
enforced fishing laws, serviced lighthouses, and rescued friend and foe alike
when in distress on the rocky coast. She was stationed in Whale Cove.

Her commander in 1860 was the veteran Captain John 8. Prouty. There
were 11 men in the crew. When the fateful year 1861 began, Captain Prouty
had just died and Lieutenant Amasa Hyde was in command. He began
Jackson's journal for 1861 by writing:

“A Happy New Year to all.”*

The Caleb Cushing at Portland

The Caleb Cushing was one of six handsome schooners launched the same
week in July 1853 at the two shipyards of J. M. Hood. One yard was in Bristol,
Rhode Island, the other in nearby Somerset, Massachusetts. Four of the
schooners including Cushing were fore-and-aft rigged; two were top-sail rigged.
Cushing was built at the Somerset yard under the supervision of Revenue
Cutter Captain Napoleon L. Coste. She was named for a New England
politician and statesman who served in Congress and was later Attorney
General. In 1860 Cushing believed it was more important to save the Union
than to abolish slavery.

The Cushing spent most of her lifetime in Maine. In 1860 she was boarding
and examining as many as 30 cargo and fishing vessels a day, assisting in
the service of lighthouses, putting down mutinies aboard vessels in Portland,
and answering other distress calls. There were other ports of importance in
Maine - Bath, Castine, Machias, Kittery, Bangor - but these had only small
revenue boats for harbor work. The Cushing handled all the important
assignments. In 1860 there was no cutter stationed between Portland and
Boston. Portsmouth, which had been an important port when the service was
instituted in 1790 and had maintained one of the first cutters, the Scammel,
now had only harbor boats.



Before approving the examination, Chase wrote to the Superintendent of
the Naval Academy at Newport asking, “Is this standard too high for the re-
quirements of the law here cited?”!*

All the officers and men were asked to take the oath of allegiance that sum-
mer. It read:

“I do solemnly swear that | will support, protect, and defend the Con-
stitution and Government of the United States against all enemies,
whether domestic or foreign, and that I will bear true faith, allegiance,
and loyalty to the same, any ordinance, resolution, or law of any State
Convention or Legislation to the contrary notwithstanding, and further
that I do this with the full determination, pledge, and purpose without
any mental reservations or evasions whatsoever, and further that I will
well and faithfully perform all the duties which may be required of me
by law. So help me God.”!

On most cutters, all willingly took the oath but on Jackson, moored off the
Battery in lower Manhattan, there was trouble. When a Notary Public came
on board September 5 to administer the oath, the officers took the oath “cheer-
fully”, but 14 of the forward hands refused. Captain Amasa L. Hyde later
placed the blame on one of his former Lieutenants, Isaac McKinley, who
was much upset at that time by being required to take the disliked examina-
tion. When told that he would be arrested if he refused to be examined, Hyde
said McKinley replied “Place me under arrest and be damned.” Hyde called
him a trouble-maker and said he had incited the forward hands who refused
to take the oath. McKinley was later arrested and tried for his trouble-making.
He was acquitted.

All 14 of the hands were kept in irons from September Sth to the 12th.
The Notary returned on the 12th and all took the oath. Then they were
discharged. '6

The steamer Bibb was ready for service in June. She replaced the Vixen
which went back to the Coast Survey. The Bibb was then stationed at Throggs
Neck, an important station at the entrance to Long Island Sound from the
East River, New York

It was a busy Spring for Captain Howard. Of the 18 cutters in service when
he took charge, one, the Harriet Lane, was transferred temporarily to the Navy,
another, the Walter B. Forward, was serving the Army at Annapolis. Six Coast

Survey vessels were added to the fleet, along with three steam tugs, Reliance,

Tiger and Hercules at Baltimore, the chartered steamer, General Sumner, at San
Francisco, and two yachts. This made a total of 30 vessels. Cushing, Morris
and Campbell remained in New England. The Dobbin was stationed on the
Delaware; the three tugs at Baltimore, the yachts on Long Island Sound and
Baltimore, the General Sumner, Marcy, Davis and Joe Lane on the Pacific. By
June the Coast Survey steamer Bibb had replaced the Vixen in New York
Others there were the Crawford, Jackson, Varina, Agassiz (which replaced the
Coast Survey Avago) and the Corwin. On the Great Lakes some of the cutters
had not been put back in the water when the lakes thawed. Collector G. W
Clason of Milwaukee may have reflected the views of other Collectors on the
lakes when he wrote Chase saying:

6-6



her men were on shore assisting the troops who had met no resistance on
their landfall.

An hour later, Miami ran into trouble. At 9:30 A.M., “a piece of the boiler
blew out causing us to blow off steam and put the fires out.” Miami, with
Presidential gear on board, was disabled. Chase heard the bad news when
he came on board that morning. He left soon after for Norfolk. The troops
took the city easily but the rebels blew up the Merrimack before they departed

Miami was now unable to take the Presidential party back to Washington.
The steamer Baltimore was engaged for the return voyage. That night, at 11
P.M., she came alongside Miami, presumably to pick up the Presidential bag-
gage.*! The next day, Miami was towed to Fortress Monroe where she waited

several days for a boiler maker to make repairs. She returned to Washington

May 18, taking with her the safety valve of the Merrimack as a present to Lin-
coln from one of his admirers in Norfolk.??

Later in May, Miami was ordered to New York where she was anchored
off the Battery. In September Captain Ottinger left the cutter to take com-
mand of all Revenue Marine activities in North Carolina waters. As the Jour-
nal reports:

“At 12:30 P.M. Capt Ottinger left the ship when the rigging was manned
and three cheers given.”23



The members of the New York Yacht Club resolve to offer, through the
Commodore, the services of all their yachts for any duty compatible with
the qualities and dimensions of their yachts."

Two of the club’s 52 schooners and sloops were taken into the Revenue
Marine. Others may have been offered and rejected. Captain Howard was
opposed to accepting any yachts, saying he believed “the service of the yachts
generally would not justify the expenses attending their arming, manning and
subsisting.” However, one young yachtsman, 20-year old James Gordon V
Bennett Jr., son of the famous New York publisher, went directly to Secretary
of State Seward and offered his new 158-ton fore-and-aft rigged schooner
Henrietta. She was a fast keel boat, 92 feet long, with a clipper bow.

Seward referred him to Lincoln who then asked Secretary Chase to grant
him an interview, saying that he tendered “a fine yacht of 160 tons to the
U. S. Service.”## Chase accepted not only Henrietta but another New York
Yacht Club schooner, Hope, belonging to ‘Thomas Boynton Ives, whose home
port was Providence. Both men were commissioned Lieutenant Commanders
and allowed two non-commissioned officers, ten seamen and $353 a month
for each vessel. They were expected to furnish their own servants. The yachts
were armed in New York by Gaptain Howard, and dispatched in July, Hen-
rietta to Long Island and Nantucket, and Hope to Baltimore.

In his letter of instruction July 12 to Commander Bennett of the “U.S. Rev
Yacht Henrietta” Howard said:

“As soon as you have received your armament shot and shell you will please
proceed with the U.S. Rev Yacht “Henrietta” under your command along
the North Shore of Long Island to Block Island and Nantucket touching in
all the ports (intermediate) calling on the different Collectors reporting yourself
and Vessel ready to perform any duties required of you as Commander of
a Rev Cutter in the service of the United States. You will obtain all the infor-
mation in your power respecting the fitting out of Slavers and other illicit
trade, permitting no vessel to pass having on board arms and munitions of
war unless she is in the service of the United States, keeping a Journal of
that and all passing events. On your return you will visit all the intermediate
ports on the South Shore of the Main Land to New York, boarding and ex-
amining all vessels not known to be regular and honest traders.

On your return to New York you will present to the Collector of Gustoms
of the Port a ¢ranscript of the Journal of your cruise with such remarks and
information you may deem necessary to the public service.

You will during your cruise exercise your men daily (when the weather
and duties of the Vessel will permit) at the Great Guns & small arms. Prac-
tice them once a week with shot and shells to the extent (in all) of twenty
rounds per week.

You will keep a strict “Lookout” night and day examining every vessel that
has the least suspicious appearance, enforcing a strict discipline in the event
of being called upon to more active and important Service. You will ascer-
tain the speed and trim of your Vessel under different canvass by and large
noting the best points in your Journal.

Altho important powers and duties are confided to you, you will please
exercise them in as pleasant and agreeable manner as possible, not detaining







In 1862 three more steamships were acquired - the Miami (described in
Chapter 10) on which President Lincoln took his historic cruise, the Flora,
later called Nemaha, and the E. A. Stevens.

The Flora-Nemaha

Flora was 281-ton steam vessel built in Brooklyn and registered for

coastwise trade April 17, 1854.6 She was purchased in New York in 1862
by the Revenue Marine for Army use at Port Royal, South Carolina, by Col-
lector Barney with Revenue Marine Funds for $18,000 and put in commis-
sion and armed for an additional $8,422.62. Under command of Lieutenant
Rufus Coffin, she was sent to Port Royal in March 1862 to assist in opera-
tions against rebel forces in South Carolina and Georgia. Coffin was soon
relieved by Lieutenant Alvan A. Fengar. In July the Army took over the cut-
ter, dismissing Fengar and his officers. Engineers and crew were given the
opportunity to remain aboard but most of them declined because Army wages
were lower than those in the Revenue Marine. In 1864, the Flora was renamed
Nemaha, repaired at a cost of about $31,000, returned to Port Royal, and
again staffed by Revenue Marine men. She remained at Port Royal until
war's end,” her expenses payable out of the cotton fund with money derived
from the sale of confiscated cotton

The Hoboken Ironclad E. A. Stevens (Naugatuck)

One of the most unusual cutters in the fleet was the semi-submersible £.
A. Stevens, sometimes erroneously called the Naugatuck. She was the invention
of Edwin Augustus Stevens, born in 1795 and well known by 1860 as an
engineer, inventor and financier. His home in Hoboken, overlooking the
North River and Manhattan, became the Stevens Institute of Technology
On the riverfront below, he built the twin-screw ironclad steamer that was
to play a part in the Monitor- Merrimack encounter at Hampton Roads in
May 1862. His brother, John, with whom he worked, designed and sailed
the schooner America which brought America’s Cup to the United States in
1851.8

The cutter was originally named Naugatuck by Stevens himself, but when
it was suggested that she be christened “E. A. Stevens,” he was highly gratified.
The cutter bore two names throughout her lengthy existence. Stevens had
been working for 20 years on an ironclad for the Navy which was never finished
or launched. In 1861 he began construction of the 101 foot semi-submersible
ironclad, with two propelling engines, which could take on board enough
water, in fore and aft compartments, to sink her almost three feet in 15
minutes. The ballast could be pumped out in half that time. She was a shoal
draft vessel, drawing only four and a half feet when without ballast. She had
white cedar bulwarks and was designed to carry one 100-pounder rifled gun,
and two 12-pounder howitzers forward in a bow opening. The muzzles of
the guns could be lowered beneath the deck and the guns loaded from below
She could carry provisions for 60 days.?

13-3



was established in June with an office at 240 Broadway, New York City,
a combination office building and hotel where Howard lived. Writing to
Howard June 20, Captain Ottinger said

“By an act of Congress approved March 2, 1855, ‘that no person shall
be appointed to the office of Captain, First, Second, or Third Licute-
nant of any Revenue Cutter, who does not adduce competent proof of
proficiency and skill in Navigation and Seamanship.’

Understanding from you that the above mentioned classes of officers will
probably appear before this Board for examination, we respectfully sub-
mit the enclosed as a standard for their examination

The Board in submitting the standard for First Licutenant’s examina-
tion do so with a view to their fitness for promotion to a Captaincy and
therefore do not propose to make any different standard for Captains
about to enter the Service.”!!

The Board soon ran into trouble. Men who had served as officers for many
years balked at the idea of now being examined, especially since they were
given short notice of examination dates. On July 10, Ottinger reported that
the Board had great difficulty due to the failure to appear of candidates who
had been ordered to take the examination. Some flatly refused. Others asked

for a postponement and a leave of absence to study. One officer used “violent
and disrespectful” language accusing the Treasury Department of dishonorable

motives.

Of those who did finally consent to examination, many were found to be
wanting in either seamanship or navigation, and were failed. They were not,
however, dismissed from the service for by then Captain Howard was in
desperate need of officers.

A further complication developed in August when Captain Maury presented
a bill for $620 for 62 appearances at the Board at $10 each. The others received
no extra pay for Board duty. Maury was paid $150 and dismissed. Revenue
Gutter Captain Henry D. Hunter took his place.'2

The proposed examination for Third Lieutenant consisted of two parts,
one in Navigation, one in Seamanship. As originally designed, it read

Examination for Third Lieutenant Entering the United States
Revenue Service

Navigation

Multiplication and Division by Logarithms Day's work
Course and distance by Mercators Sailing
Latitude by Meridian-Altitudes-Longitudes by chronometer
(Sun's altitude) Distance given to find use of Mercator char
Adjusting and use of Sextant and Quadrant

Seamanship
Rigging ship—Bending and unbending Sails

General Management of a Ship in ordinary circumstances
Marking and use of hand and deep sea lead line”!S



River the following March. They carried bales of cotton, brandy, cotton cards
and 100 pounds of bacon

After the war, Antietam saw duty at New Bedford, Massachusetts,
Brownsville, Texas, in the district of Brazos de Santiago, Indianola, Texas
and Mobile, Alabama.’ She was sold at Mobile for $2,800 in January 1871.8

Northerner (Ewing)

The Northerner, a steam cutter, was purchased by Stillman from 8. Crary
and Brothers at Baltimore April 18, 1864 for $60,000.° Fitted out at New
York she was first commanded by Gaptain Benjamin J. Kellam in July. When
suspected of disloyalty he was removed, and command was given to Captain
Faunce. Kellam was later acquitted.

In addition to Captain Faunce, she was staffed by two lieutenants, a pilot,
three engineers, three coal pa , a boatswain, a gunner, two quartermasters,
a master-at-arms, two coxswains, ten seamen, three boys, a cabin steward,
a wardroom steward, a cabin boy, a wardroom boy and a cook

Northerner sailed August 11, 1864 for the Washington Navy Yard, arriving
two days later. The next day she took Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
Harrington and associates down the Potomac to visit USS Roanoke at Point
Lookout. In September she took Harrington to Boston where she joined
Pawtuxet and Mahoning. The three cutters raced in Massachusetts Bay to test
their speed. Back in Washington October 14 she took Secretary of the Treasury
Fessenden and associates to Norfolk, and up the James River. Testing her
armament, she fired 2 Hotchkiss shells, 6 Boerman shells, 1 shrapnel, 2 blank
cartridges, and 20 Spencer rifle metallic cartridges while in the river. On Oc-
tober 16 and 17 she took Brigadier General Ingalls and Lt. Col. Morton of
the Army of the Potomac up the river. With Fessenden they went aboard
General Butler's flagship. The following day they went to the front with
General Grant. That night Fessenden entertained at dinner on Northerner
Generals Grant, Meigs, Ingalls, Secretary of War Stanton, and Surgeon
General Barnes.'°

In December Faunce was detached from command and replaced by Lieuten-
ant John A. Henriques. In January Northerner took the Secretary of War to
Norfolk to confer with New York Collector Simeon Draper about confiscated
cotton. In the Potomac she moved “under easy steam on account of the ice
in the River.” On her return, her waterline was planked to protect her from
the ice. In March she was used to transport government officials, and in April
celebrated the surrender of Lee’s army with rockets and fireworks at the
Washington Navy Yard. On April 19, at noon, she fired a national salute
of 36 guns “in honor of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United
States who died Apri] 15th inst.”

When the war ended, she took Chief Justice Ghase and party up the James
River to Richmond, “running under easy steam on account of obstructions.”
‘They remained there for ten days. Later that month she made another voyage
to Richmond, taking 16 officials, and in June she took a party of 13 to the
fallen city. During the summer she transported | government officials,



CHAPTER VI

The Rise and Fall of Captain
Howard

On April 20, Captain William A. Howard was called back to the United
States Revenue Marine Service “to take general charge of arming and equip-
ping and assigning to stations the revenue vessels.” He was to assist Secretary
Chase, Chase's assistant, George R. Harrington, and the New York Customs
Collector Hiram Barney.!

The Captain had been a noted figure in the development of the Revenue
Marine Service from 1831, when he was commissioned to command the tiny
cutter Swiftsure at Eastport, Maine, to 1849 when the service was reduced
and he was dismissed. He was not in the good graces of Superintendent Alex-
ander V. Fraser. From Eastport he had gone to New York and then Norfolk
In 1833 he was referred to as a “superintendent” and is said to have supervis-
ed the equipment of the five cutters that were sent to Charleston during the
nullification difficulties. He took a year’s furlough in 1835 returning to com-
mand the McLane at New Bedford and later at New Orleans. He then served
for a year on the Madison at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1838 he resigned,
but four years later, he was recommissioned Captain to prepare models for
two iron steam cutters, Legare and Bibb, each about 160 feet long and costing
about $90,000. The Legare, the first steam cutter, was sent to Norfolk; the
Bibb was sent to New Orleans with Captain Howard in command

In 1846-1847, Captain Howard played a major role in the Mexican-
American War, as commander of the revenue steamer McLane. He aided Com-
modore Perry U.S.N. in the attack on Frontera, Tabasco and Alvarado and
helped to capture 11 vessels from Yucatan which had been supplying the
enemy with munitions. He also assisted the Army. He was one of three
revenue cutter officers commended for gallantry in action.



ollector, and was appalled at conditions in the harbor. On August 3 he wrote
Secretary Chase saying:

I found that up to that date [July 14] nothing whatever had been done
to prevent vessels from leaving the Port at any and all times and that
after they left the dock no measures were taken to ascertain of what their
cargo consisted.2#

Ives, in cooperation with the Collector, began issuing orders as soon as
he arrived. He insisted that vessels clear coastwise, but, at the Collector's sug-
gestion, gave permanent papers to local traders if they were “good and true
men.” They then had merely to report to the Hope as they passed out of the
harbor. All other vessels were visited by Hope's officers. By the first of August
they boarded 150 vessels.25

This, however, applied only to sailing vessels. Steamboats were supposed
to have been thoroughly inspected before sailing. Writing to Ghase, Ives said:

As it would be a very great detention for steamboats to be stopped and
examined by us here as they passed owing to the great facilities which
their peculiar contruction and arrangement of their cabins present for
smuggling, we arranged we would have nothing whatever to do with the
steamboats but confine ourselves to sailing vessels and that Inspectors from

the Custom House should be in constant attendance night and day on
such vessels from the time of their arrival until their departure. 26

Nevertheless he was soon ordered by General John Dix to board and ex-
amine the steamer Mary Washington bound for the Patuxent River. She had
been detained at Fort McHenry on suspicion of carrying goods for Virginia.
He and his men found three trunks, belonging to three lady passengers filled
with military buttons, and a large dry goods box of military buttons and
buckles. The trunks and the box had been put aboard just before the vess
sailed. The contraband was seized and the Mary Washington was allowed to
proceed

The next day General Dix ordered Ives to examine the George Weems, another
passenger steamer. Eighty colt navy pistols, about 40,000 percussion caps

and a third of a barrel of quinine in bottles, were found secreted on board

A number of percussion caps were also found aboard a schooner bound for
St. Mary’s City on the Potomac.

Within two weeks Ives had boarded about 39 vessels a day. He and his
men had worked from sunrise to sunset, and felt they needed help. Ives sug-
gested to Chase that they be given an inspector who knew how to handle small
boats. He said some of the inspectors he had met were “good men” but did
not know how to take the tiller. He also asked Chase for a boarding net for
Hope, saying:

She is not safe in these waters without one

He figured that 100 fathoms of small chain should be woven into the net-
ting “to prevent its being cut with a cutlass or knife.” This would cost about
$50, bringing the cost of the net to an estimated $116.70.27



For each cutter I had made at Detroit, and forwarded to Quebec, a new
foresail for storm sails.
The running rigging of the Howell Cobb had become rotten and new rig-
ging was required throughout
The two bow anchors were also needed and have been obtained, also charts
of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and coast of the U.S. as far as New Bedford.
Each cutter has been furnished with some equipment and the lateness of the
season has caused an increase of expenditure over the estimate I had the honor
of submitting to You. As you did not order the cutters to any particular port,
I will endeavor to put them in Boston. We are the last vessels navigating the
St. Lawrence. My pilot says that only once before, in thirty years, has any
vessel passed down so late.
I am respectfully your humble servant
Douglass Ottinger
Capt U. S. Revenue Marine!3

Here, at Green Island River, 120 miles below Quebec, they parted with
their tow and pilot and the pilot took the Captain’s letter to mail. They then
bent their sails and headed for the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Cabot Strait.
During the voyage of over 1,000 miles through the Strait and outward of Nova
Scotia to Boston, the vessels appear to have kept together, but as they neared
Boston, the smallest, Howell Cobb, fell behind.

The Brown reached Boston December 18. The Black, with Captain Ottinger
on board, came in two days later and the Thompson on the 23rd. Toucey and
Cobb were not far behind. It had taken a month to assemble and outfit the
fleet on the lakes, and sixteen days for the first cutter to reach Boston from
Quebec. The Brown had had the longest voyage of all —2,325 nautical miles
from Milwaukee to Boston.

These were momentous days, not only for the five Great Lakes cutters but
for Boston as well. Southern diplomats Slidell and Mason, and their entourage,
had been captured at sea and had just been brought into Fort Warren as
prisoners of war.

Ottinger remained in Boston for a few days with Captain John Whitcomb
of the Morris, hourly awaiting the arrival of the Howell Cobb. He was being
entertained Christmas morning in the ward room of the Morris when, as the
Journal reports, “Suddenly Captain John Whitcomb of this Cutter fell dead
upon the floor in the presence of Captain Ottinger and Lieutenant A. A
Fengar.”!*

Nor was this the only tragedy that occurred that Christmas week. On
December 29, Lieutenant Fengar received a dispatch from Gloucester say-
ing that the cutter Cobb was wrecked near Lane’s Cove, Cape Ann. After her
long and arduous voyage, the Cobb had succumbed in a gale at night on the
New England rocks within a few miles of her destination.!>

The Morris, under Fengar, immediately went to her aid. Fengar put into
Gloucester, since the weather was bad, and sent men overland to the scene.
They rescued the men, but were unable to save the cutter.!® In the Journal
of the Morris, it was reported:

Found her in an ugly position upon the rocks with her bottom and bilges
ground to splinters, her stern post out and wood end all open, her forefoot



CHAPTER V

The Navy and the Revenue Marine

Fort Sumter remained the major issue when Lincoln took office March 4.
One of his first actions was to consult his chief aides on provisioning the men
who held the Fort against great odds. On March 15, he wrote:

Assuming it to be possible to now provision Fort Sumter under all the
circumstances is it wise to attempt it?!

Of those consulted only Secretary Chase felt this could be accomplished
without provoking a war. Secretary of State Seward said he “would not pro-
voke war in any way now” and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles wrote
“I do not think it wise.” Even the officers at the Fort argued against it.?

While the debate continued, Lincoln began counting his resources. He wrote
Chase asking how many vessels would be needed off shore, in addition to
the revenue cutters, to protect the revenue. Chase replied that he had no vessels
off shore south of North Carolina, and that all 11 revenue cutters in patrol
service would have to be rearmed. At least three of them, he said, would have
to be replaced by steamships and three storage ships would be required.?

Lincoln then communicated with the Secretary of the Navy, saying:

Sir: I shall be obliged if you will inform me what amount of naval force
you could at once place at the control of the revenue service, and also
whether at some distance of time you could so place an additional force,
and how much and at what time?#

Welles replied March 20 saying that he would put 12 Navy vessels under
control of the Revenue Service but “the amount in the future would depend
on the number of men allowed the Navy.” He also thought that four vessels
could be withdrawn from foreign service within eight months, and that seven
of the Navy vessels not in commission could be made available for the West
Coast.



was back at Hilton Head and Commander Warner was again taking his orders
from the Customs Collector. On July 26 he took a special agent from the
Treasury Department to Fernandina, Florida. En route Nemaha was fired on
by a Navy gunboat until she made her identity known by burning a blue
signal light. She boarded several vessels along the way. Upon her return s|
was ordered to deliver 400 watermelons to the troops at Folley Island n
Charleston.

The cutter spent much of her time in the late summer shuttling the 25 miles
between Hilton Head and Beaufort. She always reported to the Customs col-
lector when she reached Hilton Head, and seems to have taken most of her
orders from him or from the Special Agent at this time. In November a new
Special Agent, A. G. Browne, arrived and made good use of the cutter in
visiting the local ports. There were now 25 men in the crew. On at least one
occasion some of them were sent ashore to cut wood for the galley stove
Nemaha took on coal and water at Beaufort. Sometimes she was sent out to
coastwise steamers in the harbor to pick up and dispatch mail. In late
November she was again turned over to the Army

On November 22 she went to Morris Island, off Charleston, with dispatch
from General Foster. She made the voyage in a day returning to the Beaufort
wharf that night. On November 26 she had General Saxton, Commander
Lane of the USS Constitution, Agent Browne, three officers and 50 soldiers
on board. Browne and Lane left the cutter at Beaufort. Warner was then
ordered to take the officers and soldiers and some dispatches to Morris Island
The soldiers were landed at Stono Inlet the next morning. His next
assignments were to deliver coal to the lightship on Rattle Snake Shoal and
take General Hatch and his staff from the gunboat Mary Sanford to Hilton
Head

With Union forces under General Sherman advancing on Savannah, an
all-out effort was now made to disrupt the railroad that linked Savannah and
Charleston, General Foster was ordered to move troops up the Broad River
to Boyds Landing from which position they would advance to destroy an im-
portant bridge on the railroad, He chose Nemaha as his flagship, bringing his
staff on board November 28 and hoisting his flag at her peak. She was then

ordered to move out into the fleet he had assembled on Port Royal Sound

and “signalize” the vessels that the attack was underway.

It was a foggy night and two of the Army steamers, Cosmopolitan and
Delaware, soon went aground, Nemaha pulled them into deep water. By then
she had lost the fleet. In trying to find it, her pilot, a negro, went up the
wrong river. As Commander Warner said in the Journal: “he did not know
where we were.” They then turned around and cruised down the river, find-
ing the rest of the expedition waiting at Bay Point. The pilot found he had
gone up the Chickasce River instead of the Broad River

Nemaha next cruised up the Broad River and found the Cosmopolitan aground
again. After she pulled her off, the cutter proceeded to Boyds Landing where
the troops were being landed. Delaware went aground again and had to be
assisted in getting off. Lieutenant Everett Webster was then assigned to



Bibber and Titcomb, taken to Fort Preble with the rebels, were released
after extensive questioning. Davenport was sent to the cutter Toucey at Castine,
Maine, and Captain Merryman was ordered to the Campbell at New London.

The Collector continued to believe that the rebels had come to Portland
to seize the two new Navy gunboats, the Agawam and the Pontoosac, which
had been built in Portland and were floating at the Franklin Wharf, but ap-
parently Savvy Read knew nothing about them. Titcomb and Bibber testified
that there had been no mention of them during their conversations with him.

The prisoners were marched through flag-waving mobs to Fort Preble where
they became the tourist attraction of the day. They made front page news
until the Battle of Gettysburg a week later.

Savvy and his crew were taken from Portland, silently and at night, to spend
16 months of confinement in Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. They left with
only the clothes they wore, the rest of their possessions having been distributed
as relics to the people of Portland. Exchanged in late 1864, Read was given
command of another rebel vessel. When Lee surrendered, he burned her and
went over the side. He continued to plague the Revenue Cutter Service after
the war when he engaged in smuggling, and ran gunboats to both sides in
a civil war in Colombia. Eventually he settled down, to some extent, as har-
bor master in New Orleans.?°

Dobbin Replaces Cushing

The Dobbin was sent to Portland from her station on the Delaware to replace
Cushing, She had a curious reception at the Maine port when she arrived under
command of Captain Webster August 13, 1863. As she sailed into the har-
bor with her Revenue flags at the peak and her cutter number on the mast
head, a gun was fired at her from Fort Preble. It was a blank charge, but
it was followed by another shot with a cannon ball that splashed into the water
near her. Captain Webster immediately hove to, lowered a boat and sent
Lieutenant John A, Henriques ashore to explain that they were friend not
foe. Officers at the fort said that no one had told them that the cutter was

coming. After the Cushing episode, they were understandably cautious.
The Dobbin remained in Portland until January 1865. During most of
stay, she cruised in search of privateers and boarded about 50 vessels a da

Webster paid particular attention to Maine’s fishermen who were inclined
to ignore or misinterpret the fishing laws. A boat with a codfish license was
found to have a try works on board, the owner explaining that he aimed to
try out “pogies.” Webster was stern with the law-breaking fishermen. He
threatened to turn the guns on one of them and sink his boat if he refused
to obey revenue rules.

Late in August the Dobbin was sent to find two of Savvy Read’s men who
had escaped from Fort Warren in Boston. Webster found them on a schooner
off Cape Porpoise and brought them and their boat back to Portland. Later
that year he was ordered to leave the Dobbin in Portland and go aboard the
U.S.S. Agawam with lieutenant and 24 men to search for the steamer



In November 1864, when Lincoln was up for re-election, she was ordered
to Gloucester, Massachusetts, and her men were sent ashore “to guard the
Customs House, it being voting day.” Several times she served as an ice-
breaker in Boston and Gloucester harbors.

In 1866 she was detailed to winter cruising of Massachusetts under Cap-
tain Fengar. A detailed chart shows that she cruised 3,654 miles, 631 under
steam, 943 under steam and sail, and 2,080 under canvas from January to
May; boarded 47 vessels; assisted 9 vessels in distress and burned 112 tons
of coal.

Laid up and dismantled May 3, 1867, she was sold August 9 to P. L. Everett
of Boston for $25,600.9

Ashuelot

‘The day after the Pawtuxet was launched, the Ayhuelot went down the ways
at the Eglis yard, also in New York. She was a 323-ton steamer, drawing
4 fect 8 inches forward and 6 8 inches aft, She cost about $103,000.'°
On December 21, 1864, she was ordered to Eastport, Maine, to assist the
Black in patrolling the Canadian border. First commanded by Captain Usher,
she was turned over to Captain Merryman when she went to Charleston,
South Carolina, in December 1866 to replace the Kewanee. On April 27, 1867,
she was laid up at Staten Island, New York,'! and sold to J. C. Fuller and
Brother who registered her July 26.1?

Mahoning (Levi Woodbury) in Two Wars

Next of the new steam cutters to be launched was the 130 foot Mahoning,
one of the longest-lived vessels in the entire service. She was to remain on
duty, mainly in New England waters, until August 10, 1915—long enough
to witness the change of name of the service from “Revenue Cutter Service”
to “United States Coast Guard.”

Contracted for by J. M. Lynn and Sons at Reid Street, Philadelphia, in
1863 as Revenue Cutter Number Five, she cost $92,000. She was built under
the supervision of Captain David Constable, who had commanded E. A. Stevens
in her dramatic episodes in Hampton Bay and at Drewrys Bluff. She was
130 feet long, 27 feet wide, with a depth of 11 1/2 feet. She drew 5 feet for-
ward and 5 feet 4 inches aft.!3 Launched July 9, 1863, and christened by
the Philadelphia Collector's daughter Rebes Thomas, she was ordered to
Portland, Maine, July 19 to assist the sail cutter Dobbin under command of
Captain John A. Webster, Jr. She eventually replaced the Dobbin at Portland
in January 1865

When she first arrived at Portland, Captain Usher of the Dobbin gave her
a pilot and ten men to assist her in searching for rebel cruisers. Both cutters
did extensive cruising until war's end.!* On June 5, 1873, the Mahoning’s name
was changed to Levi Woodbury in honor of the American jurist and statesman
who had died in 1851



He died on board the cutter December 30. His place was taken by the next
in command, Lieutenant Joseph Irish, and later by Captain James Selden
The Kewanee was next sent to Key West. In 1866 she was ordered to New
York where she was laid up at Staten Island and sold July 10, 1867 for
$25,100. She was then registered for foreign trade.?°

Bronx

Late in 1863, a 187 ton steam boat named the Addison F. Andrews was pur-
chased by Stillman and re-named Bronx. She had been built in Brooklyn that
ycar and registered for coastwise trade. Her owner sold her to the Revenue
Gutter Service on December 5 for $42,000. She became the work-horse of
New York Harbor, constantly towing the sailing cutters from place to place
and even occasionally towing some of the steam cutters. She remained in the
service until the end of the war. Her further history is not known, but she
was still in the service in 1871.28 When she was wrecked at Port Penn, Penn-

sylvania, that year she was under the command of Captain Webster, Jr.



13
14
1
16
I
18
19

Letters Sent. March 12, 1861
Ibid, Apr. 1, 1861

Personal Records. D.C. Constable
Om Series 1, vol. 7., pp. 215-222
Journal of Stevens, July 1863
Personal Records, D.C, Constable
Journal of Stevens, July 1863
Letters Sent, Dee. 13, 1863

Journal of Stevens, July 1863, and Record of Movements, vol. 1, p. 329

Chapter XIV—More New Revenue Cutters

26.

Basler, vol. 7, p. 190

Record of Movements, vol. 2, p. 390

Journal of Cuyahoga. July 1863

Ibid, 1863-1865

Pulsiler, p. 5

Record of Movements. Vol

Ibid, p

Journal of Pawtuxet. 1863-1866
cord of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 415

Ibid, vol. 1, p. 75

Journal of Ashuelot, 1863-1864

Record of Movements, vol. 1,

Ibid, pp. 290-294

Journal of Mahoning. 1863-1865

Record of Movements, vol. 1, p. 294

Ibid, p. 172

Journal of Wayanda. 1863-1866

Record of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 1722

Letters Received. Sept. 15, 1863

Ibid, Feb. 5

Record of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 416

Ibid, p. 417

Journal of Kewanee, Aug. 1864 and Vineyard Gazette Edgartown, Mass.: Aug
Ibid, 1863-1864
Record of Movements. Vol. 2. p. 424

Ibid, p. 424

Chapter XV—Cutters in Combat in 1864

1

3

Record of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 418
Journal of Nemaha, June 1864
Ibid, 1864-1865

Ibid, Dee. 1, 1864

Ibid, Dec. 1864

Ibid, Jan. 1, 1865

Ibid, Feb.-June 1865

Record of Movements. Vol

1864



Wilderness 1865-1873
Winslow 1864 (no journals)
Zoave 1861 (no journals; yacht not commissioned)

Record Group 23, National Archives. Records of the Coast and Geodetic Survey

Record Group 41, National Archives. Records of the Bureau of Marine Inspection

Record Group 36, National Archives, Treasury Department. Letters to and from Gollec-
tors and Special Agents.

Record Group 36, National Archives. General records of the Department of the Treasury
with data on the revenue marine and lighthouses.

Record Group 45, National Archives. Subject file of the Gonfederate Navy 1861-1865

Office Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.
Washington, D.C, General Printing Office 1874

Dictionary of Ainerican Naval Fighting Ships, Washington, D.C.: Navy Department, Naval
History Division. 1963

United States Revenue Marine Register; 1873-1875. Dukes Gountry Historical Society,
Edgartown, Mass, New York: The Nautical History Press 1873-1875

Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1790-1868. The Lytle-Holdeamper List edited
and compiled by C. Bradford Mitchell and Kenneth R. Hall. Staten Island, New York
The Stcamship Historical Society of New York. 1975

Whalemen’s Shipping List and Merchants’ Transcripts, New Bedford, Mass. 1863

Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865. Washington, D.C.: Navy Department, Naval
History Division. 1971

Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Givil War. Washington, D.C.: General Printing
Office.

Congressional Record 12 Stat. 639, Feb. 4, 1863

Books

Anderson, Bern, By Sea and River, ‘The Naval History of the Civil War. New York: Alfred
Knopf, 1902

Annual Report of the American Historical Society, Vol. t. Washington, D.C.: G.P.O, 1897

Baarsley, Karl, Coast Guard to the Rescue, New York and Toronto: Farrar and Rinehart, 1936.

Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of the Pacific States of North America. San Francisco: The History
Company, 1890.

Barnes, James, Photographic History of the Cioil War. New York: Review of Reviews, 1911

Basler, Roy P., editor, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865. New Brunswick,
N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1963, 8 Vols

Rattles and Leaders of the Civil War. Grant-Lee Edition, Vols. | & 2. New York: Century Com-
pany, 1884-1887

Beale, Roy P., editor, Diary of Gideon Welles. New York: W.W. Norton, 1960

Bennett, Frank M., Steam Navy of the United States, Pittsburgh, Pa: Press of W.'T. Nicholson,
1898

Benson, J. Lossing, A History of the Civil War. New York: War Memorial Association, 1912

Bloomfield, Howard V.L.., The Compact History of the United States Coast Guard. New York:
Hawthorne Books, 1966.

Boatner, Mark Mayo, The Civil War Dictionary. New York: David McKay Company, 1939

Boynton, Charles B. History of the Navy During the Rebellion, New York: D. Appleton Com:
pany, 1867



By the same author

Hopley Yeaton's U, S. Revenue Cutter SCAMMEL 1791-1798
John Foster Williams’ U. S, Revenue Cutter MASSACHUSETTS 1791-1792
Jonathan Maltbie's U.S. Revenue Cutter ARGUS 1791-1804

Patrick Dennis’ U. S, Revenue Cutter VIGILANT 1791-1798

James Montgomery's U. S. Revenue Cutler GENERAL GREEN 1791-1797
Simon Gross’s U. 8. Revenue Cutler ACTIVE 1791-1798

Richard Taylor's U. S. Revenue Gutter VIRGINIA 1791-1797

William Cooke's U, S. Revenue Cutter DILIGENCE 1792-1798

Robert Gochrane’s U. S. Revenue Gutter SOUTH CAROLINA 1793-1798
John Howell's U.S. Revenue Cutter EAGLE 1793-1799

Transcribed Jounal of MASSACHUSETTS

Transcribed Journal of ARGUS

Biography of Captain Elisha Hinman

Captain William Cooke Pease, Coast Guard Pioneer

Alised Enterprises
7808 Maryknoll Avenue
Bethesda, Maryland

(i)



Personal Records. John McGowan
Applications for Positions. 1848
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid, 1853
Ibid, 1858
10. Jones, Vol. 1, p. 91
11. Ibid
12. Ibid
13. Letters Received 1861
14. Applications. John McGowan
15. Personal Records, John McGowan
16. Journal of Dobbin. Apr. 17-18, 1861
17. Letters Received. April 20, 1861
18. Journal of Dobbin. Apr. 17-18, 1861
19, Letters Received. Apr. 20, 1861
20. Ibid
2
S204 of Dobbin, Apr.-May 1861
23. Record of Movements, Vol. 1, p. 202
24. Journal of Forward. Apr. 25, 1861
25. Letters Received, 1861

Chapter V—The Navy and the Revenue Marine
1. Basler, Vol. 4, p. 284
2. Ibid, p. 285
3. Ibid
4. Ibid
5. Ibid
Journal of Harriet Lane, March 6, 1861
Ibid, March 28, 1861
Charles B. Boynton, The History of the Navy During the Rebellion. New York: D. Appleton and
Company, 1867, p. 265
Ibid
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. (ORN) Washington,
D.C.: GPO, Series 1, vol. 4, p. 243
Ibid, p. 238

Basler, vol. 4, p. 366. Lincoln later said he had confused the names of the Navy ve
ORN Series 1, vol. 4, p. 366

Jones, vol. 1, p.

ORN Series 1, vol. 4, p. 336

Basler, Vol. 4, p. 350

Ibid, p. 342

Ibid, p. 370





PEGI ‘SGI PLL

aun] puUopy Jan



Lieutenants. Six of the Captains are in my opinion unfitted by age,
sickness, and otherwise for service — however ungrateful the task may be,
I must from a sense of duty name them, if called upon by the Hon

Secretary of the Treasury so to do. Such is also the case of several of
the First Lieutenants but inasmuch as the want of professional knowledge
will be discovered by an Examining Board I consider it unnecessary to
designate them — even if I had not been absent from service several years

The want of Esprit du Corps I do not consider entirely the fault of
the Officers themselves. The curtailment of crews and of everything that
gave efficiency or circumstance was taken from them—no Service could
be expected, none was attempted, the material in some degree is there,
and the assurance already given, has rekindled the Hope of being again
a corps worthy of the confidence of the Government

There are six (6) revenue vessels on the Lakes, each about Fifty tons,
too large for Custom House boats & too small for the service demanded
of Cutters.

The cutters “Wm L. Marcy” and “Jefferson Davis” are on the Pacific
Coast, fine vessels of one hundred and eighty tons each

In one week there will be ready for any service — the Cutters “Morris”,
“C. Cushing”, “Varina”, “Crawford”, “Campbell”, & “Dobbin” — They were
originally intended, as I understand it, for cooperating with the Army
I reported the fact to Gen]. Patterson who directed me to place them where
I considered they could perform the best service. As many changes have
been made since, not only in transporting Troops but by a large addi-
tion of this kind of force by the Navy, | shall ask for further instructions;
provided it meets with the sanction of the Department. I respectfully ask
instructions on this point.®

While in Washington, he wrote five others letters to Chase, one stating
that the Varina was ready to receive her officers, one stating again that Philip
Allen was unworthy of arming and repairing, one recommending that the
suspected slaver Grapeshot in New York be purchased for the $10,000 it would
cost to repair Philip Allen, one naming officers for the Varina, and one recom-
mending that two boards be established; one to examine Lieutenants in ser-

vice, and one to examine applicants for commissions. In regard to the boards,

he wrote:

“I would respectfully suggest a Board be appointed consisting of One Cap-
tain U.S. Rev Marine, one Lieutenant U.S. Navy and one Ship master
of well known character, to examine the Lieutenents now in service, as
to their qualifications as Seamen and Navigators. Also that a Board be
convened for the examination of such applicants as the Hon Secretary
of Treasury may designate.”?

Chase did not go along with his desire to abandon Philip Allen and pur-
chase Grapeshot but he did approve the establishment of one examining board
(not two). Back in New York, Howard sent him a list of three men who had
agreed to serve on the board. They were Revenue Cutter Captain Douglass
Ottinger, who became President, Lieutenant E. C. Blake of the Navy, and
Captain Jeff Maury of the Atlantic States Shipping Company. The boa



Captain Pease Seizes NEVA

While the Joseph Lane was in Mexico, Captain Pease was keeping an eye
on two suspected vessels, the ship Ashland from New Orleans and the 160
ton schooner Neva. The Ashland was partly owned by her master, Captain
Wilson, a Southerner. On October 24, Pease was ordered by Collector Rankin
“to keep watch on the Neva’s movements, she being suspected of being a rebel
privateer.” When she left the inner harbor and went around to Rincon Point,
Pease followed her in Marcy and questioned her captain who said she was
going to “lay up for the present.”

Pease boarded and examined the vessel and found one 12-pounder gun,
12 muskets, four blunderbusses, four pistols, and a dozen swords. Neva was
then seized and turned over to the military authorities.!° In Navy records,
Pease is credited with capturing a Confederate privateer."!

The Ashland had been in port since September 30, preparing for a voyage
to the Gulf of California where she would collect fertilizer for a San Fran-

merchant. Captain Wilson was known to be a rebel. Collector Rankin

said later he would have seized the vessel immediately had he been informed

of the passage of the law authorizing the seizure of all ships belonging to rebels.
Instead he let her slip out of the harbor late in November.

Some weeks later the San Diego Collector notified Rankin that the first
mate and several seamen from the Ashland had jumped ship south of San Diego
and come to him with word of the way captain Wilson had behaved once
he dropped his pilot off San Francisco. They claimed he carried on in an
“outrageous manner,” repudiating his allegiance to the United States and tear-
ing down the flag, swearing it would never again fly over his ship. He stated
he would go to Africa and bring slaves back to New Orleans.”

The San Diego collector investigated and found that after collecting guano
on Georges Island, Wilson went into Guaymus to sign on crew. There he
refused to give his papers to the American consul and became abusive, mak-
ing a “violent, personal, life-threatening attack” on the consul. He unshipped
the Ashland’s rudder, removed her sails, and said he would let her rot before
he would hand over his papers. Eventually he was arrested by local authorities
and put in jail for 30 days.

Meantime American consuls at both Guaymus and Mazatlan appealed to
the San Francisco and San Diego Collectors to seize the Ashland. Rankin finally
dispatched Acting Lieutenant Scammon of the Shubrick with eight men to go
to Guaymus by steamer and bring the rebel ship back to San Francisco. When
they reached that port, they found that the Ashland had been sold to a Mex-
ican while the U.S.S. Saranac, Captain Ritchie, stood idly by. Scammon said
Ritchie did nothing to stop the sale. He called him “a very feeble and ineffi-
cient officer.”!3



Second Lieutenant John A. Underwood wrote the events of December 27
in the journal. He said

Commences with fresh breezes from the NE and clear, middle part light
variable airs, weather same, at 4 P.M. hauled down the Colors by order
of Capt. Coste and discharged the crew, the vessel having been turned
over by the Collector William F. Colcock, Esq. to the State of South
Carolina.?

Beneath Underwood's entry Captain Coste wrote:

Paid all the Officers and crew in full up to the 26th inst. inclusive on
behalf of the U. States and discharged them.?

After several blank pages the journal was continued December 28 under
the heading:

Journal of the Schooner William Aiken
N. L. Coste Captain, Service of the State of South Carolina.*

Under that date, Coste wrote:

At9 A.M. hoisted the Palmetto Flag and got underway and proceeded
round to Cooper River at 10:30 A.M. anchored off Southern Wharf.>

He then went down the harbor to watch the movements of vessels and per-
sons at Fort Sumter.

Why did the Captain take the cutter around to the Ashley River before
he lowered the American flag? Did he have some last minute doubts about
his course of action? He had been a loyal officer in the Revenue Marine Serv-
ice since 1830, when he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on the cut-
ter Marion at Charleston. He was an expert navigator and pilot and had sailed
cutters all along the coast from New London, Connecticut, to New Orleans.
He piloted Taney and Jackson on inspection cruises and was commissioned
Captain in 1842. During the War with Mexico, he was in command of the

steam cutter Legare and was commended by the commodore of the cutter fleet,

Captain John A. Webster, Sr. who said “Captain Coste deserves great credit
for his exertions in filling up his coal, and perseverance in getting off.” The
Legare was a troublesome vessel, but in spite of a leaking and hazardous boiler,
Coste sailed to Brazos Santiago, then to the mouth of the Rio Grande, and
on to Vera Gruz and Anton Lizardo in 1846 on missions before going in to
New Orleans for repairs

After the war, he commanded Crawford and Washington. In 1853 he was
commissioned to superintend the construction of Caleb Cushing, James C. Dob-
bin, Robert McClelland, and James Campbell at Somerset, Massachusetts. From
1854 to 1860, he commanded cutters in Charleston and Savannah.®

Some records say that his officers remained with him on board the Aiken’,
but all three — Lieutenants John Underwood, Henry O. Porter, and Horace
J. Gambrill—left immediately for the North and were assigned to other
cutters.®



The Marcy was named for a noted statesman who was Secretary of State
in 1852 and the sponsor of the Gadsden Treaty. Mt. Marcy, highest peak
in the Adirondacks, was also named in his honor.

The Marcy arrived in San Francisco during the height of the Gold Rush
and was largely instrumental in establishing American law in an unruly coastal
area, Commanded first by Captain Stephen Cornell, she was turned over
in March 1858 to Captain William Cooke Pease who had supervised her com-
missioning five years earlier. He found her in deplorable condition and ordered
extensive repairs. Remote from the troubles in the East, the Marcy, with 17
men on board, had hundreds of vessels to board and inspect, including an
increasing number of over crowded vessels from China. When not cruising,
the cutter could often be found at Benicia or at Meigs Wharf in San Fran-
cisco. However, by April 1860, wharfage was so expensive in San Francisco
that Pease often anchored “out in the stream.” He got his water at Sausalito.

By 1860, the Marcy was again in need of repairs. Many frames, some out-
board planking, 30 feet of her keelson, the bulwarks, the main mast, the main
boom, and the windlass were rotten and unsafe. The pumps were too small
and much of the copper was worn thin. The estimated cost of repairs was
$11,800—more than it had cost to build her.°

Her officers in 1860 were Captain Pease, and Lieutenants J. Harrison
Kellogg, J. Edward Wilson and E. Bowling Sturgeon

The Joseph Lane (ex-Campbell) at Astoria

Considered one of the fastest and most graceful schooners of the clipper
ship days, the Joseph Lane was launched July 30, 1849, at the Portsmouth,
Virginia, shipyard of Graves and Fenbie.! She was originally named Camp-
bell. Under that name, she patrolled lower Chesapeake Bay for six years. In
1855 she was ordered to the Pacific to be stationed at Astoria, Oregon Ter-
ritory, where Joseph Lane was then territorial governor. She was renamed
in his honor. The Governor, born in North Carolina, had gone west and had
become Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Later, he was an avowed
secessionist.

Commanded by Captain John S. 8. Chaddock, Joe Lane, as she was called,
guided vessels over the bar at the entrance to the Columbia River, boarded
and examined the increasing number of vessels engaged in lumbering and
fishing, visited lighthouses, and assisted mariners caught in the swift currents
and ice floes of the river. In 1859 she joined the Navy warship Massachusetts
in Puget Sound to assist General Winfield Scott in his difficulties with the
Indians in that area. She was back in Oregon Territory in December 1860.
Captain Chaddock was by then petitioning for an assignment on the Atlantic
or on the Great Lakes after 11 years on the Pacific, and his First Lieutenant
J. D. Usher was complaining to Secretary Cobb that the Oregon climate was
prejudicial to his health. He asked to be transferred East so he could be near
his daughter “whose delicate health is a source of great anxiety to me.” First



pretending to be ill, turned command of the cutter over to Lieutenant John
Wilson. They reached Port Townsend August 1, 1862, where Merryman was
in charge of the Custom House

Merryman, aghast at Smith’s records and actions, and unwilling to believe
that Secretary Chase had not fired him, refused to let him into the Custom
House whereupon Smith ordered Lieutenant Wilson to train the guns of
Shubrick on the town. There were some tense moments before Smith man-
aged to get the money and the records from Merryman and sail away to the
site of the new Custom House

Pease returned to the command of the Shubrick in Puget Sound in August
and spent several unhappy months doing the bidding of the odd Collector,
who was in constant fear that the Shubrick and the Joe Lane would be seized
by Canadians in league with Confederates. By then a grand jury at Olympia
had indicted Smith on charges of embezzlement, issuing false vouchers and
resisting a public officer, but he continued his strange operations. On
December 3, he abruptly removed Pease from command of the Shubrick and
put him ashore at Victoria, Vancouver, saying that a plot existed to turn the
Shubnick into a Confederate privateer. He hinted that Pease was a Southerner.®>

Meantime, in the East, President Lincoln and Secretary Chase argued over
Smith’s strange actions. Lincoln wanted him removed from office, which hurt
Chase’s feelings. Finally Lincoln took the bull by the horns. When Chase was
away May 8, 1863, he wrote him a letter saying, in part:

“My mind is made up to remove Victor Smith as Collector of Customs
at Puget Sound.”26

It was too late to do Captain Pease and Lieutenant Merryman any good.
They had been ordered East by the San Francisco Collector at Smith’s in-
sistence. To assuage Chase, who was infuriated by Smith's dismissal and
threatened to resign as Treasury Secretary, Lincoln allowed Smith to be ap-
pointed Superintendent of Lights in Puget Sound. He continued in that capa-
city until both he and Captain Chaddock were drowned in the wreck of the
Brother Jonathan off Crescent City, California July 30, 1865.27

Pease and Merryman were both acquitted of any complicity in the rebel
cause. Pease was sent to Newport to command the Jacob Thompson, one of
the cutters he had helped to build for the Great Lakes. Merryman was ordered
to Portland, Maine to take command of the ill-fated Caleb Cushing. Both men
later played important parts in convoying the Cotton Fleet from Savannah
to New York in 1865 and in re-establishing the Revenue Cutter Service in
the South after the war. Merryman remained in the service until 1870. Pease
died of typhoid fever aboard the cutter Kewanee in Charleston on December
30, 1865.28

Four of the leading Revenue Marine officers on the West Coast — Pease,
Merryman, Wilson and Chaddock—were recalled to the east in the Spring
of 1863. Command of the Shubrick went to Captain Charles M. Scammon,
and of Joe Lane to Lieutenant James M. Selden. These were the only two
cutters on the Pacific at that time.



Immigration 1:4

Ives, Lieut. Thomas Boynton 8:5, 7-9

Jackson, Andrew U.S.R.C. 2:2; 6:2-3, 6, 9-10; 13:1
Jewett, Collector Jedediah M. 12:3-7, 8

Johnson, Andrew U.S.R.C. 16:7

Jones, Gapt. John M. 8:3; 15:6

Jones, J.H. Hemphill 3:6

Joe Lane U.S.R.G. (see Lane, Joseph)

Juniper 16:7

Kankakee, U.S.R.C. 14:6; 15:5

Kate 2:4-5; 6:7, 9

Kellam, Capt. Benjamin 16:4

Kellog, Lieut. J.H. 2:12

Kewanee U.S.R.C. 14:4, 6-8; 15:5

La Paz, Mexico 11:3

Ludy Le Marchant U.S.R.C. (see Miami)

Lake Erie 9:2-3; 2:13

Lane, Miss Hariet 2:4-5

Lane, Harriet U.S.R.G. 1:1, 4; 2:4-5; 5:2-5; 6:3, 6-8; 7:1-7; 3:1
Lane, Joseph U.S.R.C. 2:1; 1111-5, 13

Lane, Governor Joseph 2:12; 4:6

Lawrence US.R.C. 1:1, 2

Lawrence, George W. 5:4

Lawrence, Lieut. Thomas H. 3:4-5

Leary, Arthur 10:1

Leary George 15:5

Legare U.S.R.G. 2:7; 3:2; 6:1

Lincoln, President Abraham 4:1; 5:1-4; 7:6; 10:1-6; 11:9; 13:3, 5; 14:3; 15:6
Lincoln U.S.R.G. 16:7

Lindia 15:1

Lynn, J.M. and Sons Shipyard 14:3

Macy, Collector Seth W. 8:6

Madison U.S.R.C. 6:1

Maffitt, Capt. James Newland 12:1

Mahoning, U.S.R.C. (Levi Woodbury) 14:3-4
Marcy, William L. U.S.R.C. 2:11-12; 6:4, 6; 11:2, 6, 8; 13:1
Marines 6:7

Marquette, MI. 2:13

Martin, Capt. Francis 8:3

Martin's Industry Lightship 15:1

Maury, Jeff 6:4-5

McClelland, Robert U.S.R.C. 2:1, 8-10; 3:2, 5-7
McCullough, Hugh U.S.R.C. 14:6

MeDowell, General 10:2-3

McGowan, Captain John 1:1; 4:1-4; 9:2; 14:2; 15:5-6; 16:1
McKinley, Lieut. Isaac 6:6, 10



Scammon, Lieut. C.M. 11:5

Schermerhorn, Isaac 4:1

Schultz, Lieut. J. Fred 3:3

School Ship 13:1

Scott, General Winfield 2:12

Scott, Walter 13:4

Selden, Lieut. James M. 2:13; 11:11
Severance, Gollector 15:

Seward, Seeretary of State William H. 5:1; 8:5; 16:5-6
Shenandoah 1:8

Sherman, General 15:2, 4-5

Shindler, M.A. 12:1-2

Shippen, Capt. W.W. 13:4

Shoemaker, Lieut. Charles G, 2:8; 3:4-5; 16:2
Shubrick, William H. U.S.R.C. 11:5-9; 13:1
Sierra Nevada 11:7

Slicer, Lieut. George R. 2:4

Slidell and Mason 9:6

Smith, Collector Victor 11:8-9, 13

Smuggling 16:3

Somerset, MA 2:2-3

Southport, ME 12:2

Spanish-American War 14:4

Sprague, Governor 10:2

Sprague, Kate Chase 10:3

St, Lawrence Canal 9:2

Stamford, Lieut, A.D. 2:4

Stanton, Sccretary of War Edwin M. 10:1-6; 15:5

Steam cutters 13:3

Stevens, Edwin Augustus 13:3

Stevens, E.S., U.S.R.C. (Naugatuck) 10:4; 7:7; 13:2-5
Stewart, Kate 12:1

Stillman, Treasury Agent Thomas B. 14:1, 6-8; 16:2
Sturgeon, Licut. E. Bowling 2:12

Sumner U.S.R.C. 6:6; 11:2; 13:1

Sumner, General 11:2

Swifisure 6:1

Tacony 12:1-2

Tarpaulin Cove 2:3

Tennison, Lieut, William A, 2:11; 3:8; 6:2
Thatcher, Lieut. 1H. 2:4

Thompson, Jacob, U-S.R.C. 2:1, 13; 9:2-7; 11:9; 13:1
Thomas, Secretary of the Treasury Phillip 4:4
Tibbots Greek 15:6-7

Tiger U.S.R.C. 6:6, 10; 8:1-3; 13:1; 15:6

Titcomb, Eldridge 12:1-7



and the Revenue Cutter Dodge escaped total destruction. The Southerners
had other plans for them

Captain Hudgins resigned and joined the Confederacy the day the Navy
Yard was seized, saying he owed allegiance to “none other than my native

state, Virginia.” His younger brother, William, also in the Revenue Marine,

resigned the same day.37
There were now only 18 vessels in the Revenue Marine Service



CHAPTER XIII

Sail Bows to Steam

By 1865 steam cutters in the Revenue Marine outnumbered sailing cut-
ters twenty to thirteen. In the last years of the war only one sailing cutter
was added to the fleet. She was the small Antietam purchased in Baltimore
as the guard ship for New Bern, North Carolina, in 1864. Eleven of the 1860
sailing cutters and two of those acquired from the Coast survey were still afloat
and useful. Two (the Marcy and the Davis) were decommissioned in 1862 and
the Cushing was blown up in 1863. The yachts Henrietta and Hope had seen
short service! as had the schooner Joe Miller and the sloop Cruiser.?

Four sailing cutters were decommissioned the year the war ended. The
Jackson, after 33 years in service, and the Forward, after 23 years, were sold
at Baltimore. The Allen is not listed after November 1865, and the Varina was
returned to the Coast Survey about the same time.

Joe Lane, Morris, Toucey, Black and Crawford were decommissioned in the
late 1860's: the Joe Lane at Port Townsend, Oregon; Morris at Baltimore; Black
at Philadelphia; Toucey at New Haven and Crawford at Newport. In the 1870's
the James Campbell was sold in New York for $3,855 and the Thompson at
Baltimore for $1,400.3

The Dobbin remained in service until 1881, becoming the first school ship
of the Revenue Cutter Service in 1877, taking cadets on practice cruises out
of Curtis Bay, Baltimore. She was sold at Baltimore in 1881 for $5,166. She
had cost $9,000 when built at J. M. Hood's yard in 1853.4

The service's first successful steam cutter, the Harriet Lane, after being sold
to the Navy was captured by the rebels in 1863. The three steam tugs, Reliance,
Tiger and Hercules, were used mainly on Chesapeake Bay. In 1861 the steamer
General Sumner was chartered for San Francisco until the steamer Shubrick was
transferred from the Lighthouse Service to the Revenue Marine Service



Among the younger men, James H. Merryman and Charles G. Shoemaker
went on to notable careers. Shoemaker, the young cadet who fought his way
north to join Union forces when his cutter, Lewis Cass, was seized at Mobile,
became Commandant of the service in the early 20th century.

In 1860 Treasury Secretary Cobb felt that the cutters were almost useless
but his successor, the wizard of finance, Secretary Chase, knew that he could
not underwrite a war without their help. To Secretary Chase, his assistant
George Harrington, and the Customs Collectors (especially Collector Barney
of New York) go a great deal of credit for revitalizing the service in its essen-
tial work in the collection of the revenue, and for increasing its value to both
Army and Navy in the course of the war. To a lesser extent Stillman and
Draper should be credited

In addition to the Revenue Cutter officers and to the government officials,
the war could not have been successfully concluded without the assistance
of the thousands of ordinary seamen, gunners, coxswains, marines, pilots,
cooks, and boys who served aboard the Civil War Cutters

Too old to take an active part in the Civil War, Captain Henry Hunter
came out of retirement to command the James Campbell at New London and
Throggs Neck. He died with his sea boots on in December 1861. Another
old-timer, Captain John A. Webster, father of Captain John A. Webster Jr.
begged to be reinstated in the service from which he had been long retired,
but his pleas fell on deaf ears. On June 25, 1863, he wrote Secretary Chase
from his home in Harford County, Maryland, saying:

I find by the Public prints, the necessity of all persons able to offer
their services, therefore I feel as | might yet be qualified to take a com-
mand, to offer my services once more, to defend the City of Baltimore,
As the aged citizens of that place will testify I done so during the War of
1812 on the night of the 13 and 14 Sept. 1814

This is the third time I have applied for duty since I was placed on the
retired list but no notice taken of my application.*

He signed himself “John A. Webster, U.S.R. Service.”

By late 1864, it was evident that the war would soon be over. Savannah

had at last fallen to Union forces; the Confederate cruiser Alabama had been
sunk by the Union Kearsarge; six of the seceding states were overrun with Union
soldiers. Some Southern ports, notably Charleston and Wilmington, North
Carolina, still defied the Atlantic Blockade, and rebel privateers continued
to plunder Union shipping but Grant and Sherman were camped on the
doorsteps of Charleston, and Lee’s defenses of Richmond were weakening.
By September 1864 a limited amount of legitimate trade was permitted in
some of the Southern ports, increasing the work of the cutters. Illegitimate
trade flourished. Even Union Army supplies turned up for sale in Southern
communities

There was trouble in the Great Lakes too when “suspicious” vessels, flying
the Confederate flag, were said to be ready to attack Johnson Island where
rebel prisoners were being held. Major General Hitchcock of Sandusky urged



of Confederate activity. On July 16 on the North Carolina coast, Captain
Hyde of the Jackson saw two wrecks being plundered by the British ship Glory
of the Jersey Islands.2° He thought the Glory had just come from Rio de
Janeiro. Her Captain was communicating with a group on the beach bear-
ing a British flag. They had several teams of horses, and a number of small
boats. Captain Hyde sent an officer and boat’s crew ashore with a flag of truce
to investigate, but no one on shore or on the Glory, would communicate with
them. The flag of truce was then withdrawn and the men returned to the
Jackson. When the Captain saw a battery being set up on the beach, he opened
fire with his big gun. The shots fell short but the men fled into the woods
and sand hills and disappeared. Due to the shallowness of the water, the
Jackson's guns could not reach the Glory or the beach, so Hyde left and con-
tinued south. On July 18th, he was off Cape Hatteras. In the Journal, he
wrote:

At 11:30 AM took a good look at Cape Hatteras and vicinity.*°

He saw a vessel near Hatteras and gave chase until he discovered that
she was inside the dunes in Albemarle Sound.

Captain Howard Leaves the Service

Howard’s Revenue Marine days were numbered. On August 19 he was
sent to Baltimore to take charge of the Reliance and fit out the other tugs,
Tiger and Hercules. He advised Chase that 12-pounder rifle guns had been
ordered for each of the tugs, and that they would require 12 minnie muskets,
12 pistols, 12 boarding pikes, and 12 cutlasses. He found that engineers could
be hired in Baltimore at $50 and $60 a month for first engineers and $40
a month for assistants, plus rations. Each tug, he said, would require a Captain
or Lieutenant in command, two other Lieutenants, a gunner’s mate, two
quartermasters, eight seamen, two boys, and ten marines. Each would also
need a head engineer and assistant, two firemen, two coal passers, one cook,
one steward, one ward room boy, and one pilot. He advised that crew be
procured in New York since merchant ships in Baltimore were often detained
for want of sailors.

On August 20, he was back in New York writing to Chase about uniforms.
He said that the Revenue Marine Service uniforms were obsolete and that
no two were alike.3? He suggested that a board be appointed to study the
matter.* He also sent the names of those who had recently taken examina-
tions. Captain D. C. Constable was demoted to First Lieutenant. H. O.
Porter, D. D. Tompkins, Thomas M. Dungan, and I. I. McKinley were pro-
moted from Second to First Lieutenant. Five “gentlemen” who had dropped
out of the service were reinstated. John McGowan passed the examination
for Captain, and three Third Lieutenants - H. D. Hall, Frank Barr, and Mor-
ton Phillips were passed. H. H. Walsh, examined for Third Lieutenant, did
so well he became a Second Lieutenant. Veteran Rufus Coffin failed to ob-
tain a Captaincy because he had no knowledge of gunnery, Howard suggested

6-10



Che American Telegraph Company,
» PRINTING AND: Aousenrets: al

DIREET TO ACL STATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES ANO BRITISH PROVINCES,

432 Ponnsylvania Av), U.S. CAPITOL, ana Willard's
and Metropolitan Hotols, Washington,

TERES ASD CONDITIONS ON WiC TIS AND ALL MESSUGES aB8 RECEIVED BT {O18 03

eulte— Foor. pom

rd ee eee ae ae

Telegram reporting the destruction of the cutter Caleb
Cushing

National Archives



an honest trader a moment longer than necessary to prevent fraud upon the
Revenue as also just to the fair and honest trader.
Wishing your a pleasant Cruise
I am, dear sir, very respectfully,
Your obdt Servant
W. A. Howard
Senior Captain!®
A third yacht, Zouave, was tendered to the government by two brothers,
Benjamin and J. M. Wilson of Mystic, Connecticut, July 18, 1861. Collec-
tor Barney was authorized to receive her if he thought she was suitable. Cap-
tain Howard traveled to Mystic to look her over. He reported it would cost
too much to put her in condition and she was declined August 20. She is,
however, listed among the Revenue Cutters of 1861.16

The De Bebian Affair

No Journals of Henrietta have been located so it can only be assumed that
she did as told and proceeded to Block Island and Nantucket late in July and
was probably on her way back to New York when she met the schooner Adelso
which had put into Newport due to bad weather August 13.

Adelso had a peculiar history. She was a 98-ton vessel, built in Eastport,
Maine and originally owned by John Kay of Eastport who named her A.L
Hyde in honor of Revenue Cutter Captain Hyde. Hyde was then in command
of the cutter Jackson at Eastport. Kay was in trade between Nova Scotia and
the South. When war broke out he found it expedient to turn the schooner
over to his brother-in-law, Henry Horton, a resident of New Brunswick who
registered her in New Brunswick and changed her name to Adelso. She sailed
under Captain Thomas Kimball, a naturalized American citizen born in Bri-
tain. She was then chartered for trade between Nova Scotia and North
Carolina. In spite of the blockade of Wilmington, North Carolina, she had
sailed in and out of that port and was bringing a full cargo of turpentine and
rosin to Boston when she ran into bad weather off Newport.!7

Obeying Captain Howard’s orders, 20-year old Lieutenant Commander
Bennett boarded Adelso and seized her on the strength of her dubious history,
the British connections of her master, and her defiance of the Atlantic
blockade. The vessel was searched and although no contraband was found
in the cargo, the trunks and personal effects of a passenger, Louis de Bebian,
yielded suspicious evidence of collaboration with the enemy.

Officers of Adelso were to claim that their schooner was taken possession
of by “men armed to the teeth.” Bennett, it was said, was “in martial panoply
with drawn sword, several revolvers and all his followers similarly accoutred.”
The cutter’s men held Adelso by order of the Newport Customs Collector Seth

W. Macy. No one was allowed to go ashore and all papers found on board

were sealed up.!9

Four days later De Bebian was permitted to land and state his case.
Although he argued that he was innocent of any wrong doing, it was soon
evident that he was guilty of espionage. De Bebian was a native of Guadeloupe

8-6



crew. About 3 P.M., they returned on board accompanied by one of the
Commanding Officers of the garrison at Fort Pulaski who assumed
command of the cutter in the name of the State of Georgia, and strictly
enjoined upon the Captain, Officers, and crew that any attempt to move
the cutter would be considered hostile and would be treated accordingly
by them. Ends clear with light westerly winds. Served 17 rations. !?

Meantime, on shore, officials were astonished at the seizure. At the Custom
House, Collector John Boston heard the news from Captain John Scriven
early Friday morning, January 3. He immediately sent a message to Gover-
nor Joseph E. Brown at his home at Fort Pulaski. Dobbin, he said, had been
seized by “parties unknown to me.” He asked the Governor “the favor of you
to direct those in charge to allow her to proceed to sea, in compliance with
instructions from the office of the Secretary of the Treasury.”!9

The Governor immediately replied that he had ordered Colonel Lawton,
commander at Fort Pulaski, “to protect Government property against injury.”
Boston was ordered to send a revenue boat to take the cutter into custody.
The Governor's men would help haul her off the sand spit. She was to be
allowed to proceed to sea at once. !*

Brown wrote:

I much regret the lawless seizure of the vessel, and beg leave to assure
you that I shall from time to time give such orders as will protect the
Custom House and other property belonging to the Federal [government]
till the action of this State is determined by the Convention of her people. !

All Friday morning the officers remained on the stranded cutter, ponder-
ing their future. About noon the steam tug Samson came down the river bring-
ing the surveyor of the port and officers from Fort Pulaski. Dobbin’s officers
and crew were then released from custody. With the help of the Samson, the
Dobbin was pulled off the sandspit. An officer and a boat were sent to the
Fort for the cutter’s belongings, and at 4 P.M., she was towed out to sea
Webster lost no time in crossing the bar and heading north.'® Was he in-
volved in the plot to seize the cutter? Northerners would wonder.

The Dobbin had had a narrow escape. There were still 23 cutters in the
Revenue Marine Service.

The Cass Joins the South

At Mobile, Alabama, in January 1861, the cutter Lewis Cass was in poor
condition. She was “leaking badly”, and when underway, her pumps could

not keep up with the water that came in. As a result, the vessel was out of
trim with too much water in the bilge. The decks leaked too, soaking the bed-
ding in the cabin and ward room.

Captain James J. Morrison appealed to the Mobile Customs Collector for
repairs, but he would not listen. Cass continued to be sent out to board and
examine vessels, sometimes as many as four or five a day

On board in addition to Morrison were Lieutenants Anson S. Rogers,
Charles G. Shoemaker and Thomas H. Lawrence, and nine in crew. The



ation had difficulty in arousing attention. When they were finally
heard, they were ordered to the port side (the crew side). Protocol required
that Lincoln be the first to ascend the narrow companionway to the deck. !3
No mention is made in the Miami’ log of the conference or when the tug
brought the men back to the cutter but at 5 A.M. they were off to another
conference, this one on board the U.S.S. Vanderbilt. Miami hove up her an-
chor, steamed close aboard Vanderbilt and “sent the President and his party,
Secretary Chase and others on board.”'* After conferring, they were rowed
back, passing the USS Monitor and the cutter E. A. Stevens.

Miami then proceeded to Fortress Monroe wharf where General Wool and
his staff came aboard. All went ashore for breakfast in Quarters Number One
at the Fortress. The Miami then went to the lower wharf to take in eight tons
of coal.!5

Lincoln remained on shore all day, first visiting the two ironclads in Hamp-
ton Bay, the Monitor and the Revenue Cutter Stevens, and later traveling on
horseback to outlying regions. He spent the night ashore in Quarters Number
One. !6

While taking in coal at the lower wharf, the Miami had a slight accident
On an ebb tide she sheared into the wharf. The starboard cathead was car-
ried away. She remained at the wharf all day. At 6 P.M., as the Journal
records:

The rebel steamer Merrimac steamed in sight off Sewells Point.!7

No action developed. It was a stormy night, with northwest winds and rain
squalls. Lincoln and Stanton remained ashore but Chase and Viele returned
to spend the night on board. Extra lines were brought out to fasten the cutter
to the wharf. By 3 A.M. the sea was increasing so the cutter dropped out
into the channel for safety. At 6:30 A.M. Captain Ottinger dispatched a boat
by orders from Secretary Chase, with a letter to Commodore Goldsborough
on Minnesota. Later in the day Miami was ordered to another wharf where
she was made ready for immediate action. Division officers reported their
readiness to Captain Ottinger, First Lieutenant Treadway and the other of-
ficers. That night, the Miami anchored in the harbor, ready for action. Lin-
coln remained ashore.

Although there is no mention of it in the Miami’s Journal, the Navy at-
tacked, and silenced, a small battery on the end of Sewell’s Point that morn-
ing while Lincoln watched. Again the Merrimack appeared and disappeared,
refusing combat. With Lincoln in command, Army and Navy forces then
began searching for the best beach on which to land troops. Obviously it had
to be beyond the reach of Merrimack’s guns.

Early the next morning Miami was ordered to the wharf at Fortress Monroe
to pick up Secretary Chase and General Wool and his staff, She arrived too
early. She cast off and anchored off shore until 8:30 A.M. when Chase and
Wool came on board, bringing a pilot to find a beach on which to land the

troops. Lincoln, meantime, boarded a tug and, with another pilot, also set
out to hunt for a landing. The two vessels searched the shore below Willoughby

10-4



the pay increased. He found the pay did not correspond with the compensa-
tion of officers employed in “similar and less laborious duties.” He felt pay
should be raised as “an act of simple justice to a worthy class of public of-

ficers.”"4
Before Congress could consider his proposals, the country was in a state
of upheaval. Cobb himself fled Washington to join his friends in the South,

and flags of secession were flying in six of the southern ports in which Revenue
Cutters were stationed. The fate of the nation, as well as of the Revenue
Marine Service, was in the balance.



and a citizen of France who had engaged in transporting lumber from the
West Indies to Wilmington, defying the blockade. He alleged that his passage
on Adelso was purely for commercial reasons but his trunk contained letters
and papers showing that he was to purchase $40,000 worth of goods in Liver-
pool to be delivered in a British or French vessel to Confederate interests in
Wilmington. The goods included between 5,000 and 10,000 army blankets,
1,000 bags of coffee, several tons of iron, and various articles of clothing
De Bebian claimed that the goods ordered were for citizens of North Carolina,
saying that it was customary to provide a pair of blankets for each negro in
the Fall. These he called “negro blankets.”?¢

Further evidence against him included letters from Confederate sym-
pathizers in Vermont, Maine, New York, Missouri and Connecticut. Nor
did it help his case when Commander Bennett found complete instructions
on how to run the blockade when entering Wilmington. Once a vessel gave
the proper signal a pilot would be sent from shore to guide her to the city.

Collector Macy ordered De Bebian’s arrest August 19. He was sent to Fort
Lafayette at the Narrows in New York Harbor where he was held in custody
until October 4 when he was permitted to leave for Europe. He was back
in Wilmington in February where he was interviewed by the Wilmington,
North Carolina Journal. The editor said he called Bennett “squint-eyed” and
claimed he was a “bibulous youth who is the owner of a yacht in which he
used to cruise around in the vicinity of Newport.” The editor added:

He tendered the yacht to the U. S. government as a cutter or something
or other, on condition of his getting a commission as her commander,
although he hardly knew one rope from another, having proceeded to
secure the services of a real seaman to work the vessel.?!

Bennett was ordered to Port Royal in February 1862 to assist the blockading
squadron. When Henrietta sailed into port she was mistaken for a blockade
runner until her Revenue Marine ensign was seen. Bennett was lavish in enter-
taining officers of the blockading squadron aboard his yacht. He returned
north in April, being frequently mistaken for a blockade runner and chased
several times along the way. By then young Bennett decided he had had
enough of Revenue Marine life. He withdrew Henrietta April 29, 1862, and
asked that she be returned to her former condition.??

After the war Henrietta became famous when she won the transatlantic race
in 1866. Her young commander was later commodore of the New York Yacht
Club, one of the youngest in its history.?3

Hope Goes to Baltimore

Lieutenant Commander Ives set out from New York in his armed yacht,
Hope, July 5 and ran into head winds and calms. It was the 13th before he
reached Baltimore late at night. The next day he reported to the Baltimore



CHAPTER IX

The Chilly Voyage of Captain
Ottinger

The people of Quebec found it hard to believe. Who was this strange American
who arrived at night, with a fleet of five small schooners, and insisted on leav-
ing the next morning for Boston? The wind was “blowing strong and the snow
falling fast.” It was the first of December, and there was already much ice
in the river. Soon it would be frozen from shore to shore.

The five small schooners were revenue cutters from the Great Lakes headed
for Civil War duty on the Atlantic, and the American was Captain Douglass
Ottinger of the United States Revenue Marine who had been ordered by
Treasury Secretary Chase to deliver the cutters as soon as possible. Chase
needed them to replace the larger cutters now on duty with the Army and
Navy.!

On August 13, his assistant, George Harrington, had written Collector
Hiram Barney at New York saying:

“I will thank you to ascertain whether it is practicable by the

to transfer the six Revenue Cutters now on the lakes to the coast
by canal. These vessels are about 50 to 55 tons. If not practicable by
Canal, what probable expense would be by way of the St. Lawrence
Capt. Ottinger can give you the length, beam and draft of water, and
it is presumed all necessary information in regard to them other than
the cost of transportation.”?

The cutters at Quebec were five of six centerboard schooners which had
been built at the Merry and Gay Shipyard in Milan, Ohio in 1856, and sta-
tioned at leading ports on the Lakes. They averaged about 58-60 tons and
were approximately 63 feet long and 17 feet wide. With the centerboard down
they drew 12 feet; with it up almost six feet.?



CHAPTER I

On the Eve of Secession

The year 1860 found the United States Revenue Marine Service at low ebb
There were only 24 revenue cutters to police and guard a coastline that ex-
tended from the Atlantic Ocean at Eastport, Maine, to the Gulf of Mexico,
and up the Pacific Coast from San Diego to Port Townsend, Washington
Territory.

Twenty-three were wooden sailing vessels built for the Revenue Marine
in the burgeoning age of steam. Of these, one had been launched in 1832,
one in 1837, one in 1842, three in 1849, six in 1853, one in 1855, two in
1856, and seven in 1857. One was a former pilot boat, purchased in 1855
They ranged in length from 35 to 100 feet. One was a brig; the rest were
fore-and-aft or topsail schooners. The only modern cutter in the fleet was
the Harriet Lane, a 180-foot wooden side-wheel steamer built in 1857-1858
at the insistence of New York shipping interests. She was the pride of the
nation.

Except for the Harriet Lane, which was well staffed, the cutters lacked suffi-
cient officers and crew to carry out the work assigned to them. Many had
only one or two officers and crews of six or seven, making it difficult to send
officers and crew off in small boats to board and examine maritime traffic
and to seize law-breakers. There had been drastic cutbacks in the personnel
in the 1840's and 1850's, and no pay increases. As a result the service had
lost some of its most able men, including Captains John McGowan, Alex-
ander V. Fraser, and William A. Howard.



He ordered the cutter’s men on deck and told them to get in a boat and row
away. Lieutenant Davenport’s irons had been removed but the others, ex-
cept the cook, still wore manacles. As they were rowing away, one of the rebels
threw them the keys. By then, with both Forest City and Chesapeake approaching,
Savvy was getting ready to set the cutter on fire and abandon her. Daven-
port and his men rowed to the Chesapeake and climbed aboard

Bibber was the first to arrive at the Forest City. Next came Captain Read
and his crew. Soon after, there was a tremendous explosion and the cutter
almost immediately disappeared. In what must have been a dramatic mo-
ment on board Forest Cily, the young rebel surrendered his sword to Captain
Merryman. The steamer then proceeded to take the Archer in tow, and all
headed back to Portland.'5

Telegrams to Secretary Chase

The telegraph office at Portland was kept busy that day. When Collector
Jewett, waiting anxiously on shore, heard that the Cushing had exploded, he
immediately sent the following telegram to Secretary Chase:

“Lieutenant Davenport while other Lieutenants were on shore ran off
with the cutter Caleb Cushing last night. Soon as advised this morning
I put field pieces on Boston and New York steamers and a tug. Sent
detachment from 17th regulars and Maine seventh on steamers. They
overhauled her ten miles off. She fired on them several rounds but find-
ing that she would be captured they abandonned and then set fire to her
and she blew up. The steamers have not returned to report what became
of the crew. Her best men were on shore on leave —new commander ar-
rived this morning and went off in a steamer.”!®

As soon as the Forest City reached shore, Merryman hastened to the telegraph
office and also wired Chase. He said:

“Arrived here this morning at four o'clock was on board the steamer Forest
City saw cutter blown up. Lieut Reid of rebel navy was in command
& surrendered his sword to me. Twenty-eight prisoners.”"”

In another telegram, the Collector said there were 22 prisoners. He wired

“Twenty-two men from a confederate vessel entered our harbor last night
in the prize schooner Archer boarded the cutter overpowered her crew
and made sail in her. They came to burn the gun boats here. We have
captured their vessel and all of them and have landed them at Fort Preble
No one injured by cutter’s shot. She sank immediately after she blew up."*

In still another telegram from C. F. Sanford, Chase was told:

“The Confederate pirates came to this port in Schr. Archer of Southport
recently captured and was recaptured by our steamers and towed to the
port by Forest City. The crew of the cutter has just marched to station
house under guard of a detachment of troops from 7th Maine and 17th
Regulars. Confederate pirates have gone to Ft. Preble in irons.”!9



,
y ol a Sa
abciian nt Fp,
PRESIDENT OF THE THITWD STATES OF AMERICA,

To all who shall see these presents, Greeting:

FHWOW Cy That reposing special trust and confidence tn He
atgniy,digenss and good wondedt of Den glaed Citcarjen
FF clo ofppoint him XO aft dinar of a Calton inn the sorvize of
te United States, Ar Mts jrratzction of Me revenue; and de authenire
ind ompaoor him to eveate and. fiifl tha dats of that offle according
+ law And bo have and to hold ths pail offic, with all He right and

Ott ge daring Mhe pleavure of the Prenilont of the
United Sates for He time being
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, 7 4ae anced ese letters to be
mace fatong, arid tha seal, of He Freanuy Dow
frortmont of tha Ubrited Plats to be horeunte
Yael.

GIVEN wndor my hand, at the City of Weshinglon,
Hh Hirst portent of Decora.
on the yur of cur Lard ona thousand egght
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the aoe si fone, = ae

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Commission of Captain Douglas Ottinger
National Archives



CHAPTER XII

Cushing Captured at
Portland, Maine

‘Two fishermen, Eldridge Titcomb and Albert P. Bibber, were setting a trawl
about eight miles southeast of Damariscove Island, Maine, Friday morning
the 26th of June 1863. Bibber later said he owned the small boat they were
in, but Titcomb claimed they owned it in common, and trawled in common.!

“Pretty near the end of the trawl,” as Titcomb said, “a schooner run down
and spoke to us and ordered us to go alongside.” They declined, saying that
they were “underrunning” the trawl, and could not be interrupted. They ig-
nored the schooner and went on working.?

Some of the men on the schooner then lowered a boat and rowed over to
them. Looking up from the trawl, Titcomb saw they had pistols and knives
in their belts although they looked like ordinary seamen. They persisted in
their invitation. Soon the two fishermen saw there was no use resisting them
so they “slipped off the trawl” and rowed to the schooner. Their boat was
taken in tow and they went on deck. One of the men told them that they
were from the Confederate steamer Florida. Titcomb and Bibber didn’t know
anything about the Florida. If they had, they would have realized they were
in for trouble. The Florida had run the blockade at Mobile with Captain James
Newland Maffitt at the helm, and had plundered shipping on the South Atlan-
tic. The schooner was not the Florida but these men had been in her crew.
When the Florida seized the schooner Clarence off the coast of Brazil, Maffitt
turned the seized vessel over to some of his men with Captain Charles W.
(Savvy) Read as commander. Savvy, a 23-year-old graduate of the Naval
Academy at Annapolis, had joined Maffitt after fighting in the battle for New
Orleans. He was a real daredevil. Proceeding up the coast he captured the
Tacony, M. A. Shindler and Kate Stewart, sending the latter to Philadelphia as

12-1



in 1853. Her frame was of English oak; her planking of teak, and her fasten-
ings of copper. As Lady Le Marchant, she had been in transatlantic service
for six years. When purchased in January 1862, she was completely overhauled
and given a new screw and new copper fastenings.’ One of the ablest men
in the Revenue Marine Service, Captain Ottinger, was put in command.

“Call the Steamer the ‘Miam?. Have everything in perfect readiness. Keep
her waiting orders until further advised,” Chase wrote Collector Barney at
New York April 3. It was obvious that Miami was destined for important mis-
sions. “Provide every particular necessary for comfort,” Chase added. “Bed,
bedding, crockery, glassware, 2 or 3 spare beds and bedding for use if
needed.”*

A later inventory indicates that the Miami’s furnishing included ten cham-
pagne glasses, a silver coffee urn, two silver tea pots, a silver plated nut-picker
and two silver plated snuffers. She was a schooner-rigged steamer carrying
ten sails. She had a 24-foot gig, fitted with brass oarlocks and cushions, a
22-foot launch and two cutters (four-oared rowboats).®

The Miami left New York April 4, 1862 with Barney and Harrington on
board, arriving in Washington April 7. She was immediately the object of
much attention. On April 9, Secretary Chase took the Secretaries of War
and State, together with Admiral Dahlgren and “ladies” down the river to
Alexandria and back. More visitors were taken on a short cruise the next
day, including Governor Sprague. Two days later Secretary of State Seward,
his wife and daughters came on board. Soon after even more important guests
arrived. As the Journal reports:

At3 P.M. His Excellency ‘President’ Lincoln, Lady & 2 sons and Lady
friends also came on board when we proceeded down the River about
once mile below Alexandria and turned to go up to the Navy Yard when
we arrived at 5 P.M. and Parties left for the city.®

One wonders if Captain Ottinger ever reported to the President that two
days s ceremonial cruise he, as the Journal reports, “thought it pru-
dent to send the quarter master to the Hospital having the small pox.”7

The President came aboard on more official matters April 19 when he ac-
companied Chase, Stanton, Dahlgren and other Army and Navy officials
down the Potomac to Army headquarters at Aquia Creek. The Miami's guns
were ready for instant action as she made the voyage. It was at 10 o'clock
that night, while the vessel was lying at anchor off headquarters, that the Pres
dent was informed that General McDowell’s troops had captured
Fredericksburg. The next day General McDowell himself, with Colonel
Bayard and other officers, came on board the Miami to be congratulated before
she steamed back to the Navy Yard.

‘The Miami was under Army orders but Stanton, Chase and Welles worked
closely together, all deferring to the President's wishes in regard to the opera-
tion of the cutter. Captain Ottinger remained in command, assisted by
Lieutenants Timothy Treadway, W. E. Holloway and A. G. Cary, two
engineers and a Revenue Marine Service crew of thirty-four.®





permission to mount a suitable battery on her. Chase answered that he did
not even know that the Harriet Lane had returned to New York, and he thought
any expense in re-arming her should be paid by the Navy.?!

When Harriet Lane was sent to Hampton Roads in June, she was directed
to take orders from General Butler of the Army, but she was still a revenue
cutter termporarily in the Navy. This must have been as puzzling to Captain
Faunce as the status of the cutter Forward was to Captain Henry Nones. Nones
was stationed at Annapolis under Navy orders to assist the Army. He felt
he was obliged, and entitled to fly the national flag instead of the insignia
of the Revenue Marine. For this he was severely rebuked by Army and Navy
officers. Assistant Secretary Harrington wrote him saying:

As you seem to have acted under a misapprehension, it will be sufficient
to state that your vessel must at all times bear the revenue flag unless
when formally transferred to the Navy Department when by law the Cut-
ter is under the part of the naval force of the United States.

Under your present orders, you are acting merely in conjunction with
officers of the Army in carrying out the purposes of the government and
hereafter you will fly the revenue flag unless specially authorized
otherwise.??

“Who is Secretary, You or Mr. Chase?”’

In June, the tone of Captain Howard’s letters to the Treasury Department
(especially to Harrington whom he had formerly addressed as “Friend Har-
rington”) began to change. He now addressed him as “Sir.” Both Chase and
Harrington were questioning some of Howard’s expenditures and methods.

On July 1, Harrington wrote him a lengthy letter saying that the Secretary
required “system and economy” and he must know the exact cost of all items
before he would give his sanction. No expensive repairs were to be under-
taken before a survey had been made and an estimate given, and all expenses
should be designated to individual cutters. He also felt that the Navy should
pay for any changes in the Harriet Lane.

“In regard to officers,” he continued, “you have ordered men hither and
thither and given no notice and when we give orders we are met by some
other having been given by you and thus the signature of the Secretary is
called in question.” He went on to say:

“This has occurred two or three times. The question then arose who is
Secy, you or Mr. Chase.”23

He deplored the condition of the Revenue Marine Service and ended his
letter saying:

“It is not Pleasant nor can it go on so without creating difficulty. It ex-
cites remarks out of Washington & the officers don’t seem to know what
to do; such are the facts.”**



the service. Serving with him were two avowed Southerners, Lieutenants Alex
R. Abercrombie and John G. Blackwood. Webster was granted a month’s
leave in November but was back on board Dobbin when South Carolina
declared her independence December 20.%2

The John Appleton at Key West

The John Appleton was the smallest cutter in the flect in 1860. She was a
35-ton schooner built at Page and Allen’s shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia,
in 1857, and sent to Key West under the command of Lieutenant William
B. Randolph. She was expected to patrol the east and west coasts of Florida.33

Lieutenant Randolph had no junior officers and very few in crew. Allowed
$20 a month for a cook, he could find no one willing to take the job so he
implored the Secretary of the Treasury to let him use his own slave, then
working as a laborer on a Key West fort at $30 a month. No slaves were
permitted on board the cutters in 1860. Randolph's grievances were many.
He did not know how he could be expected to look for “supposed slavers,
and vessels in distress, at sea, in all kinds of weather, cruising in a little vessel
that one can scarcely turn around in.”+

Early in 1861, Appleton was turned over to the Navy

The Lewis Cass at Mobile

‘The Lewis Cass, a schooner, was built in 1855 at Page and Allen’s shipyard
in Portsmouth, Virginia, under the supervision of Revenue Cutter Captain
Robert K. Hudgins.%° She was expressly designed for service in New Orleans
and was named for Lewis Cass of Exeter, New Hampshire, who ran for Presi-
dent on the Democratic ticket in 1848 and was later Secretary of State under
President Buchanan. On December 12, 1860, he resigned because troops had
not been sent to reinforce Major Anderson at Fort Sumter.

The cutter Cass remained in New Orleans under command of John G
Breshwood until July 1860, when she was ordered to Mobile. Breshwood,
an able commander, kept an excellent journal. His daily reports tell of ordering
the masters of slave ships to report to the New Orleans Collectors but there,
apparently, the matter ended. As late as September 1860, when he was sta-
tioned in Mobile, he had his men remove questionable cargo (trade goods
and manacles) from the Cynget before she sailed for Africa. He had 13 men
in his crew

In November Captain Breshwood was ordered to the Robert McClelland at
New Orleans and Captain James J. Morrison took command of the Cass.
Morrison found the cutter in poor condition. “Pumps going constantly while
underway,” he wrote in the Journal, “vessel out of trim with too much water
in bilge.” A few days later he wrote: “Deck leaking badly wetting the bedding
in the cabin and ward room.” Morrison, like Breshwood, was a Southerner
but his young Lieutenants Charles G. Shoemaker, Thomas H. Lawrence,
and Anson F. Rogers were from the North.

2-8



Goat ae) Aso =

PRESIDENT OF THE UNTIED STATES CF AMRBIOA,
To all who shall see these presents, Greetlug:

Tirow pe, Mac wposing aie and — in the

sntegeity, diligence, and. ties conduct of MEL EES
PS co appoint him Ss Ci lata entheroice f
dhe Writed States, f° a frotection y the wevenue, and do authorre

and empoweP tum lo execute and falfed the datics of that office accouding
4 law: Ofnd lo have and to hold the said office, with ald the gtk and
Gheceanto byatly affeclaining, unto tim, the said LLB ise

wz Fiied —  — dacing the please of the Buevident of ths

United Giates foP the time Ceing.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, Of fave caused these elles to be
mate patent, and the seal of the Greasury Dee
frariment of the United Grates to be keceunto

oficed.

GIVEN unde” my hand, at the Cy f Washington,

he CiceteE, dey of Lire,
in the yea? of ow? Laud ons thousand eight

indeed and -DeptG] cra gee of he
naependonce of the Unita State of Orne

oe the Egil] ft. —

Ata. |.

Commission of Captain William A. Howard
National Archives



and man her with an inspector and boat's crew for boarding purposes. This
he felt, would stop the New Yorkers who persisted in sending arms and am-
munition to the rebels. In this Howard did not get his wish. The Philip Allen
remained on duty in Chesapeake Bay throughout the war.®

Captain Howard Reports

In mid-May, Howard went to Washington for a week to consult with
Secretary Chase and Assistant Secretary Harrington. While there he wrote
a number of letters to Chase, among them one written May 18 describing
the cutters on the Atlantic Coast. He wrote

IT have the honor to report: The Revenue Cutter Service on the Atlantic
Coast consists of seven schooners and one side wheel steamer [The Harriet
Lane was still considered to be in the Revenue Marine Service.], the
former ranging from 110 to 140 tons each. They are allowed by Law,
One Captain and Three Lieutenants with Seventy Seamen, Petty Officers,
& boys included. For several years past they have had so few men, that
to work the vessel, get her underway with a boats crew away was im-
possible, also to man a Prize. The size of the present vessels (Harriet
Lane always excepted) will not permit the berthing of the prescribed crew
The Cutters were so badly armed that the commonest armed Vessel would
be more than a match for them. Recently however by order of the Depart-
ment one long 32-pounder rifled Gun has been placed on board Each
Cutter viz “Morris”, “C Cushing”, “Campbell”, & “Dobbin” with a crew
of Forty men. The “Jackson” belonging to the Eastport station had not
arrived on Friday last but hourly expected when (if worthy of it) she will
be armed & manned in similar manner.

The Steamers, “Corwin”, “Bibb”, & “Vixen” (C.S.) are cruising in the
harbor of New York. The “Vixen” is incapable of mounting an arma-
ment for sea service, but can be made available for harbor duties. The
“Bibb” with some considerable expense can be made a serviceable cruis-
ing vessel with a respectable armament. The steamer “Corwin” is the best
vessel, has now mounted two 12 pounder medium Guns (mounted by
me) and is capable of carrying a still heavier Battery, and would be an
effective vessel. The “Philip Allen” is unworthy of repairs. The “Forward”
is at present co-operating with the Army at Annapolis. She mounts 1
Long 18 pounder and 4-12 pounder guns. She is reported to be in bad
condition, but this statement must be erroneous as she has been
thoroughly repaired within one year.

The “Joseph Lane” is on her way from the Pacific Coast, daily expected
Tam unacquainted with her present condition and capacity. [Joseph Lane
remained in the Pacific.]

The Schs “Crawford” and “Varina” (taken from G. Survey) have been
strengthened and armed. Each with a rifled 32 pounder Gun‘amidships,
they will be efficient vessels as permanent Cutters.

There are Eight or Ten smaller vessels belonging to the Coast Survey,
that will answer for temporary duty as Revenue Cutters, but entirely too
smal] for permanent Cutters.

Officers—consists of Nineteen (19) Captains, Fourteen (14) First
Lieutenants, Fifteen (15) Second Lieutenants, Nineteen (19) Third



The two prisoners, having sworn their allegiance, were brought on board
Cruiser and their boat was taken in tow, “the priviledge having been granted
by the Marshall and Collector to take them home, also their boat and some
things for family use.” They were dropped off in Kadges Strait to sail for home.

Off Annemessex River, Cruiser met the cutter Reliance, Commander
McGowan, and the two commanders conferred. Later, off Tangier Island,
several canoes were boarded, and one, with three men on board, was seized
Tompkins took the men on board and dispatched two seamen to sail the canoe
to Baltimore. Tompkins then sailed to Baltimore, turned the prisoners over
to the District Attorney and filed a libel against the canoe.

Going down the Bay again, they stopped several canoes, sloops and pungies,
all on legitimate business. One large canoe from the western shore was suspect
until the captain produced a pass from the U.S. Military Authority of the
Eastern Shore stating that he and his family were going to live in Annemessex.
They watched Reliance seize a pungy but seized no vessels themselves before
it was time to return to Baltimore. Going up the Bay, they met the steam
tug Spy towing two government transports with troops. They found that an
engineer on Spy had dislocated his shoulder in a fall. They took him on board
for Baltimore, arriving there off Fells Point that night. Cruiser then went back
to her owner.3!



Footnotes

Chapter |—On the Eve of Secession
Congressional Record 12.Stat. 1.639. Feb. 4, 1863

Emily Steere, Martha's Vineyard During the Civil War. Mss, Dukes County Historical Society,
Edgartown, Mass., 1960

Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Grant-Lee Edition. New York: Century Co., 1884-1887,
Vol. 1, p. 634

Charleston Daily Courier, Charleston, S.C. Feb. 25, 1861

ader Fraser, Annual Report to the Secretary of the Treasury, 1846

Captain Stephen H. Evans, United States Coast Guard, A Definitive History. United States Naval

Institute, Annapolis, Md. 1939. p. 36

Ibid p. 35
Ibid p. 51
9. Ibid p. 87
10. Ibid p. 86
11. Journal of Harriet Lane, March 11, 1858
12. Evans, p. 65
13. ‘Treasury Department Annual Report, 1860
14. Tbid

Chapter lI—Revenue Cutters of 1860
1. Record of Movements, Vessels of the United States Coast Guard 1790-1935. Record Group 26, Na-

tional Archives, Washington, D.C.. Vols 1 and 2

Ibid, Vol. 1, pp. 83, 84

Ibid

Journal of Andrew Jackson, Jan. 1, 1861

Record of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 389

Personal Records Relating to Officers and Cadets, 1833-1915. Record Group 26, National Archives
Joseph Amazeen

Record of Movements, Vol. 1, p. 43

Ibid. The San Francisco, a new steamer with sail, left New York on her maiden voyage
December 22, 1953, for San Francisco with 500 artillery men and officers on board. In
the Gulf Stream she encountered a hurricane, broached to, and was struck by a wave
which swept away the lifeboats and the after-saloon with its cabins, About 140 enlisted
men were lost overboard. Four vessels succeeded in rescuing the rest of the enlisted men
and 212 others on board before the cutters reached the scene.

Ibid

Journal of Morris, 1860

Record of Movements. Vol. 1, p. 343

Journal of James Campbell, Nov. 1860

Record of Movements. Vol. 1, pp. 35-37

‘Truman R. Strobridge, The United States Coast Guard and the Civil War. Washington, D.C.,
U.S.C.G.. 1972, Preface



CHAPTER XVI

The Four Great Captains

In reviewing Revenue Cuitter history during the Civil War period, the names
of four officers stand out — Captains William A. Howard, John Faunce, John
McGowan, and Douglass Ottinger. It was Howard’s genius for organization
that rescued the fragile service from the brink of disintegration in April 1861,
and adapted it to serve the needs of both Army and Navy. It was Faunce,
with his superior command of the Harriet Lane, who bolstered confidence in
the cutters and their officers. McGowan had a remarkable ability for refit-
ting old cutters and fitting out new ones to meet the demands of three
Departments— Treasury, War, and Navy. As for Ottinger, his capability in
handling all assignments, large and small, was remarkable. He put Lincoln
ashore at Norfolk when that city was still in the hands of the Confederates;
he shepherded five small cutters on a 2,300 mile voyage from the Great Lakes
to the Atlantic in the dead of winter; he helped clear North Carolina’s trou-
bled inland waters of rebel and non-rebel law-breakers; he served with distinc-
tion as first president of the Examining Board that improved the caliber of
Revenue Cutter officers, and he superintended the building of a steam cutter
on the Great Lakes. In addition he helped to organize the Life-Saving Service.!

All these men had been long in the cutter service. Howard since 1829,
McGowan and Ottinger since 1832, Faunce since 1837. They were to con-
tinue to play important roles in the post-war Revenue Marine, Howard in
the early exploration and protection of Alaska, McGowan, Ottinger and
Faunce in vessel construction, Life Saving Service and the training of young
officers. These men were in the tradition of the great captains of the 1790s
and early 1800s—John Foster Williams, Hopley Yeaton, Elisha Hinman,
Patrick Dennis, Jonathan Maltbie, James Montgomery, Richard Taylor,
David Porter, William Cooke, Robert Cochrane and John Howell



Captain Green Walden, a veteran of the service, had commanded Cushing
since she was launched, but in November 1860 his health failed and he asked
permission to remain at his home on Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Command of
the cutter went to another old-timer, First Lieutenant Joseph Amazeen, in
December.

The Morris at Boston

The Morris was launched in 1849 at John Brown’s shipyard in Baltimore,
with Revenue Cutter Captain John M. Jones supervising her construction.
She was one of four topsail schooner cutters built that year.? Named for the
Revolutionary War financier and statesman, Robert Morris, she replaced
an earlier Morris lost in a Key West hurricane in 1846.

She had been stationed at Boston since 1853. In 1854 she participated in
two dramatic events, one the search for the missing steamer the San Fran-
cisco,® and the other, the return of lugitive slave, Anthony Burns, from Boston
to his owner in Norfolk, Virginia. Her cruising grounds were from Ports-
mouth, New Hampshire, to New Bedford in Southern Massachusetts. When
not off cruising she could usually be found at Central Wharf, Boston. In 1860,
she was doing extensive cruising, boarding between eight and ten cargo and
fishing vessels a day, as well as visiting lighthouses in the district and respond-
ing to calls for help. Many of the vessels boarded came from the South with
cotton and rice, returning with ice and lumber.!°

The James Campbell at New London

The James Campbell was one of the six schooners launched the same week
in 1853 at the shipyards of J. M. Hood. She was built at the Somerset,
Massachusetts, yard under the supervision of Captain Coste, and was espe-
cially designed for the New London district to service the eastern end of Long
Island Sound, Buzzards Bay, Block Island Sound, and Vineyard Sound.!!

There has always been confusion in Coast Guard records over the name
“Campbell,” for there were three early Campbells—all named for George
Washington Campbell, Secretary of the Treasury under President Madison.
The name of the third Campbell was changed in 1855 to Joseph Lane. The fourth
“Campbell” was named for James Campbell who was Attorney General and,
in 1860, Postmaster General.

In 1860, the James Campbell made daily cruises within range of New Lon-
don, and once a month took a week’s cruise to Buzzards Bay and Vineyard
Sound, boarding dozens of vessels at such favorite anchorages as Tarpaulin
Cove on the Elizabeth Islands, and Holmes Hole on Martha’s Vineyard. Her
commander was Captain George Clarke. In November 1860, she assisted a
vessel in distress off Cuttyhunk.!?



that “no time be lost in putting afloat armed v s upon Lake Ontario and
speedily upon the other lakes too.”3 The British were ready to put armed vessels
on the lakes, and Congress was considering a bill to build six armed cutters
for the lakes when the affair was settled by diplomacy.

Secretary Chase resigned from the Treasury Department and became Chief
Justice of the United States. His place was taken by William P. Fessenden.
In New York Collector Hiram Barney was replaced by Simeon Draper, who
was not only Collector, but also a special Treasury Agent to supervise the
collection and sale of cotton confiscated in the South. Stillman continued as
Supervising Inspector of Steam Cutters.

Before he left office in the Treasury Department, Chase sent the following
message “to all cutter captains:”

Very considerable amounts of foreign merchandise have been introduced
into the United States during the past year & a large quantity of goods
is now being purchased & shipped to be smuggled in.*

He urged the men to do their duty, saying:

‘The circumstances under which the government is placed imperatively
requires that this should no longer be permitted.?

With more smuggling foreseen as the Union struggled with reconstruction,
several vessels were added to the cutter fleet in 1864, by order of the Treasury
Department and under the supervision of Supervisor Stillman.

New Cutters in 1864
Antietam

A small topsail schooner with a centerboard, the Antietam, was purchased
from Fardy and Brothers, Baltimore for $8,000, March 1, 1864.6 She was
stationed at the strategic port of Beaufort, North Carolina, close to Fort
Macon, to check the constant flow of maritime traffic from the Atlantic Ocean
to North Carolina’s plentiful inland waterways. Although under Union con-
trol, this whole territory was riddled with defiant rebels and with an increas-
ing number of Northern entrepreneurs

Before she left Baltimore, Antietam was equipped with gear from the Andrew

Jackson, including a 30-pounder Parrott gun weighing 3,490 pounds, six

Sharp's rifles, six smooth-bore muskets, copper powder flasks, a set of Royer’s
signals and book, a set of charts for the Southern coast, a mahogany binnacle
and compass, and pig ballast. Jackson was to have been withdrawn from the
service but she remained on duty until October 1865.

On her way to Beaufort, Antietam lost her centerboard and was obliged to
return to Baltimore for repairs. She reached Beaufort July 5 and immediately
began boarding vessels, sometimes as many as 86 in one day. In August,
821 vessels were boarded. She remained there and in New Bern until the war
ended. The highlights of her career were the seizure of a schooner off Roanoke
Island in December 1864, and the capture of six blockade runners in the Pungo

16-3



As to the service of a Revenue Cutter on this lake, candor requires me
to say that it affords no aid to commerce, and its only use seems to be
to deplete the Treasury."”

Trouble Ahead

Howard began to have trouble with Customs Collector Barney in June.
Barney questioned whether hammocks, bags, and flags that Howard had
ordered were necessary, and delayed in sending necessary arms. He also ques-
tioned the need of the steamer Bibb at Throggs Neck. Howard answered by
saying had she been there earlier, a traitor would not have escaped. '®

Howard continued to ask that the Philip Allen be discarded and that the
suspected slaver Grapeshot and another suspected vessel Kate be purchased for
the service. Chase continued to turn a deaf ear. The Allen was thoroughly
overhauled at the Philadelphia Navy Yard at great expense

Marines on Board the Cutters

One of Captain Howard’s innovations was the placing of ten “marines” on
each of the cutters. These were not men from the United States Marines but
enlisted men whose chief responsibility was defense of the cutters in time of
trouble. They were drilled regularly on deck, or on shore, if possible. They
were not highly popular with captains or crews, and in some instances were
soon phased out. Each cutter also had a drummer and fifer on board.

The cutters in New York were constantly being shifted around, from
Throggs Neck to the Narrows to Perth Amboy. In the summer Bibé was sent
to guard the seaward approaches to New York at the Narrows when it was
rumored that the rebels were about to attack Fort Lafayette where rebel
prisoners were being held. For several days no vessels were permitted to leave
the harbor, and Captain Ottinger was busy chasing those that tried to escape.
He fired across the bows of several to make them come to and be examined.
In one case, he had to fire at the vessel and the shots damaged her walking
beam. !9

Bibb was returned to the Coast Survey when Vice Admiral Fox of the Navy
wanted her to assist in sinking the fleet of old whalers filled with stone at the
entrance to Charleston. Her officers and men were shifted to other cutters.

Arago and Corwin also went back to the Coast Survey, Arago being replaced

by another Coast Survey vessel, Agassiz.29 By the end of the year there were
only three Coast Survey vessels in the Revenue Marine Service— Varina,
Crawford, and Agassiz. They remained on guard duty throughout the war.

From April to August, the Harriet Lane was taking orders from Gideon
Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Chase, Howard, and Barney, with Captain
Faunce making most of the decisions, and the Revenue Marine Service pay-
ing most of the expenses. Some of the officers received no pay for months.
In June, when the cutter returned to New York after convoying troops to
the South, Howard wrote Chase that she needed better armament and asked



TO ALL THE LIEUTENANTS
OF THE

UNITED STATES REVENUE MARINE SERVICE

WHO KEPT THE LOGS (JOURNALS)

OF THE
REVENUE CUTTERS IN THE CIVIL WAR
AND TO
TERRY MATCHETTE, WILLIAM SHERMAN, CYNTHIA GHEE,
GEORGE BRISCOE AND ALL THE OTHER ARCHIVISTS AT
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES WHO HELPED ME RESEARCH THEM.



McLane 6:1
Meigs Wharf 11:7

Meigs General 15:5

Merrimack 10:4-6; 13:4

Merryman, Capt. James H. 2:13; 1:6, 8-9; 12:3-7
Mexico 11:3-5

Miami U.S.R.C. (Lady le Marchant) 10;:1-6; 12:8; 13:3
Michelimackinae 2:1; 9:3

Miller U.S.R.C. 8:9; 13:1

Miligan, Lieut. James C. 3:9
Milwaukee, WI 2:15; 9:2-3, 4; 6:6
Minnesota, U.S.S. 10:3, 4

Minot 2:14

Mobile, AL. 2:8; 3:4-5

Mocassin, U.S.R.G. 16:7

Mohammad Pasha 2:4

Monitor, U.S.S. 10:4; 13:4-5
Montreal, Canada 9:4, 5

Moody, Lieut. David 9:7

Morgan 2:14

Morris, U-S.R.C. 2:3; 6:3, 9; 9:6
Morris Island 15:2

Morrison, Capt. James J. 2:10; $:4-5
Mullings, Lieut, Henry 3:3
Nansemond, U.S.R.C. 16:7

Nashville 5:%

Naugatuck (see Stevens, B.A.)

Nemaha, U.S.R.C, (Flora) 13:3; 15:1-6
Neva 11:5

New Bedford, MA 6:1

New Orleans, LA 2:9-10; 3:5-6

New York 2:4-5

New York Yacht Club 8:3-5, 7
Newport, R.I, 14:7

Nones, Capt. Henry G. 2:6

Northerner US.R.C. 16:46

Oath of Allegiance 6:6

Ocean View (see Willoughby Spit)
Octavia 14:7

Orizaba 11:7

Oswego, NY 2:13; 9:2, 4-5

Ottinger, Capt. Douglass 2:9; 6:4, 7; 9:1-7; 10:1-6; 16:1, 5-6
Page and Allen's Shipyard 2:6, 8, 10
Patapsco Steam Tug Company 8:1
Pawnee, U.S.8. 5:2-3

Pawtuxent, U.S.R.C. 14:2-3

XXII



tain Hyde managed to gct her off but by 2:45 P.M. she was aground again.
Deep in the mud at the entrance to Back Creek, she now necded the help
of another tug to set her free. At 5:30 P.M. she entered the canal. Half an
hour later she was hit by a schooner which carried away her “signal poles,
fish davit and starboard catheads.” About four miles into the canal she went
aground again. It was now 10:30 P.M. so the engineer shut down steam and
everyone slept until morning.®

Between 7 and 9 A.M. the next morning she was on and off the bottom
several times, “Finding it impossible to start either ahead or astern” Captain
Hyde ordered the water blown out of her boiler and sent for a tow boat and
a canal pilot. At 4 P.M. they entered the locks at Delaware City but since
it was low water in the Delaware it was 7 P.M. before they could enter the
river. The next day, December 2, they anchored near the Revenue Cutter
Dobbin at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and Captain Hyde went ashore to con-
sult on conditions in the Raritan Canal. Meantime Dobbin dragged into Tiger
but no major damage was done. A pilot came aboard Tiger and they steamed
up the Delaware in the night to Bordentown where they were to get a towboat
from the Philadelphia-New York Propeller Company. At 4 A.M. they
prepared to enter the locks of the canal. All guns and heavy gear was trans-
ferred to the towboat, the Black Diamond. At 5:30 A.M. December 4, the Black
Diamond took them in tow and the canal voyage began.*

It lasted one-half hour. At 6 A.M. Tiger took the bottom again and refused
to budge. More heavy gear was thrown off and kedge anchors were brought
out. Three other steamers tugged and pushed but Tiger would not move. Late
in the day Captain Hyde sent an officer to Bordentown to hire another
steamer. He found none available. Desperate efforts to push the cutter for-
ward were made again the next day. Captain Hyde finally gave up. He sent
Lieutenant Constable to Washington to report to Secretary Chase, with a
letter saying:

Ihave the honor to report that in accordance with orders from the Col-
lector of Customs of Baltimore to proceed with this vesscl to New York
through the Canals, that I have progressed thus far (Bordentown) but
am unable to proceed further in consequence of lack of water in the Canal.

I have dispatched Licut. Constable to explain the facts of the case and
give any explanation in regard to the vessel which the Asst. Secretary
may require.
The captain then ordered the Black Diamond to tow the cutter back to the
Delaware River. She went aground again in the Delaware River at 10 o'clock
that night.

Back at the Philadelphia Navy Yard the next day, Tiger went into drydock
She had her propeller and shaft unshipped, and empty water casks lashed
to her bottom for flotation. After four days in drydock she was floated and
although lightened by five tons, was found to draw only six inches less than
she had originally drawn.” Captain Hyde then went to Washington himself

to seek advice. When he returned two days later the Philadelphia Customs



On January 1, 1861, Captain Coste changed the name of the Aiken’s jour-
nal. It was now called:

Journal of Revenue Cutter Aiken?

He reported seizing the United States Lighthouse Schooner Howell Cobb. Also
seized were two Coast Survey vessels, Petrel and Firefly. On January 10 he
changed the vessel’s name again. Now he called the cutter a “Coast Police
Cutter.” Her officers were listed as First Lieutenant Henry Mullings, Second
Lieutenant P. A. Auchile, Jr., and Third Lieutenant Napoleon E. Coste,
the Captain’s son. '®

With the Palmetto Flag flying on the Aiken, there were now only 23 cutters
in the Revenue Marine Service

The Dobbin Escapes

A little further South, the cutter James C. Dobbin was in a perilous position.
Stationed at Savannah under command of Gaptain John A. Webster Jr., she
lay at anchor in the Savannah River unable to move. When word reached
Washington of the Atken’s seizure December 27, Captain Webster was ordered
to leave immediately for Baltimore, but the wind was from the East. Against
head winds he could not get down the narrow river to the sea, and Savan-
nah’s Customs Collector John Boston refused to furnish a tow.

East winds, “thick foggy weather”, and “almost incessant rain” continued
all that week. There were at least two avowed Southerners, Third Lieuten-
ant John G. Blackwood and First Lieutenant Alexander R. Abercrombie,
among the 17 men on board. Webster, a New Englander, was the son of Cap-
tain Webster, long a favorite in the Service. He was a Yankee, but he had
many friends in the South.

The Dobbin remained in Savannah over New Year's Day. On January 2,
Lieutenant Blackwood wrote in the journal:

No opportunity to get to sea, the Collector refusing to furnish a tow.!!

The rain continued heavy the next night. About an hour after midnight,
there was a commotion outside and the cutter was boarded. Three officers —
Captain Webster, Second Lieutenant J. Fred Schultz, and Third Lieutenant
Blackwood signed the account in the Cutter’s journal of the events that took
place January 3. They wrote

Com’d heavy rain, and dense fog. About 1:30 A.M. the ship was sur-
rounded, boarded and taken forcible possession of by a large body of
armed men, who taking charge, secured the crew by placing them all
in irons and holding the officers as prisoners on parole. At daylight the
ship was got underway by the party in charge, and securing the services
of a passive tug, they towed down the River—setting the Palmetto Flag
at the peak and displaying the American ensign in the main rigging Union
down. At the top of high water, they run the vessel ashore on a spit in
the river and under the guns of the fort [Pulaski]. Taking all the boats
belonging to the vessel, they left for the Fort taking with them the ship's

3-3





Chapter VI—The Rise and Fall of Captain Howard

Letters Sent by the Treasury Department 1790-1897 to Collectors, Revenue Cutter Captains and Others,
Washington, D.C.: National Archives, Record Group 26, Apr. 1861

Personal Records, William A, Howard
Letters Received. May 1861
Ibid, 1861
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid, May 15-18, 1861
Ibid, May 18, 1861
Ibid
Ibid, June 1861
Ibid. Howard had not recommended examining captains
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Journal of Morris. Sept.

. Journal of Jackson, Sept. 1861
Letters Received. July 12, 1861
Ibid

19. Journal of Bibb, May 1861

20. Letters Sent. Aug-Oct. 1861

24. Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Ibid
Letters Received. July 12, 1861
Ibid

. Ibid. There is no mention of this rendez-vous in the Journal of the Morris, and neither she
nor Cushing went to the Grand Banks and Sable Island. They spent a week in the vieinity
of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

Ibid

Journal of Jackson. July 1861

Ibid

Journal of Morris. July 1861

Letters Received. Aug. 1861

Ibid

Journal of Philip Allen. Oct. 27, 1861
Personal Recurds. William A. Howard

Chapter Vii—Captain Faunce and the Harriet Lane
Journal of Harriet Lane, 1858-1861
Letters: Received. Sept. 2, 1861
Ibid
David Dixon Porter, The Naval History of the Civil War. New York: Sherman Publishing Com-
pany. p. 29
Letters Received. Apr. 1861



CHAPTER VII

Captain Faunce and the Harriet
Lane

Although the cutter Harriet Lane was temporarily transferred to the Navy
April 5, 1861,! she remained under the command of Revenue Cutter Cap-
tain Faunce until she was sold to the Navy for $150,000 on September 11
of that year.? During the five month period from April to September which
included two of the major sea battles of the Civil War, her officers and crew
were all Revenue Marine personnel. Faunce took his orders from the Navy
and the Army, but many decisions were made by the Revenue Service, the
New York Customs Collector, and Faunce himself. The expenses were debated
by both Treasury and Navy.

Following the cutter’s return from the unsuccessful attempt to reinforce Fort
Sumter in April, Captain Faunce began several months of cruising in search
of suspected vessels and convoying troops from New York to the Cheaspeake
Unfortunately, her journals for the war years are missing from the National
Archives and the files of both the Treasury and Navy Departments. Fortunate-
ly, many of Faunce’s letters to both departments remain to tell her remarkable
story during the April-September 1861 period. Faunce was an able and pro-
lific correspondent as well as a superior commander.

There were those who would belittle the Harriet Lane. For all her 180 feet,
she was called “a small paddle-wheeler” by Navy critics. Captain David Dix-
on Porter USN once wrote:

“Tt shows the miserable condition of the Navy when the Department had
nothing but a revenue cutter to depend on.”*
However, the cutter could be depended upon to give a good account of
her capabilities wherever she served, and Porter himself later chose her as
his flagship during the Mississippi campaign in 1862



After a brief assignment in the Navy in 1838, the Washington was trans-
ferred to the Coast Survey in 1840 and remained there until 1852 when she
returned to the Revenue Marine Service and was ordered to Mobile. From
1853 to 1859, she was stationed at New York and was one of the cutters sent
in search of the missing San Francisco in 1854, and in search of slaveships in
1858-1859. On June 1, 1859, she was ordered to New Orleans under the com-
mand of Captain Hudgins, where she exchanged crews with the cutter
McClelland so that that vessel could be sailed to New York for repairs.

The Washington’s new commander was Captain James G. Morrison. Her
cruising grounds in 1859-1860 were from Sabine Pass in Texas to Key West
in Florida. She boarded and examined hundreds of vessels. Her journal makes
no mention of slaveships. On one occasion she was sent in pursuit of the
steamer Propeller said to be carrying men on a filibustering expedition to seize
land in Mexico, When boarded, Captain Morrison found only law-abiding
citizens and cattle on board

The cutter obeyed orders from collectors at both Mobile and New Orleans
but received pay and rations from Mobile. On October 13, 1860, she joined
the McClelland back from New York and anchored off Slaughter House Point.
The two cutters again exchanged officers and crews. Under command of Cap-
tain Hudgins, the Washington was then scheduled to sail to New York for

irs, but on November 27, the order was revoked. Her captain was told
to have the cutter repaired in New Orleans.*!

The Henry Dodge at Galveston

The Henry Dodge was one of three topsail schooners built for the Revenue
Marine Service in 1855-1856 by Page and Allen at Portsmouth, Virginia.*?
She was expressly built for Galveston, Texas. Her sister ships were Lewis Cass
and Philip Allen. All were supervised by Captain Hudgins during their
construction.

Dodge left Portsmouth for Galveston under command of Lieutenant William
F. Rogers August 1, 1856, arriving September 6. She was named for a fron-
tiersman who had fought in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the
Winnebago War, and had been Governor of Wisconsin Territory, a United
States Marshal and a United States Senator.

When she reached Galveston, command was given to a crusty old-time
Texan, Levy C. Harby, who had been in and out of the Service since 1829.
Early in his career, his name was stricken from the rolls when he left the cut-
ter Ingham to command an armed vessel for the independent State of Texas
He had been reinstated. He later served aboard cutters in the Seminole War
and in the War with Mexico.*3.

By 1860 he was plagued with rheumatism and spent much time ashore leav-
ing command of the Dodge to Lieutenant William F. Rogers. However, he
was on board in March 1860 when the cutter was ordered to report to the
American minister at Vera Cruz for an assignment. En route she was severely



CHAPTER IV

The First Shot

Late in the war, President Lincoln told his friend Isaac Schemerhorn of
New York that the 1 War had been initiated by the Confederates when
they fired on Star of the West. By that time both sides were trying to disclaim
responsibility for starting the dreadful conflict.

Star of the West was a merchant vessel owned by M. O. Roberts of Brooklyn.
She was a paddle-wheel steamer, built in New York in 1852 and registered
for transatlantic trade in 1860. She was used on the run from New York to
Aspinwall on the Isthmus of Panama.?

Soon after South Carolina seceded from the Union and seized all govern-
ment property, except Fort Sumter, Roberts was secretly approached by Pres
dent Buchanan’s agents. Would he charter the steamer for an expedition to
Charleston to reinforce and supply the troops under Major Anderson who
were holding the fort?

Some men in Washington, including Gustavus Fox, wanted to send an
armed fleet against the recalcitrant city but others objected, hoping for a
peaceful settlement. Star of the West was to go unarmed except for one brass
cannon

Roberts agreed to the charter, asking $1500 a day, and coal. He settled
for $1500 without coal, and by January 5, had the vessel ready for sea.

Ex-Revenue Marine Officer McGowan in Command

At the helm of the Star of the West was Captain John McGowan, formerly
a lieutenant in the Revenue Marine Service. He had served 16 years as an
officer before he was obliged to resign in 1853 in order to support his
“numerous family”.t He had been commissioned a Third Lieutenant on the
Campbell at Baltimore in 1837 and had served on Woodbury, Forward, and Bibb

4a



Sandburg, Carl, Abraham Lincoln, The War Years, 4 volumes, New York: Harcourt Brace
and Company, 1939.

Scharf, J. Thomas, History of the Confederate States Navy. Albany, New York: Joseph McDonagh,
1894.

Smith, Horatio Davis, Early History of the United States Revenue Marine Service, edited by ¥,
Snow USN Ret. Washington D.C., 1932

Snowden, Yates, /fistory of South Carolina, Chicago-New York: Lewis Publishing company
1920.

Still, William N. Jr. Te Story of the Confederate Ironctads. Vanderbilt University Press, 1971

Swanberg,W.A., First Blood, The Story of Fort Sumter. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1957.

‘Vilp, Frederic, This was Potomac River. Alexandria, Va.:1978

Wakelyn, John L., editor, Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy. Westport, Conn, and Lon-
don: Greenwood Press, 197

Weber, Gustavus Adolphus, The Coast and Geodetic Surocy, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press,
1923

West, Richard S. Jr., Mr. Lincoln's Navy. Westport, Gonn.: Greenwood Press, 1957

Wilson, John Laird, Pictorial History of the Great Civil War. New York City, 1878

Manuscripts

Steere, Emily, Martha's Vineyard During The Civil War. Dukes County Historical Society, Edgar
town, Mass.: 1960

Stone, Charles Henry, Cruise of the U. S. Navy Steamer Harriet Lane, 1863. Typewritten copy
of manuseript in United States Coast Guard Academy, New London, Gonn

Easby, Wilhemina M., Personal Recollections of Early Washington, and a Sketch of the Life of Cap-
tain William Easby. A paper read before the Association of Oldest Inhabitants of the District
of Golumbia, June 4, 1913. Columbia Muscum, Washington, D.C

Pamphlets and Articles

Johnson, Paul H., Harriet Lane, Great Ship, Great Lady. The Bulletin, United States Coast
Guard Academy, Sept.-Oct 1982. Vol. 44

Adams, C.F., The Comedy of the Caleb Cushing. Reprinted from The Civil War Times. No
date given.

Fort Monroc Gasement Museum, Tales ef Old Fort Monroe, #9. Abraham Lincoln, No date
or author given,

Lighthouses and Lightships of the Northern Gulf of Mexico. USCG, No date or author given

U.S. Coust Guard and The Civil War. USCG, 1972. No author given

‘The United States Revenue Marine; Its Cutters and Semper Paratus, USCG. No date or author given,

United States Coast Guard: Activities Afloat and Ashore, USCG, Tide Rips, 1934

Strobridge, Truman, Annotated Bibliography uf the United States Coast Guard. Department of
Transportation, 1972

Strobridge, Truman, The United Slates Coast Guard and The Civil War, Washington,D.C.,
United States Goast Guard, Public Affairs Division, 1972

Survey of a Portion of Ocean Beach, San Francisco.for the Revenue Cutter C.W, Lawrmee, U.S, Depart-
ment of the Interior, National Park Service, Golden Gate National Reereation Area, 1984

Yanaway, Philip B.,Harrict Lane. American Neptune, July 1976

Delgado, James P., In the Midst of a Great Excitement; The Argosy of the Revenue Cutter C.W.
Lawrence; The American Neptune Vol. XLV No.2,Peabody Muscum,Salem, Mass. 1985



Not long after, Captain Howard put an end to his friendly relations with
the Treasury Department by embarking on an expensive and fruitle
pedition without seeking the approval of the Secretary.

On July 11, a telegram from Newport, Rhode Island, was delivered to Col-
lector Barney at the New York Custom House. It stated that a Confederate
Privateer had captured a ship, two brigs and two schooners off the coast of
New England. About the same time, an English ship arrived in port with
news that she had narrowly escaped being seized by the same vessel. The
story quickly appeared on the streets in the “New York Herald.”25

Five Cutters Go to Sea

Having heard the news at 12:30 in the afternoon, Captain Howard sprang
into action. Without notifying Secretary Chase, he ordered Crawford, Varina,
Jackson, Cushing, and Morris to prepare for sea immediately, At 3:30, he himself
was on board Crawford, and with Varina and Jackson, was towed down the har-
bor to Sandy Hook. Outside Sandy Hook, the cutters cast loose from the tug
and drifted around in light airs until the following afternoon, when Varina
and Jackson were ordered South, and the Crawford sailed East to rendez-vous
with the New England cutters on the Nantucket shoals

In a letter written July 12 to Chase, Howard said:

“Knowing full well the immense damage that might be done on our un-
armed merchantmen in a very few days, I determined at once to proceed
to sea with the Cutters in New York and Boston, hoping to destroy the
vessel (brig) and give assurances on the part of Government to the Com-
mercial Community their interest and safety were not neglected. Believ-
ing, firmly, that I could not do wrong in protecting the honor of the
Government and the interest of the Citizens.?6

When he joined Cushing and Morris on the Nantucket shoals, he sent the
Cushing to the Grand Banks, the Morris to Sable Island along the track of the
European vessels homeward bound. He wrote Chase

“With a line of five vessels from Grand Banks to Hatteras I trust one
of us may fall in with him (the pirate).”27

The Cutters had on board provisions only for July so Howard instructed them
to return to port by August 1.

In his letter, he put in another plea for the purchase of Grapeshot and Kate,
saying:

“May I take the liberty of stating to the Department that anticipating
this Raid of Private: nd Slavers on our commerce, I solicited permis-
sion to purchase the “Grapeshot” and “Kate” (being notedly fast vessels’
for outside cruisers as the Honl. Secretary did once favourably entertain
the project I hope he will again give it his consideration.”28

The search came to naught. The cutters had a pleasant summer cruise for

two weeks, and with the exception of the Jackson, saw neither hid nor hair



Lieutenant James A. Merryman was willing to stay on board Joe Lane when
the two other officers left.

The Jefferson Davis at Port Townsend

Sister ship of the William A. Marcy, the Jefferson Davis was named in 1853
in honor of the Southern leader whose name would be anathema in the North
during the Civil War

The Davis had sailed to the Pacific around Cape Horn in 1853-1854 under
the command of Captain Pease. For several years, she was engaged in skir-
mishes with Indians in Puget Sound. She was stationed at the thriving port
of Port Townsend, not far from Canadian boundaries that were then being
disputed. Pease left the cutter to return East in 1856, turning the command
over to First Lieutenant James M. Selden who assisted both Army and Navy
in continued Indian uprisings.*

In 1858 troubles arose between Canada and the United States over San
Juan Island in Puget Sound and the Davis was ordered to aid in a survey
of the island and her principal harbor. She was then under orders from both
the Collector at Port Townsend and General Winfield Scott. She was fre-
quently used to carry troops. For a short time she was joined by the, Joe Lane
from Oregon. In December 1860 troubles in the East began to influence rela-
tions with Canadians in nearby Victoria, Vancouver Island, and the Davis
was used to ferry diplomats from the United States to Canada.5*

The Six Cutters on the Great Lakes

There were six relatively new centerboard cutters on the Great Lakes in
December 1860. They had been built under tryii ircumstances at the yard
of Merry and Gay in Milan, Ohio, in 1856-1857, with Captain Pease as
superintendent. Each vessel cost $6,500, instead of the $4,050 agreed on in
the contract, and many bills had not been paid when the vessels were launched
in September 1857. Arguments between the Treasury Department and Ohio
financiers led to a seizure of the cutters and a long delay before they were
dispersed to their stations. They were all named for Southern men promi-
nent in political life in 1856-1857

They were not identical but were, on the average, about 63 feet long, 17
feet wide, with a 5 foot draft and a tonnage of 58 74/95. They were hand-
somely ornamented with eagle figureheads and ornamental shields on their
round sterns. In December 1860, the Howell Cobb was at Oswego, New York,
on Lake Ontario; the Jeremiah S. Black at Erie, Pennsylvania, on Lake Erie;
the, Jacob Thompson at Detroit, Michigan, on Lake St. Clair; the Aaron V. Brown
at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Lake Michigan; the Isaac Toucey at
Michilimackinac, Michigan, on Lake Huron; and the John B. Floyd at Mar-
quette, Michigan, on Lake Superior.°5

All six cutters were laid up for the winter when the lakes froze late in
November 1860.



Chapter IlI—New Flags for Old
Charleston Daily Courier, Charleston, S.C. Dec. 20, 1860
Journal of William Aiken, Dec. 27, 1860
Ibid
Ibid, Dec. 28, 1860
Ibid
Personal Records, Napoleon 1.. Coste
Charleston Daily Courier. Dec, 29, 1860
Personal Records. John Underwood, Henry O. Porter and Horace J. Gamirill
Journal of William Aiken. Jan. 1, 1861
Ibid
Journal of James Dobbin, Jan. 2, 1861
Tid, Jan. 3, 1861
Letters Received. Jan. 3, 1861
Ibid
Ibid
Journal of James Dobbin, Jan, 3, 1861
Journal of Lewis Cass, Jan. 30, 1861
Letters: Received. Feb, 1861
Persanal Records. James G. Morrison
Strobridge, p. 4
Personal Records. Anson S. Ragers, ‘Thomas H. Lawrence and Charles G. Shoemaker
Journals of Washington and Robert McClelland. Oct. 24, 1860
Leters Received. Dee. 1860

Applications For Positions in the Revenue Murine Service 1844-1880. Record Group 26, National
Archives, Washington, D.C. John G. Breshwood

Journal of McClelland, Dec. 1860

Thomas J. Scharf, History of the Confederate States Navy. Albany, N.Y.: Joseph McDonagh,
1887. p. 24

Letters Received. 1863
Thid, Feb. 1861

Personal Records. John G. Breshwood, Sarnuel B. Caldwell and ‘Thomas D. Fister
Journal of William Dodge, Feb. 1861

Ibid

Personal Records. William F. Rogers

Journal of William Duane. Feb. 18, 1861

Ibid

Letters: Received. Apr. 1861

Ibid

Ibid

Chapter |V—The First Shot

1, Roy P. Basler, editor, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865. New Brunswick,
N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1952-1953. 8 Vols. Vol. 4, p. 221

2. Jones, Virgil C., The Civil War at Sea. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960-1962
Vol. 1, pp. 83-91

3. Thid





‘There is no record in Coast Guard history of Navy vessels being turned
over to the Revenue Marine. Meantime Lincoln had ordered the transfer
of the Harriet Lane from the Revenue Marine to the Navy, on a temporary
basis, with her Revenue Marine personnel, including Captain John Faunce,
on board. The cutter was then stationed at the Battery in New York Harbor
where she seized vessels suspected of slave trading. She now had 71 men in
her crew, all of them, by January 10, 1861, being drilled at arms. Some,
“small arms men,” were called “infantry.” Others, including the crews of her
launches, were known as “rifle men.” Drills were frequent, starting in January
In February the cutter was overhauled at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and “all
her standing rigging, fore and aft [was] greased with pork rind.”6

On March 6, Harriet Lane seized the brig Cora, suspected of slaving, and
turned her over to the Surveyor of the Port. She continued to board a dozen
or more vessels a day until she was ordered into the Navy. The last vessel
boarded before she went into the Navy was the John Oliver of Edgartown, bring-
ing rice from Charleston to New York.”

In spite of the fact that there was still disagreement about the wisdom of
sending an expedition to Fort Sumter, Navy Secretary Gideon Welles ordered
a “peaceable” mission to proceed under the direction of Gustavus V. Fox.
His fleet was to include the small Navy vessels Pocohontas and Pawnee, the
chartered Baltic, the revenue cutter Harriet Lane, and the powerful Powhatan,
commanded by Captain Samuel Mercer. The Navy was to supply the fleet
with one month’s stores and 300 men, the Army with 200 artillery men, 12
month’s supplies, three tugs and a large steamer.*®

Lincoln approved the plan and on April 5, Navy Secretary Welles sent the
following letter to Captain John Faunce “Commander of Steamer Harriet
Lane”:

“Sir: The Harriet Lane under your command having been detached from
the collection district of New York, and assigned to duty under the Navy
Department, you are hereby instructed to proceed to within ten miles
due east from and off Charleston light house, where you will report to
Captain Mercer, of the Powhatan, for duty, on the morning of the 11th
instant; and should he not be there, you will wait a reasonable time for
his arrival.”®

A Boisterous Passage

Faunce wasted no time in obeying orders. He sailed from New York at
nine o’clock in the morning April 8, and was the first of the fleet to reach
the designated spot. He reported his arrival to Gideon Welles in a message
dated April 11, saying:

I have the honor to report the arrival of the above mentioned vessel at

this port ten miles from Charleston bar after a boisterous passage of 75
miles.!°

Baltic, with Fox on board, and Pocahontas were the next to arrive. While
they waited at the bar for the PowAatan (the big warship that was to lead the



As weeks went by, Ottinger grew increasingly nervous about the ice con-
ditions on the lakes. At last he was assigned and dispatched. On October
18, Chase ordered him to get the cutters to the Atlantic “as soon as possible
after this letter is received.” The letter did not arrive until October 22. Ot-
tinger left immediately for Milwaukee where he found the cutter Aaron V.
Brown already in winter storage on the Menominee River.

Since no Revenue Marine officers had been engaged to assist him, he was
obliged to engage a master and mate, as well as four seamen and cook for
each cutter. Writing to Chase October 23, he repeated his warning that naviga-
tion on the Lakes was dangerous after November 15 and that he was afraid
of being frozen in before the expedition could be got underway. There would
also be ice in the Canadian canals late in November

Chase had hoped to eliminate towage fees, but Ottinger assured him towage
was necessary so late in the season. Freight rates and seamen’s wages were
going up as vessels hurried to complete deliveries before the ice came. Wages,
he told Chase, had increased 25% since the first of October.

He wrote:

It is not probable that I can carry your order into effect without incur-
ring the expense for towage, as per estimate, as it will be necessary for
me to avail myself of every means of dispatch to escape being frozen in;
I shall keep in mind, as you direct, your wishes respecting a rigid
economy

One thousand dollars will be the sum that I shall need in hand. Please
instruct the Collector at this port by telegraph to advance to me that sum.‘

A Voyage of 2,325 Nautical Miles

With the help of Collector E. Brown at Milwaukee, Captain Ottinger got
the Brown out of winter storage and re-rigged her for her long voyage. Brown
also assisted in hiring several masters and mates for the five cutters, and was
able to produce the $1,000 Ottinger needed for expenses. There is no men-

tion of towage on the lakes. On October 31, the Captain sailed out of
Milwaukee on the 2,325 mile voyage to Boston. His next stop was at
Michilimackinac, at the top of the Michigan peninsula, where he was able
to pick up the Jsaac Toucey. She, too, was in winter storage, some 18 miles
from her home port. She was hastily rerigged, fitted with furniture and ballast
and made ready to sail November 6, under command of one of the masters
brought from Milwaukee. The two cutters then proceeded to Detroit on Lake
St. Clair for the Jacob V. Thompson. Here the Milwaukee men left for home
and new masters and mates were hired, along with additional seamen and
cooks. Looking ahead to stormy days on the Atlantic, Ottinger ordered five
storm sails to be made by Hoffman and McBride of Detroit, and shipped
on to Quebec. '!

The three cutters then went down Lake Erie to Erie for the Jeremiah S. Black,
and all four went across the lake to Port Colburne on the Canadian shore.
Here it was discovered that the Thompson had a broken mast. Ottinger tele-
graphed ahead to his next stop, St. Catherine’s, the other side of the Welland

9-3





Canal, and a new mast was ready when the fleet arrived. They lost only four
hours in having it installed. The trip through the canal, already beginning
to freeze up, was hard on some of the cutters. They lost copper sheathing
and planking along the way.

Once the mast was installed, Ottinger sent the four cutters under Detroit
masters, the length of Lake Ontario to Kingston at the entrance to the St
Lawrence, while he took the train to Oswego to pick up the fifth cutter, Howell
Cobb. By then most of his men were ready to quit so he hoped to hire
replacments at Oswego. He found no one willing to sign on for the whole
voyage but, with the help of Customs Collector Charles A. Perkins and his
Deputy, William O’Leary, two masters, two mates and two seamen were
found. Others signed on and quit at the thought of cold weather ahead

Ice had already begun to form when he met the four other cutters at
Kingston at night in a blinding snowstorm. They cleared Canadian Customs
in a hurry, hired a steam tug to pull all five and set off through the canal
for Montreal. It was still snowing.

When they reached Montreal all the masters, mates and seamen who had
come aboard at Oswego quit and went home. With the help of the American
Vice-Consul, I. W. Hawes, enough replacements were found to get the fleet
to Quebec

In wind and snow, they reached the wharves of Quebec’s lower town at
night December 1. Many of the Masters, mates and seamen, left promptly
Ottinger hastily contacted Commercial Agent A. M. Cohen. He needed sup-
plies, charts, men and repairs. And a steam tug and a pilot had to be found
to tow the vessels down the river before it froze.

The storm sails, ordered in Detroit, arrived and were put on board. Enough
men were found to provide a master, a mate, a cook and four seamen for
each cutter. Agent Cohen produced the necessary charts, and workmen has-
tened to complete repairs. A tug and a pilot were engaged.!? All this must
have been done at breakneck speed for they were underway the next evening
by 8 o'clock. Most of the hired men probably spoke only French, but they
were wise in the ways of winter sailing

Last Down the St. Lawrence

Unfortunately, but understandably, there are no journals or logs to tell
of this momentous voyage, but there is an epic letter, written by Captain

Ottinger to Secretary Chase when the fleet parted company with the tug and
pilot at Green Island River (now Ile Verte) some 120 miles down the St.
Lawrence December 3. Headed “On Board U. S. Revenue Cutter Jeremiah
V. Black, Green Island River, St. Lawrence, December 3, 1861,” it reads:

To the Hon, $.P. Chase

cretary of the Treasury
Sir

I have the honor to report to You that the Revenue Cutters you directed
me to move from the Lakes to the sea coast are now one hundred and twenty
miles below Quebec and proceeding seaward

9-4



of $25,000. Captain McGowan was detailed to command her. On June 25
she was ordered to Port Royal to cooperate with the Navy in searching for
“pirates.”? In July she was ordered north from Hilton Head with mail for New
York. Arriving during the bloody draft riots in the city, she was towed to
Jersey Gity and then to Tarrytown to escape injury. A black steward from
the Treasury office in New York was taken aboard to save his life.*

In August she made a cruise to New England, stopping at Nauset, Cape
Cod, and proceeding to East Boston, Portland, Monhegan Island, Matinicus,
and Eastport, where she joined the cutter Black and was visited by Assistant
Treasury Secretary Harrington

In September she was hit by a ferry boat in New York Harbor and laid
up for repairs. In December she was sent to Long Branch on the Jersey coast
to assist the stranded Italian frigate Red Italia, and in January and February
1864, she cruised between New York and Fernandina, Florida, in search of
blockade runners and rebel privateers. In February she took Special Treasury
Agent A. G. Browne from Port Royal to Fernandina, and on February 8,
seized the Pride of the Sea and brought her back to Port Royal. Captain
McGowan consulted with Admiral Dahlgren USN on the U.S.S. Vermont at
Hilton Head and received more arms for Cuyahoga. She then proceeded to
Beaufort, North Carolina, where rebel attacks were feared

Cruising off Gape Henlopen, March 13, 1864, she was run into by an
unknown steamer and was considerably damaged. Repairs at the Philadelphia
Navy Yard cost $30,699. She was laid up until September when she was sent
to New York and then ordered to resume cruising between New York and
Florida, In December she was sent to Sag Harbor and Edgartown. Late that
month Captain McGowan was ordered to the Nemaha. He was replaced by
Captain Faunce. The cutter was then ordered to Savannah, but for some
reason did not go. She was in New York when the war ended.*

She remained in the service to make a sentimental voyage to Havana in
1867 under the command of Captain Faunce to retrieve the Harriet Lane which
had been captured by the rebels in 1863 and taken to Havana.° Cuyahoga was
sold soon after in New York for $31,400.6

Pawtuxet

First of the six new steam cutters in 1863 was the Pawtuxet built at the yard
of Thomas Stark in New York. She slid down the ways July 7, 1863. She
drew 4 feet 5 inches forward and 5 feet 10 inches alt.? She was “named in
honor of the River which furnishes the greatest motive power for the manufac-
tories of Rhode Island,” and christened by Collector Barney “in the absence
of Miss se.” In June 1864 she was commanded by Licutenant Amazeen,
with William E. Hollaway and James H. Wicks as his junior lieutenants. Gap-
tain Alvan A. Fengar assumed command in October and was ordered to take
the cutter to Boston. She remained there throughout the war, assisting the
sailing cutter Morris in cruising from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to New

Bedford, Massachusetts, as part of the Atlantic Blockade.





Alll three were stricken from the rolls of the Revenue Marine Service on
February 18 by order of the President, Breshwood for having surrendered
the McClelland, and Caldwell and Fister for having been parties to the
surrender.29

There were now 20 cutters in the Revenue Marine Service.

The Dodge Tries to Hide

Although Texas seceded from the Union the first of February 1861, it was

February 28 before Lieutenant William F. Rogers turned the cutter Henry
Dodge over to the State. He tried to to keep her from being seized by hiding
out in East Bay with a member of the United States Coast Survey on board

Rogers was in command of the Dodge after her commander Captain Levy
Harby was dismissed January 5. Revenue Marine records indicate that Harby
had “joined the Confederacy.” His dismissal seems to have been unknown
to Secretary of the Treasury Howell Cobb for Cobb ordered him to Point
Isabel soon after. Harby answered saying he was unwell and had left the cut
ter in charge of First Lieutenant Rogers

‘The cutter was at the Government Wharf in Galveston Wednesday, January
30, when Rogers received orders dated January 22 from the Treasury Depart-
ment to take her to New York. He knew she would never survive the voyage.
Her bottom was so foul and worm-eaten that she did not respond to the tiller
but constantly fell off course. Only minor repairs had been made since she
was severely damaged in a gale while on an official cruise to Vera Cruz, Mex-
ico the previous March. However, if she remained in Galveston, she was in
danger of being seized by the mobs on the waterfront.

For two days Lieutenant Rogers tried to decide what to do. He talked to
Lieutenant Stevens of the Lighthouse Department and to his friend, Lieuten-
ant Bell of the United States Coast Survey. Bell, who had been sent South
to survey East Bay at Galveston, suggested that they take the cutter to the
Bay. A decision was made on Saturday when Lieutenant William G. Roche
wrote in the journal

After a confidential consultation, a report of her unseaworthiness, and
the excited state of the public mind on shore and the threats to take the
Vessel, he [Rogers] deemed it most prudent upon application of Lieut
Bell U.S.A, to take the Vessel up East Bay to assist him in his Surveys.2°

Lieutenant Bell came on board Monday. They sailed in the afternoon and
spent the night alongside the wharf at Pelican Spit discharging ballast so they
could get over the reef at the bay entrance. There were 10 men on board.
On Wednesday, they warped the Dodge over the reef, stood up the Bolivar
Channel, and came to anchor north northeast of Ladies Pass. The following
day Rogers sent a boat to Galveston for mail and news. On Friday Lieuten-
ant Bell took the cutter’s other boat, and with Lieutenant Roche and several
members of the crew, left to survey the eastern part of the bay

The surveying party was absent until Saturday, February 16. On the 18th,
Rogers sent a boat to town for mail and news and on the 22nd, he himself

3-7



Cajori, Florian, The Chequered Gareer of Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, First Superintendent of the Coast
and Geodetic Survey. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1923

satton, Bruce, Never Call Retreat, ‘Vhe Centennial History of the Civil War, Vol. 3. Garden
Gity, New York: Doubleday and Gompany, 1965.
arleston Year Book, Charleston, $.C., 1884
apelle, Howard, The American Sailing Navy. New York: Bonanza Books, 1920

Gomte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America, Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, 1875

Gooper, Reverend W.H., Incidents of Shipwrecks, or the Loss of the San Francisco. Philadelphia,
1855.

Dufour, Charles L., The Night the War Was Lost, New York: Doubleday and Company Ine.,
1960.

Dyer, Frederick H., A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, Towa: 1908.

Eneyclopedia Americana. Danbury, Conn.: Grolier Inc., 1984

Evans, Gaptain Stephens H., U.S.C.G., United States Coast Guard: A Definitive History. An-
napolis, Maryland: Naval Institute, 1939.

Foote, Shelby, The Civil War. New York: Random House, 1963

Guernsey, Alfred H., and Pease, Alden Fairfax, Harpers Pictorial History of the Civil War.
New York: Fairfax Press, 1966

Hawkes, Esther Hill, Diary, A Woman Doctor’ Civil War, edited by Gerald Schwartz. University
of South Carolina Press, 198+

Hughes, Riley, Our Coast Guard Academy, New York: Devin-Adair Company, 1929.

Jones, Virgil C., The Givil War at Sea. 3 vol. New York, Holt, Rinehart, Winston Gom-
pany, 1960-1962

Kaplan, Hyman R., The U.S. Goast Guard and The Civil War, Cornell Maritime Press, 1971

Kaplan, Hyman R., The U.S. Coust Guard and The Civil War, Washington, D.C.: General
Printing Office, 1961

Kern, Florence, Captain Pease, U.S. Coast Guard Pioneer. Bethesda, Md.: Alised Enter-
prises, 1982

Kerr, Evan Samuel Jr., The United States Guard, Its Ships, Duties, Stations, New York, Robert
W. Kelly Publishing Corporation, 1935

Long, Everette B., The Civil War Day by Day. New York: Doubleday and Gompany, 1971
Maban, Alfred 'T., The Navy in The Civil War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895
Miers, Farl Schanck, Lincoln Day by Day. Washington, D.C.: Lincoln Sesquicentennial, 1960
Miller, Francis Trevelyan, editor, Photographic History of The Civil War. Springfield, Mass.
Review of Reviews Company, 1911
Moore, Frank, editor, Rebellion Record, 1860-1861. New York: G. P. Putnam, 1862
Nash, Howard P. Jr., A Naval History of The Civil War. A, 8. Barnes and Company Inc., 1972
Newell, G. R., Ships of the Inland Sea, The Story of the Puget Sound Steamhoats, 1951

Nicolay, John G. and Hay, John, editors, Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, New York, Francis
D. Tandy Company. 1882. 10 Vols:

Osbon,B. S., Handbook of the U. S. Navy. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1864
Parkinson, John J.,History of the New York Yacht Club. New York: New York Yacht Club, 1975.

Porter, David Dixon, The Naval History of The Civil War. New York: ‘he Sherman Publishing
Company, 1886.

Robertson, James Jr., editor, Index Guide to the Southern Historical Society Papers 1876-1959
2 vols. Millwood, New York: Kraus International Publishing Company. Reprint, Barre,
Vi, 1960

Robinson, Thomas Morrison Jr. The Confederate Privateers, New Haven : Yale Unive
Press, 1928.



in 1798, military duties were assigned. On March 2, 1799, Congress ordered
the cutters to operate with the Navy, at the President’s discretion, in time
of trouble. At-the same time uniforms were designed for the officers (by the
Navy) and officers were allowed to use naval titles. An ensign with vertical
stripes was designed

The service grew slowly during the first half of the 19th century but proved
its worth, not only in the economic development of the nation but in the
French-American Quasi War, the War of 1812, the skirmishes with Indians
in Florida and on Puget Sound, the Mexican-American War, the Nullifica-
tion Difficulties, the expedition to Paraguay, and in the constant hunt for
pirates, plunderers, wreckers and slavers.

As the nation expanded, cutters were assigned to new ports—St. Augustine,
Key West, Pensacola, Mobile, New Orleans, San Francisco, Astoria, Oregon
Territory, and Port Townsend, Washington Territory. They took with them
the laws of the land as well as the laws of the sea, and became a safety net
around the whole nation. The network was complete and intact for just 11
years before it was totally disrupted by the Secessionists in the South

Although Hamilton had hoped that the cutters would eventually answer
only to Federal authority, the Customs Collectors took more and more con-
trol of the service. Politics entered the picture early. Officers were chosen
not on a merit system, but by political appointment. There was no uniform
management until 1843 when a central bureau was established and the
knowledgeable Captain Alexander Fraser was made Bureau Chief.® In the
regulations he issued in 1843, the collectors’ authority was diminished, and
cutter captains were ordered to make monthly reports to the Bureau.” He
established a merit system of promotion, and by rotating officers from vessel
to vessel, undermined the power of local politicians. He prohibited slavery
on the cutters and improved the life of the “people” by increasing their pay
and prohibiting flogging and other brutalities. These and other reforms he
accomplished in his short time as Chief, and while the nation was at war with
Mexico

He left the Bureau in 1848. A year later the office itself was abolished. Col-
lectors once more began to take control. From 1848 to 1860 many of the old
practices and policies were back in full swing.®

During the 1840’s the service faced a major problem when it attempted

to switch from sail to steam. In this too, Fraser was influential. When steam
fever reached the Revenue Marine Service, Fraser advocated the building
of paddle-wheelers. Instead, six experimental propeller and horizontal-wheel
steamers were built at a cost of $620,000. For one reason or another, all were
failures. Even two paddle-wheelers proved ineffective. One, the Polk, even-
tually had its paddle wheels and engine removed, and carried on under sail
alone. Some of the other steamers became lightships, or were turned over
to the Coast Survey, or abandoned. It was an unhappy era for the Revenue
Marine.

As a result, the service was more or less neglected in the 1850s. Twenty
cutters were built between 1849 and 1859 but they were all wooden sailing

1-3



taking the Secretary of State to Point Lookout, and the Secretary of War and
General Speed to Cape May.

In October she was ordered to Wilmington, North Carolina, the first
revenue cutter assigned to the city that had been the last to surrender to Union
forces. On October 6 she was at the Wilmington Custom House Wharf. Two
days later she steamed down the Cape Fear River to Smithville, encounter-
ing no resistance. She exercised her guns, boarded a number of vessels, assisted

vessels in distress, and towed becalmed sailing vessels down the long river
to the sea. On November 15 she went to the assistance of the steamer Twilight,
aground off New Inlet Bar, rescuing a number of passengers, and removing
mail, specie and baggage.!!

In 1866 Northerner was ordered to Baltimore and command was given to
Captain McGowan. In subsequent years she served in New York, Florida
and Baltimore. Her name was changed to Ewing November 19, 1874 when
she was ordered to cruise from Washington to Norfolk. Later she was trans-
ferred to the Executive Committee of the Army of the Potomac and used in
Chesapeake Bay as a marine hospital for quarantine duty. She was sold at
Baltimore April 8, 1895 for $1,000.'*

William H. Seward

Built at Wilmington, Delaware, the steam cutter William H. Seward was
purchased as a new vessel in June 1864 under the direction of Supervising
Inspector Stillman.!3 She was commissioned in October and spent the rest
of the year boarding vessels in Delaware River. In Philadelphia she tied up
at either the Pine Street Wharf or Neafs and Levys Wharf, and in Wilm-
ington at the 4th Street Wharf. When the war ended she was being repaired
and painted in preparation for going on a cruise

She was commanded by Captain Henry B. Nones who had been in the
service since 1831 and had fought in the Mexican-American War. There were
19 in the crew

Except for a brief assignment in New York, she remained on the Delaware
until 1875 when she was ordered South. She was then stationed at a number
of ports on the Gulf of Mexico until she was sold to Lee Kimball at Mobile,
Alabama, January 15, 1879, for $2,800.'*

Winslow and Hector

Existing records in the National Archives indicate that there was a cutter
named either Hector or Winslow on the Great Lakes. Actually there were two
cutters, Winslow chartered September 28, 1864 at Buffalo, New York, and
Hector, chartered October 5, 1864 at Oswego, New York —both for one month.
They were put in commission and armed by Captain Ottinger who was then
superintending the construction of the Commodore Perry at Buffalo. Both were
steam tugs and were assigned to prevent smuggling and watch for any Con-
federate activity on the lakes. They were chartered for $4,500 a month.!%

On a stormy night in October, Winslow was wrecked while coming into
the pier at Cleveland, Ohio. A dispatch from Captain Ottinger to Secretary

16-5



Letters Sent. Apr. 1861

Philip Yanaway, Harriet Lane. Salem, Mass.: Peabody Institute, The American Neptune
XXXVI, July 1976, p. 174

Om Series 1, vol. 5, p. 698

Ibid

Ibid

Letters: Received. July 1861

Om Series I, vol. 6., p. 95. Some records say that the Petre was the ex-Revenue Cutter Aiken
with a new name. This is dubious. There was a Coast Survey vessel Petrel seized at the
same time as Aiken, It is more likely that this vessel became the privateer

Ibid, pp. 129-131

Ibid

Chief Engineer Frank H. Pulsifer, Under Lincoln. Washington, D.C.: U.S.C.G., The Coast
Guard, vol. 1, No. 4, Feb. 1928, p. 4

Om Series 1, vol. 6, pp. 129-131

Letters Sent. Sept. 1861

Ibid

Letters Received. Sept. 1861

Ibid. [1 is significant that Lincoln referred to the service as the “Revenue Cutter Service”,
a name not used officially until 1863

Pulsifer, p. 4

Ibid

Under Commander Wainwright, U.S.N. Harriet Lane was captured by the Confederates in

1863 at Galveston and fitted as a privateer. She was renamed Lavinia, At the end of the

war, she was in Havana. In 1867, Captain Faunce was sent to Havana to bring her back
to New York. She was then sold to Elliot Ritchie and renamed Helena Ritchie. As a mner-
chant vessel, she sank in a hurricane in the Caribbean.
Chapter Vill—New Problems for the Revenue Marine

Record of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 405

Journal of Tiger. Nov. 30-Dec. 20, 1861

Ibid, Dee. 1, 1861

Ibid, Dee. 4, 1861

Letters Received, Dec. 1861

Journal of Tiger, Dec. 5, 1861

Ibid, Dee. 10, 1861

Ibid, Dec. 13, 1861

Lotters Received, Dec. 20, 1861

Journal of Tiger. Dee. 1862

Ibid, Jan. 1, 1863

Ibid, July 1865

John S. Parkinson, History of the New York Yacht Club. New York: N.Y.Y.C., 1975

Letters Sent, May 6, 1861

Letters Received. July 12, 1861

Record of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 422

Om Series 1, vol. 2, pp. 432-439

. Ibid
Wilmington, N.C. Journal. Feb. 13, 1862



The Revenue Cutters
in the Civil War

Selective Bibliography

Records

Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard 1790-Dec. 31, 1933, Volumes
1 and 2. Compiled in the office of the Assistant Commandant, U.S, Coast Guard, U.S. Coast
Guard Headquarters, Washington, D.C., 1933. Issued by the Treasury Department Feb, 15, 1935.

Record Group 26, National Archives. Records of the Revenue Cutters of the United States

Coast Guard

Applications for Positions in the Revenue Cutter Service 1831-1871

Personal Records Relating to Officers and Cadets 1833-1915

Correspondence & Specifications relating to the construction and repairs of revenue cutters
1845-1910

Muster Rolls 1843-1914

Letters sent by the Treasury Department 1790-1882 and 1871-1897 to Collectors, Revenue
Cutter Captains and others. 212 volumes.

Letters received by the ‘Treasury Department 1836-1910 from Collectors, Revenue Cutter
Captains and Others. 308 vols.

Lowers from Collectors to the Treasury Department on Revenue Cutter activities 1834-1853

Letters from Officers of Cutters to the Treasury Department 1833-1869. (By name of vessel
and then chronologically)

Miscellaneous correspondence 1793-1937 (By name of station and vessel, then chronologically)

History of Revenue Gutters 1790-1937. Thirteen volumes—Record of claims
xaminations for the Revenue Marine (Cutter) Service 1861-1892

Applications for the Revenue Marine (Cutter) Service 1844-1880

Ships Rosters 1819-1904

List of logs (journals) of U.S. Coast Guard vessels 1790-1941 as compiled by Thoraton W
Mitchell and Arthur Dyer of the Division of Treasury Dept. Archives and presented by
U.S.C.G. in 1944. The list has been updated by National Archives staff and Coast Guard
historians. (n.b. ‘This list also contains the names of cutters for which no logs (journals)
have been found, as noted below, and identifies the periods for which logs (journals) of
others are missing. Cutters of the Givil War period and their years of service are listed
as follows:

Agassiz 1861-1866

Aiken, William (Eclipse) 1855-1861
Allen, Philip 1855-1865

Antietam 1864-1869

Appleton, John 1857-1861 (no journal
Arago 1861 (no journals)

Ashuelot 1863-1867



“I Know But Little About Ships’’

After the fiasco at Charleston, Lincoln apologized to Fox in a letter May
1.!5 The failure of the expedition, he said, was due in part to the tugs being
detained by a gale, and to the absence of Powhatan. He said:

By an accident for which you were in no way responsible, and possibly
I to some extent was, you were deprived of a war vessel with her men
which you deemed of great importance to the enterprise. !®

Lincoln, the midwesterner, admitted that he had little knowledge of ships
and shipping, but he was quick to establish the Atlantic blockade April 19
which led eventually to the defeat of the rebels. From his vantage point at
the White House he could see the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, and ap-
parently kept a close watch on the vessels that came and went at.the Wash-
ington Navy Yard. On April 23, he wrote Welles saying:

I think I see three els go up to the Navy Yard just now. Will you
217

please send down and learn what they are?
He took an interest in mariners too, although he did not speak or spell
their language. On May 14, he wrote Welles saying

I know but little about ships, but I feel a good deal of interest for George
W. Lawrence of Maine, who is proficient in that line. I believe it is set-
tled that the Gov't. has |; e use for the barches [sic] of Maine and I
shall be glad if Mr. Lawrence can be engaged in it on fair terms to himself
and to us.!#

The “barches” were used to transport troops



Earlier Days in the Revenue Marine

Designed by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in 1789-1790
and established by an Act of Congress August 4, 1790, the service had no
official name until 1863. In the interim it was called, unofficially, a system
of boats, a system of cutters, the Revenue-Marine, the United States Revenue
Service and the United States Revenue Marine Service. It was President Lin-
coln who called it the “Revenue Cutter Service” shortly before it was offi-
cially referred to as the “United States Revenue-Cutter Service” by Congress
in 12. Stat. 639, February 4, 1863. In part the Statute read:

An Act in Relation to Commissioned Officers of the United States
Revenue Cutter Service

Be it enacted by the State and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled That the commissioned officers
of the United States revenue cutter service shall be appointed by the Presi-
dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.!

Not until January 28, 1915, when the service merged with the Life-Saving
Service, was the name changed to “United States Coast Guard.” Prior to this,
the name “coast guard” had been applied to a number of local organizations.
There was a “Coast Guard Committee” at New Bedford, Massachusetts, dur-
ing the Civil War,? and “a Union Coast Guard”? as part of the Union forces
fighting in North Carolina, also in the Civil War. The Confederates also had
a “coast guard.”* In his annual report to the Treasury Department in 1846,
Captain Alexander Fraser spoke of the service as “a coast guard in time of
war.”5

Hamilton's original “system of cutters” was a loosely organized fleet of ten
vessels, built and placed in service several years before the United States Navy,
to patrol and police the United States coastline from the boundary at Eastport,
Maine, to the boundary at St. Mary’s, Georgia. At each of the ten leading
ports on the coast, a small schooner or sloop was built under local supervi-
sion to enforce the new nation’s revenue and navigation laws. These were
used to board and examine all incoming vessels, In the beginning they were
armed only with muskets, pistols, bayonets and a few old guns, relics of the
American Revolution. Officers and men had no prescribed uniforms and were
called “masters” and “mates.” Each vessel was assigned one master, one mate
and about ten “people” (crew). There was no insignia.

Their duties were primarily aimed at reducing smuggling and encourag-
ing American shipping and shipbuilding, but gradually other responsibilities
were assigned by the Collectors in the districts they patrolled. In some in-
stances, they were used to service lighthouses and other aids to navigation,
conduct fishery patrols, work with quarantine stations, draw charts and write
sailing directions, and, in districts where the slave trade was outlawed, de-

tain slave ships. Officers were not detailed to assist vessels in distress but often
answered calls for help, not only from shipwrecked sailors but from vessels
with mutinies on board. With the establishment of the United States Navy



The Star of the West carried the American flag at her peak, but as she neared
the Fort, McGowan unfurled another American flag 40 feet long and had
it hoisted at the bow to attract the attention of Anderson. The garrison at
the Fort watched with delight as the flag unfolded. They had not, until then,
identified the vessel as any but another commercial steamer.

More shots were now fired from Morris Island on the port side. Then came
two shots from rebels at Fort Moultrie on the starboard side. McGowan’s
one small brass gun remained silent

At Fort Sumter guns were shotted, run out, and brought to bear on Fort
Moutrie and the positions on Morris Island. Major Anderson hesitated to
fire since Fort Sumter itself had not been attacked, and he was not aware
of the Star of the West’s official assignment

Shot after shot was aimed at the vessel as she neared Sumter, some falling
short, some bounding over her deck and through her rigging. One struck
her in the fore-chains and one was later reported by Captain McGowan to
have come “within an ace of carrying away our rudder.” Still, he waited for
some response from Major Anderson. Meantime two steam tugs put out from
the city of Charleston, one of them towing an armed schooner. This may
have been the former Revenue Cutter William Aiken which surrendered to
South Carolina on December 27, 1860. McGowan faced the loss of his vessel
and the priceless human cargo below decks if he proceeded. After 17 shots
had been fired at him, he prudently spun his wheel around and headed for
the open sea. He was back at the Warren Street pier in New York April 12
with the Star of the West intact and all the soldiers and his own crew alive and
well. !?

Captain Mcgowan was severely criticized for failing to reach Major Ander-
son, Later in the war, he wrote that he had “suffered severely in reputation
for this affair, being condemned by Mr. Roberts because I brought the com-
mand away safe instead of sinking a steamer of doubtful reputation.”"> He
was then back in the service and asking to be sent “where there is some hard
service to be done.”!*

McGowan continued in the service of M. O. Roberts until August 13, 1861,
when he was re-commissioned a captain in the Revenue Marine Service.'8

The months of January through April 1861 were dark and hectic for the
Union. The Revenue Marine Service drifted along under the supervision of
Philip Francis Thomas, who was appointed Secretary of the Treasury when
Howell Cobb left to join the Confederacy in January. John A. Dix took
Thomas's place in mid-January. Some of the cutter officers had no idea who
was Secretary of the Treasury. They sent their letters to “Hon. Secretary of
the Treasury.” Dix remained in office until Lincoln was inaugurated (March
4) when Samuel Portland Chase was appointed to head the Department

The Lucky Dobbin and the Forward

Two of the cutters, Dobbin and Forward, narrowly escaped being seized,
Dobbin not once but three times. After her miraculous escape in Savannah



CHAPTER XIV

More New Revenue Cutters

In 1863, two more steam cutters were purchased and six were built under
the supervision of Thomas B. Stillman, formerly a clerk in the New York
office of the auditor of the Treasury Department and now Supervising In-
spector of Steam Cutters. He worked closely with Collector Barney and
Barney’s successor, Simeon Draper, and with Assistant ‘Treasury Secretary
Harrington

This stepped-up program was in answer to the increase in rebel privateer-
ing along the coast. All the new cutters were to cooperate with the Navy as
ordered by Lincoln in a directive to Secretary Chase June 14, 1863. He
authorized Chase to

cooperate by the revenue cutters under your direction with the Navy in
arresting rebel depredation on American commerce and transportation
and in capturing rebels engaged therein.!

Cuyahoga

Of the vessels purchased in 1863, Cuyahoga was a 305-ton propeller steamer,
the former Santa Anna.? She had an interesting history. Built for the Mexican
Navy by J. A. and D. D. Westervelt in New York, she was the sister ship
of a vessel in the United States Navy. Her Mexican commander stole her
from his country and turned her into a slaver. As a slaver she was chased
and attacked by her sister ship, which sank in the battle. Her owners con-
tinued to operate her as a slave ship until, needing repairs, she was disguised
and brought into New York. When her owners could not pay the repair bill
she was seized by the United States, auctioned at Philadelphia and bought
by the Secretary of the Treasury for a revenue cutter in April 1863 at a cost



By December the cutter was in very bad shape. Even the ensign was so
worn out that they had to make a new one out of a bed sheet. Still they con-
tinued to patrol. On New Year's Eve 1860 they were underway at nine in
the morning and off Red Bluff at ten.%°

The Robert McClelland at New Orleans

One of the six schooners built at the J.M. Hood yards in 1853, the Robert
McClelland was originally sent to Mobile, Alabama, under command of Cap-
tain Douglass Ottinger. Ottinger was just back from San Francisco where
he had commanded the cutter Lawrence and lost her in a freak accident near
the Golden Gate. In 1854 she searched for the missing San Francisco, and from
1854 to 1859 spent most of her time cruising in the Gulf of Mexico, boarding
and examining vessels off the many mouths of the Mississippi.37 She was
named in honor of the man who had been twice Governor of Michigan and
was one of the organizers of the Democratic party. She had 17 men in her crew.

In 1859 she was ordered to New York for repairs. She remained in New
York under the command of Captain Robert K. Hudgins until the autumn
of 1860 when she was ordered to New Orleans to allow the Washington to be
taken to New York for repairs. The two cutters exchanged crews off Slaughter
House Point, New Orleans, October 13, 1860, Captain Hudgins taking com-
mand of Washington and Captain Breshwood of McClelland.

After the rendez-vous and exchange of officers, Captain Breshwood took
the McClelland down the river and spent several weeks cruising between Pass
a Loutre, Pilots Bay, and Fort Jackson. On board were three ardent
Southerners: Breshwood, First Lieutenant Samuel B. Caldwell, and Third
Lieutenant Thomas D. Fister. While the cutter was at Fort Jackson, December
29, 1860, Captain Breshwood and Lieutenant Fister left for important business
at Mobile. Lieutenant Caldwell, commanding the cutter in their absence,
wrote in the Journal that they were to be witnesses for the United States in
the District Court.%#

The Washington at New Orleans

Second oldest cutter in the fleet in 1860, and the only sailing brig, was
the Washington. She had been built as a schooner at Baltimore in 1837 under
the supervision of the noted Captain Henry D. Hunter.3° She was named
for the first President and ordered to cruise the Atlantic between New York
and Chesapeake Bay. Because she was larger than originally planned, she
was found to be too unwieldy as a schooner. In 1838 she was back in Baltimore
to be rerigged as a brig.

The late Howard I. Chapelle, in his History of the American Sailing Navy,
describes her as a “noted sailer” and says her lines reflect “the ideas of
Chesapeake Bay builders seeking fast, seagoing vessels.” She measured 91
feet 2 inches with a beam of 22 feet 1 inch. Her plans are now in the Smithson-
ian Museum. She carried a crew of seventeen.



The Harriet Lane at New York

Harriet Lane, showcase of the fleet, was stationed at the Battery off the lower
end of Manhattan in 1860. She had been launched nearby, at the yard of
William Webb on the East River, in February 1858. She cost $140,000
Designed by Naval Constructor Samuel Pook, and supervised and command-
ed by Revenue Cutter Captain John Faunce," she was a 674 13/95 ton paddle-
wheel steam cutter, measuring 180 feet, with a 30-foot beam, a 12 1/2 foot
depth, and a draft of ten feet. Like all the other early steam vessels, she car-

ried auxiliary sail. She was brig-rigged. Her paddle wheels spun at 20 rpm,

her boiler pressure was about 25 pounds and she could make 12 knots under
steam.'* William Dunham was her first chief engineer.

She and the subsequent Harriet Lanes were the only cutters named for a
woman, the woman being Miss Harriet Lane, niece of President James
Buchanan, and hostess in the White House at the time the cutter was
launched. !>

The cutter made a trial run under steam March 1, 1858 when she “stood
up the river off the Novelty Works, rounded up and stood back.” She then
went as far as Sandy Hook Lightship, returning at noon to the dock at the
foot of 7th Street in the East River. The next few days were spent adjusting
her engine, taking on one 32-pounder gun, one 12-pounder Howitzer, small
arms and rations, and bending on her sails. On March 11 she “got up steam”
and went to the Brooklyn Navy Yard across the river where her first cele-
brity visitors Admiral Mohammed Pasha of Turkey, and two officers of the
Russian Navy came aboard for a cruise to Coney Island.'®

Two 24-pounder Howitzers were added before she was sent to cruise the
coast in search of slavers. In July 1858 she was taken into the Navy, with
her Revenue Marine officers and crew on board, to join an expedition to
Paraguay, South America, to settle an international dispute. Returned to the
Revenue Marine in 1859, she went on a cruise to New London, and then
to Gape May, searching for vessels suspected of slaving. She also entertained
many celebrities, chief among them the glamorous Harriet Lane.!”

Her officers at this time included four second lieutenants, Henry O. Porter,
Daniel D. Tompkins, R. T. Travis and D. C. Constable, and two third
lieutenants, T. M. Dungan and Charles R. Berrett, in addition to the
engineers. Other officers in the 1858-1860 period included First Li
A. D. Stanford and George R. Slicer, and Third Lieutenants I. H. Thatcher
and H. J. Gambrill. She had about 50 men in her crew.

After cruising around New York in search of suspected slavers and
fillibusterers, she was ordered South in late 1859. She spent the winter off
the Carolinas and Florida where she worked with the local customs collectors
in boarding vessels suspected of smuggling and/or slave running. She became
well acquainted with the waters of Charleston and Savannah.

In May 1860 she returned to New York where efforts were being made
to seize the slave ship Kate. Kate was boarded after a ch: bout five miles
outside Sandy Hook, and brought back to the Battery. On June 28, 1860,



Preface

Scholars in American history have tended to slight the importance of the United
States Coast Guard in the growth of the nation. This is particularly true of the
Civil War period even though President Lincoln himself depended on the
Revenue Marine Service, forerunner of the Coast Guard, not only to protect
the revenue, as usual, but to assist in the blockade, guard harbors East and West,
and fight off Confederate privateers. Little recognition has been given to the
war efforts of the 219 Revenue Marine officers on 57 revenue cutters who not
only carried on their many peacetime duties but worked with the Army, Navy,
Marines and Coast Survey to bring the tragic war to its conclusion.

In Record Group 26, at the National Archives in Washington, District of Co-
lumbia, are numerous documents for this four-year period. They include abstracts
and transcripts of the journals of the cutters (sometimes called ‘‘logs’’), some
of the journals themselves, and hundreds of letters to and from officers in the
Revenue Marine Service, and in the subsequent (after 1863) Revenue Cutter
Service, There are also Treasury Department records, records of applications
for commissions, letters to and from Collectors at all the ports in the United
States, career resumes, and descriptions of many of the cutters. Some seem not
to have been read since being placed in the government files well over 100 years
ago. Although kept under archival conditions, the documents are so numerous
that they are crowded in cardboard boxes. Many had been sewn together with
thread and then folded in three and tied with archival tape. In some cases the
thread and tape have disintegrated, and the paper is so brittle it breaks where
folded. Much of the ink has faded, and a number of the documents are now
illegible. Documents bound in leather volumes are more readable, but the bind-
ings themselves have crumbled with age, and, in some cases, are loose or
missing.

It would seem that the time has come to study Record Group 26 and to evaluate
the contents of these valuable documents before their message is lost. My two-
year study is only a beginning.



delivering the pilots they took the mail from Sherman's army back to Hilton
Head to be sent north.

With the fighting over in Georgia late in December 1864, Treasury Agent
Browne demanded the use of the cutter, transporting his wife, friends and
horses from port to port. Commander Warner was not pleased with his new
orders— especially when he was obliged to transport the agent’s horse, or delay
a cruise because the wife of a friend of the agent “thought the weather was
not fit to go out.”

On December 26, the day after Savannah surrendered to Union forces,
Nemaha took Browne and a party of friends from Hilton Head to view the
fallen city. With a number of passengers on board the cutter reached Savan-
nah at 4:30 P.M. and remained overnight at a wharf. She had two minor
accidents en route, one at Hilton Head where the George Leary ran into her
starboard wheel house, and one in the Savannah River where the Canonicus
stove in her port wheel house.

After a night in Savannah she was ordered to take a Customs collector and
a number of other passengers to Fernandina. After a rough voyage she landed
her passengers at Fernandina and returned to Savannah. The next morning
(New Year's Day, 1865) she was ordered to return to Hilton Head with Agent
Browne, Mrs. Browne, Collector Severance, other passengers and two horses.

This was to be Commander Warner's last day on Nemaha. He was ordered
to Boston to serve on the sailing cutter Morris. When the cutter reached Hilton
Head her new commander, Captain McGowan, came on board. McGowan
had been patrolling from Hatteras to Fernandina in Cuyahoga.§

Captain McGowan at Savannah

Nemaha now spent most of her time in the Savannah River, guiding vessels
through the obstructions and towing them off sand bars. Other cutters
appeared—Kankakee, Kewanee, and Wayanda. Captain McGowan also did a
considerable amount of entertaining at Savannah. On January 12 and 13 he
hosted dinners for the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Treasury Agent
Simeon Draper and six generals—Sherman, Foster, Meigs, Baird, Barnes
and Townsend. On January 14 he took the Secretary of War to Hilton Head
Draper remained on board while assembling the Cotton Fleet to take con-
fiscated cotton to New York,

The cutter towed some of the cotton loaded vessels to the armed vessels
that were to convoy them up the coast in February

Another fleet of cotton vessels was assembled in March and sent North.
In April, when word came that Lee had surrendered, Nemaha was at Fort
Sumter with Collector Severance, his wife and invited guests on board. They
had anchored overnight off the Battery and were taken to see what remained
of Fort Sumter the next morning. They were later taken into Charleston where
they spent the night. Meantime Gaptain McGowan was busy boarding and
inspecting 15 vessels in Charleston Harbor with cargoes for the Charleston
Quartermaster. The cutter returned to Hilton Head April 17



Well! The cat jumped out of the bag and all Hell broke loose!”

It was immediately thought that Georgia-born Lieutenant Davenport had
made off with the cutter. Aroused from his sleep Customs Collector Jewett
sent a telegram off to Secretary Chase saying that the cutter was gone and
that “Lt. Davenport in command did not report before sailing.”

On the waterfront an angry mob heaped cries of “traitor” on the hapless
Davenport, waving pitchforks and muskets as they sought to organize an ex-
pedition to recover the cutter. Mayor Jacob McClellan commandeered the
Forest City, the Chesapeake and a tug to go in pursuit. Bales of cotton were
brought on board to protect the steamers’ paddle wheels. Collector Jewett
called up two dozen men from the 7th Maine Volunteers who arrived,
breathless, with their regimental band. The steamers were stocked with pro-
visions for a long expedition, and, with the band playing, crowds of citizens
tried to get aboard. The Mayor allowed about 50 armed men to cross the
gangplank of each vessel and turned the hose on the rest of them. He boarded
the Chesapeake. Lieutenant Merryman managed to remain on board the Forest
City.'?

As the steamers left the harbor, women stood on the rocks waving flags
and handkerchiefs and urging the men on to victory. Off Fort Preble the

steamers were joined by two tugs with guns and 100 men from the 7th Maine

Regulars."

Meantime, 12 miles out, there was little wind and the Cushing dawdled
along. Savvy, in his oversized uniform, offered Davenport a cigar and removed
his handcuffs. From Davenport he learned that the cutter had been prepared
to search for the Tacony and was loaded with ammunition but the key to the
magazine was missing. When the cutter was seized Davenport had thrown
it overboard! There was only a small amount of ammunition available.

Some miles behind the Cushing, the Archer plodded along. Titcomb was still
begging to go ashore in his boat which was being towed behind. The three
rebels on board were highly elated with their escapade, and Titcomb had to
agree that it was “a very daring act.” They could not see the Cushing but about
ten miles out they spotted a steamer between Halfway Rock and Outer Green
Island.

On the cutter, Bibber was also asking to go ashore. The answer was “no.”
Savvy said they were going to stand off a little farther and then heave to and
wait for the Archer to “come up.” She was not yet in sight. They were just
past Cod Ledge when a steamer appeared about two miles away. Bibber again
asked to leave. The Captain said then he “didn’t care” and that the fisherman
might take either of the little boats that were alongside. Bibber wasted no
time in climbing into a boat and rowing away. From the deck of the cutter
aman called to him to “do a little quartering,” saying they were going to fire
on the steamer. Bibber reached the steamer, the Forest City, safely and went
on board to tell his strange story."

Meantime, Savvy Read fired what ammunition he had at the Forest City,
and then seeing two other vessels approach, knew that his luck had run out.



having just saved her from being torn to shreds in Hatteras currents, he was
now ordered to sail her to the Philadelphia Navy Yard and turn her over
to the command of Commander J. M. Wainwright, USN.

The cutter, once the pride of the Revenue Marine, was in deplorable con-
dition as she limped up the Delaware to the Navy Yard. All her guns and

ammunition had been thrown into Davy Jones locker, along with a tank of
quicksilver, crank pins, bolts, 12 bars of iron, 100 pounds of white lead, 100
pounds of red lead, tallow, paint, broken furniture, 1,080 salt rations, 50
pounds of beef and countless personal belongings. Her officers and crew were
in rags—and penniless. They had received no pay for nine months due to
a dispute between the Navy and the Revenue Marine.?!

When the officers went ashore to the Girard Hotel in Philadelphia, they
were turned away because they did not have any money, but they were re-
ceived with open arms at the more patriotic Hotel Continental. A few days
Jater they all received their 9 months’ back pay— from the Revenue Marine,
not the Navy.??

Much of Harriet Lane’s furniture went into storage to be used two years later
on the Cuyahoga. Captain Faunce then left for Hoboken, New Jersey, where
he supervised the commissioning of the first ironclad of the Revenue Marine
Service, the Naugatuck, soon to be renamed E. A. Stevens for her builder. It
would be six years before he would see Harriet Lane again, and then under
quite different circumstances.?3



The Minot and the Morgan

Some Confederate records list two additional cutters in 1860, the Minot
(renamed Manasses by Confederates) at New Bern, North Carolina, and the
Morgan at Mobile, Alabama. Neither can be found in any official Revenue
Marine records. Presumably they were local vessels, not under Federal control



Paul H. Johnson, Harriet Lane, Great Ship, Great Lady. The Bulletin, United States Coast Guard
Academy, New London, Conn., Sept.-Oct, 1982

Journal of Harriet Lane, 1858

Ibid, 1860

Letters Received By the Treasury Department 1836-1910 From Collectors, Revenue Cutter Captains and
Others, Record Group 26, National Archives, Washington, D.C., Oct. 22, 1860

Journal of Harriet Lane, Dec. 1860

Record of Movements, Vol. 1, pp. 98-104

Ibid

Ibid

Journal of Walter B. Forward, Dec. 1860

Record of Movements, Vol, 2, p. 405

Journal of Philip Allen, Aug. 5, 1860

Record of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 415

Journal of William J. Duane, Dee, 1860

Record of Movements. Vol. 1, p. 149

Personal Records. Napoleon 1. Coste

Journal of William Aiken, Dec, 1859

Record of Movements. Vol. 1, pp. 201-202

Journal of James C. Dobbin, Dec. 20, 1860

Record of Movements. Vol, 2, p. 416

Letters Received. 1860

Record of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 419

Journal of Lewis Cass, June-Dec. 1860

Journal of Robert McClelland, 1854-1859

Ibid Dec. 29, 1860

Record of Movements, Vol. 1, p. 97

Howard Chapelle, The American Sailing Navy. New York: Bonanza Books, 1920. pp. 3

Journal of Washington, Nov. 27, 1860

Record of Movements, Vol. 2, p. 390

Personal Records. Levy. C. Harby

Journal of Henry Dodge, May 1860

Ibid, Nov. 1860

South Carolina Mercury, Charleston, $.C., Dec. 29, 1860

Journal of Henry Dodge, Dec. 29, 1860

Record of Movements, Vol. 2, p. 419 and Vol. 1, p. 67

Contract and Specifications for William Marcy and. Jefferson Davis. Dukes County Historical Society,
Edgartown, Mass.

Record of Movements. Vol. 2, p. 419
Ibid, Vol. 2, pp. 395-396
Letters Received, Apr. 4, 1861

Floremce Kern, Captain Pease, Coast Guard Pioneer. Bethesda, Md.: Alised Eunterprises, 1982,
p. 62

Journal of Jefferson Davis, Dec. 1860

Kern, p. 6467



Abraham Lincoln



Salmon P. Chase, steam, at Buffalo (under construction)

John A. Dix, steam, at Buffalo (under construction)

William P. Fessenden, steam, at Cleveland (under construction)
Commodore Perry, steam, at Buffalo (under construction)
William H. Seward, steam, at Philadelphia (under construction)
Hugh McCulloch, steam, at Baltimore (under construction)
Lincoln, steam, at Baltimore (under construction)

Andrew Johnson, steam, at Buffalo (under construction)

After the war, five vessels were purchased from the Navy, making a total
of 12 new cutters in service in 1865. The Navy vessels were

Juniper, steam, sent to New York. (Name later changed to Uno and then
Peter G. Washington.)

Wilderness, steam, sent to New Orleans

Mocassin, steam, sent to Wilmington, N.C.

Nansemond (Joseph Freeborn) steam, sent to Savannah

Delaware, steam, sent to Galveston

Winning the Peace

Having helped the Union win the war, it was now up to the Revenue Cut-
ter Service to help win the peace. The most able officers were sent south to
accomplish the difficult task of re-establishing Customs, maritime laws, and
friendship in ports they had so recently sought to destroy. Kewanee was sent
to Charleston under command of Captain Pease who had been stationed there
in the 1840's. Captain Merryman went to New Orleans in Wayanda; Captain
McGowan to Wilmington, North Carolina in Northerner; Captain Colesbury
to Savannah in Nansemond; Gaptain Davis to Key West in John A. Dix; Gap-
tain Warner to Mobile in Morris; Lieutenant Walden to New Bern in E. A.
Stevens; and Captain Baker in Kankakee to Mobile and Charleston. It was not
long before it was business as usual at southern customhouses and in southern
waters



day after Christmas, the Captain went ashore to appeal again to the Collec-
tor for repairs, but none were promised. On New Year's Eve, the cutter was
sent down the Bay to Red Bluff. Eleven days later, Alabama seceded from
the Union, but it was not until January 30th when the cutter returned to
Howard’s wharf for water that she was seized by the State of Alabama.!7

Captain Morrison resigned from the Revenue Marine Service the same
day. He wrote Secretary of the Treasury John A. Dix saying

A Georgian by birth and an Alabaman by adoption, both States having
assumed their independence—I desire to tender my resignation as a Cap-
tain of the Revenue Cutter Service to the Department. '®

Morrison's name was stricken from the roles with the words “Tenders his
resignation. Joins the South.”!9

Lieutenants Rogers, Lawrence, and Shoemaker wrote immediately ask-
ing for new assignments. Lawrence remarked that “pecuniary circumstances
will oblige me to make this city my place of residence for the present. I hope
this will meet the approbation of the department.” Nevertheless, he and the
other two men soon made their way North to new stations. Rogers reported
on the Jackson at Eastport, Maine, Lawrence on the Cushing at Portland,
Maine, and Shoemaker on the Campbell at New London.?!

There were now 22 cutters in the Revenue Marine Service

Washington and McClelland Surrender

On October 24, 1860, there was a happy reunion off Slaughter House Point,
New Orleans, when the 90-foot brig Washington rafted up to the somewhat
smaller schooner cutter Robert McClelland. The McClelland had arrived ten days
earlier from New York where she had been extensively repaired. It was now
the Washington's turn to go to New York for repairs. The captains had been
ordered to exchange officers and crews.

After inventories were taken, Captain Hudgins and his men transferred
from the McClelland to the Washington. With him were his lieutenants, J. Wall
Wilson, T. M. Dungan, and J. G. Hunt, and 13 in crew, including a young
Scot named David Ritchie who was to witness and report dramatic events
on the cutters late in January 1861. Lieutenant Anson S. Rogers took com-
mand of the McClelland with junior officer Samuel B. Caldwell and 11 in crew
to assist him. The McClelland then “dropped off’ and anchored nearby.?®

Captain Hudgins was to have departed immediately for New York in the
Washington, but he was still off Slaughter House Point November 27 when
the order was countermanded and he was told to stay in New Orleans, and
have the cutter repaired there. He sent his lieutenants North, dismissed his
crew, and complained to the Treasury Department that he could not live
ashore in New Orleans while the cutter was on the ways, for the $20 a month
the government allowed.?3 Apparently, a more satisfactory arrangement was
made, for he stayed in New Orleans and the Washington was laid up for repairs.
Hudgins told the Secretary of the Treasury she would be ready for sea in April



Tompkins, Lieut. David D. 2:4; 6:10; 8:9-10
Toucey, Isaac U.S.R.C. 2:1, 13; 9:2-7; 13:1
Townsend, General 15:5

Treadway, Lieut. Timothy 10:2
Travis, Lieut. R.T. 2:4, 6
Underwood, Lieut. J.A. 14:5; 16:2
Uniforms 6:10

Usher, Lieut. J.D. 2:12; 14:

Vanderbilt, U.S.S. 10:4

Varina, U.S.R.C, 6:2-9; 13:1

Victoria, B.C. 2:13

Viele, Brig. General Egbert L. 10:2, 3
Vitula 11:7

Vixen U.S.R.C. 6:3, 6

Walden, Capt. George 13:5

Walden, Capt. Green 2:3; 13:5
Walsh, Lieut. H.H. 6:10

War with Mexico 4:3

Warner, Lieut, Samuel B. 15:1-2, 5
Washburne, E.B. 11:2

Washington, President George 1:4
Washington Navy Yard 2:2

Washington U.S.R.C. 2:9, 10; 3:5-6
Watts, Pilot 10:3

Wayanda U.S.R.C. 14:4-6

Wawayanda (sce Wayanda)

Webb Shipyard 2:4

Webster, Capt. John G. Jr. 2:7; 3:3-4; 4:5; 6:2; 12:7-8; 14:3; 16:2
Weehawken 8:3

Welles, Secretary of the Navy Gideon 5:1
Westervelt, J.A. and D.D. Shipyard 14:1, 6
Whitcomb, Capt. John 9:6

White, Capt. John J. 14:4

Whitehead, Capt. W.L. 4:6

Willoughby Spit 10:4-5

Wilson, Benjamin and J.M. 8:6

Wilson, Lieut. John Edward 11:9

Wilson, Lieut. J. Wall 3:5; 11:9

Winslow U.S.R.G. 16:5, 6

Woodbury, Levi U.S.R.C. (see Mahoning)
Zoave 8:6



When war was declared, there were three cutters on the West Coast. The
Lawrence had gone down in the Pacific when, under the command of Captain
Ottinger, she struck the beach off San Francisco in 1851.! Little Argus had
been sold in 1853? and the Polk was auctioned off a year later. She brought
$3,350.3 Remaining were Marcy, Davis, and Joe Lane, all sailing schooners
somewhat the worse for wear.*

In 1858, command of the Marcy went to Captain William Cooke Pease,
one of the first Revenue Cutter men stationed on the West Coast. Pease, a
Yankee from Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, had navigated
the Polk around the Horn in 1850, and the Davis in 1853-1854, commanded
the Argus at Benicia in 1850-1853, and the Davis in Puget Sound in 1854-1856.
He had been the youngest Captain in the service in 1850 at the age of thirty-
one. Six years later he superintended the building of the six Great Lakes cut-
ters at Milan, Ohio. He returned to the Pacific to command Marcy in 1858.°

In April 1861, Pease was ordered by Secretary Chase to fit the Marcy at
San Francisco for sea “for the purpose of overhauling vessels supposed to be
contraband of war, or owned by members of the Confederate states.” Rebel
vessels and foreign vessels allied with the Confederate cause were already

prowling the Pacific sea lanes looking for California vessels loaded with gold.

The Marcy was sent up the Bay to Martinez for extensive repairs and new
armament. To make sure that she would be easily identified as a defender
of the Union, Captain Pease had her eagle figurehead re-gilded and official
Revenue Marine insignia painted on gangways and the stern. She was in
the shipyard from April until September.®

In the meantime, the San Francisco Collector Ira Rankin chartered, at
Pease’s suggestion, the iron steamer Santa Cruz for use as a revenue cutter.
As a tribute to Brigadier General Sumner, she was re-named General Sumner.
She was chartered for $1400 a month, an expense questioned by Secretary
Chase. In order to convince him of her worth, Pease sent a letter July 19
to Congressman E. B. Washburne in Washington saying:

“Should you happen at the Treasury Department at anytime within
a few days after the receipt of this, may I ask you to impress upon the
mind of the Secretary of the Treasury the absolute necessity of approv-
ing the course adopted by the Collector here in chartering this vessel
(steamer Santa Cruz, now Genl Sumner) for six months at $1400 per
month. She is just the vessel we require, and the expense is a mere trifle
for a steam cutter to guard the harbor of San Francisco and coast of
California.

No dependence can be placed in a sailing vessel here, as none can ever
get out of the harbor against a head wind, except with a very strong fair
wind, which seldom happens, if ever, at this season of the year.

It behooves us all, even here, to be vigilant and in doing so, we ought
to have the means to crush out any attempt on the part of those who
would subvert our constitution, with success.

Hoping you may find occasion to further the object the Collector had
in view, at an early date.””



of the Treasury Fessenden October 18 enclosed the following report from
Cleveland’s Customs Collector C. Metz Jr.:

The Winslow last night [October 14] about 9 o'clock when coming into
the Pier under charge of the pilot struck the Bar. All on board saved except
5 of the crew. Vessel an entire loss. Persons escaped saved nothing but
the clothes they had on.'6

Ottinger asked for a full month's pay for the crew and for the families of the
five seamen who were lost.!7

Hector was still waiting for armament when Winslow went down. Soon after
she cruised to Sacketts Harbor, under command of Captain Stephen Cornell.
Collector A. Van Dyck advised purchasing Hector but she was merely chartered
for an extra month. She went out of commission December 5.!8

The Cutters in 1865

When Lee surrendered in April 1865 there were 35 cutters in the Revenue-
Cutter Service, eight of them under construction. Steamers outnumbered sail-
ing vessels two to one. They were:

Ashuelot, steam, at Eastport, Maine

Jeremiah S. Black, sail, at Eastport, Maine

Mahoning (Levy Woodbury), steam, at Portland, Maine
Isaac Toucey, sail, at Castine, Maine

Pawtuxet, steam, at Boston, Massachusetts

Morris, sail, at Boston, Massachusetts

James C. Dobbin, sail, at Edgartown, Massachusetts

Jacob Thompson, sail, at Newport, Rhode Island

Miami, steam, at Newport, Rhode Island

James Campbell, sail, at New London, Connecticut
Kewanee, steam, at New York, New York

Kankakee, steam, at Savannah, Georgia

Wayanda, steam, at New York, New York

Cuyahoga, steam, at New York, New York (under repair)
E, A. Stevens (Naugatuk), steam, at Throggs Neck, New York
Varina, sail, at Perth Amboy, New Jersey

William H. Seward, steam, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Andrew Jackson, sail, at Baltimore, Maryland

Northerner, steam, at Washington, District of Columbia
Reliance, steam, in lower Chesapeake Bay

Tiger, steam, in lower Chesapeake Bay
Philip Allen, sail, at Norfolk, Virginia

Waller B. Forward, sail, at Beaufort, North Carolina
Antietam, sail, at New Bern, North Carolina

Nemaha, steam, at Port Royal, South’ Carolina

Joseph Lane (Campbell), sail, at San Francisco, California
Shubrick, steam, en route to Alaska, under Navy orders



CHAPTER X

President Lincoln on Board
Cutter Miami

President Lincoln spent one of the most eventful weeks of the Civil War on
board the Revenue Cutter Miami in Chesapeake Bay in May 1862. Was he
thinking of this voyage a year later when he wrote James C. Conkling about
what to include in a war-time speech to be given at a mass meeting of Union
men in Illinois? He told Conkling:

Nor must Uncle Sam’s web-feet be forgotten. At all the watery margins
they have been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay and
the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever
the ground was a little damp, they have been and made their tracks.!

With Captain Ottinger in command, Miami was the flagship of the nation
from May 5 to 10, 1862. On board were the President, Secretary of the
‘Treasury Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and Brigadier
General Egbert L. Viele. Discouraged by the slow progress of the Army and
Navy to take Norfolk and advance on Richmond, Lincoln planned his own
campaign in the field. The first indication of this came on May 4, when Stan-
ton telegraphed Major General John E. Wool, commanding at Fortress
Monroe, saying:

The President desires to know whether your force is in condition for a

sudden movement if one should be ordered under your command. Please
have it in readiness.?

The Miami had been purchased for $25,000 earlier that year in New York
from Arthur Leary, a merchant. She was a 115-foot 213-ton screw steamer
with two oscillating engines. She had been built on the River Clyde, Scotland,



CHAPTER II

Revenue Cutters of 1860

On December 17, 1860, the revenue cutters in the United States Revenue
Marine Service were:

Andrew Jackson at Eastport, Maine

Caleb Cushing at Portland, Maine

Morris at Boston, Massachusetts

James Campbell at New London, Connecticut
Harriet Lane at New York, New York

Walter B. Forward at Wilmington, Delaware
Philip Allen at Baltimore, Maryland

William J. Duane at Norfolk, Virginia
William Aiken at Charleston, South Carolina
James C. Dobbin at Savannah, Georgia

“John Appleton at Key West, Florida

Lewis Cass at Mobile, Alabama

Robert McClelland at New Orleans, Louisiana
Washington at New Orleans, Louisiana
Henry Dodge at Galveston, Texas

William L. Marcy at San Francisco, California
Joseph Lane at Astoria, Oregon Territory
Jefferson Davis at Port Townsend, Washington Territory
Howell Cobb at Oswego, New York

Jeremiah S. Black at Erie, Pennsylvania

Jacob Thompson at Detroit, Michigan

Aaron V. Brown at Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Isaac Toucey at Michilimackinac, Michigan
John B. Floyd at Marquette, Michigan!

Perhaps nowhere on the continent were the issues of the times more hotly
contested than on board the cutters, Almost as many officers were from the
South as from the North. All had taken the double pledge of allegiance, first
to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, second to obey



CHAPTER XI

Cutters on the West Coast

It was thirteen years since the first nugget of gold was found in a mill race
near Sacramento; eleven since California achieved statehood; twelve since
the Revenue Cutter Lawrence, Captain Alexander V. Fraser, had berthed at
San Francisco after rounding Cape Horn and sailing almost to Hawaii before
entering the Golden Gate. The frenzy of the first gold seekers had subsided.
There were still fortunes being made in gold but settlers were finding other
charms in the long rugged coast on the Pacific—the climate, the bountiful
soil, the Spanish heritage, lumber, fish and whales, and trade with China.

In many parts of California and the territories of Oregon and Washington,
might still made right, but in the harbors of San Francisco, Astoria, and Port
Townsend, United States Revenue Cutters had brought some order out of
maritime chaos. Other cutters had followed the Lawrence — the iron bark Polk,
and the little wooden schooner Argus in 1850, the two big wooden schooners
William L.. Marcy and Jefferson Davis in 1854 and the Joseph Lane in 1855. There
to protect the American economy, they also encouraged legitimate trade and,
by example, established principles of seamanship, navigation, and
humanitarianism learned on the East Coast.

The Civil War was 3,000 miles away by land, 11,000 by sea. The West
Coast had little incentive to fight the battles of the East. Slavery was not an
issue in California; there were no cotton plantations needing cheap labor;
no cotton mills making big profits. The West Coast might well have dropped
out of the Union and gone it alone. Instead it sent troop ship after troop ship
down the coast to the Isthmus of Panama where soldiers took the new railroad
across the narrow neck of land to Aspinwall and boarded ships that headed
north to the battlefields. And it sent much needed revenue from its gold ports
to finance the costly conflict.



Shubrick Replaces Marcy

After commanding the steamer General Sumner for several months, Captain
Pease did not willingly return to the sailing cutter Marcy in September although
she had been extensively repaired, and at great expense. It was good news
to hear in August 1861 that the lighthouse tender, Shubrick, a sidewhecler,
was to be transferred from the Lighthouse Service to the Revenue Marine
Service with himself as commander. On November 13, as noted in the
Shubrick’s journal:

“Captain Pease with the officers and crew of the Marcy assumed com-
mand of the steamer Shubrick. Served 28 rations.”!#

The Shubrick had been built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard as a lighthouse
tender in 1857, She was made of live and white oak, with copper and iron
fastenings. She was 140 feet eight inches long, 24 feet four inches wide, and
eight feet She measured 339 tons. She had two masts and could carry
a jib, a square sail, a fore Spencer, a topsail, a mainsail and a storm trysail
On deck she carried a 28 foot long gig, modeled after a whale boat, with two
masts, two lug sails, and oars. She also carried two small cutters, 27 feet long,
and a 17 foot dinghy. They had single masts and sails

Her armament included two 12-pounder guns, two 12-pounder brass
Dahlgren guns, one 24-pounder brass Dahlgren gun, one 30-pounder Rifled
Parrott gun, 30 rifles, 51 Colt Navy pistols and holsters, 45 new cutlasses,
30 old cutlasses, and 24 boarding pikes. She could carry 200 barrels of provi-
sions, 1,200 gallons of water, 75 tons of coal, and four cords of wood.'5

It was to be January 1862, before she was ready for service. Marcy was
then sent to Puget Sound with Captain Chaddock in command where she
came under the jurisdiction of the new and eccentric Customs Collector Vic-
tor Smith. Lieutenant Merryman in a report to Secretary Chase in May 1862,
indicates that she was later sold in Puget Sound by Collector Smith under
questionable circumstances. Other records indicate she was transferred to the
Coast Survey

On March 5, 1862, Chase had telegraphed Collector Rankin at San Fran-
cisco saying:

Turn over the cutter Marcy to Commander Sands of the Navy for Coast
Survey purposes as per letter by mail!®

The Shubrick in San Francisco

On January 13, the Shubrick’s fires were started and she commenced to get
up steam. Her first mission was to seek two vessels in distress said to have
gone ashore off San Francisco in Half Moon Bay. She found only one of them,
the Dutch schooner, Alpha, Captain Gooper, wrecked on the shore near
Spanish Town, her 9,000 pounds of sugar scattered on the sand. Captain
Pease rescued the crew and one lady passenger.'”



Stevens offered her to the government in 1861 at no expense. When she
was nearing completion late that year, Captain Faunce was detailed to work
with Stevens in outfitting and arming her. A gun from the West Point Foun-
dry, superintended by Captain R. R. Parrott, was ordered for her by the
Secretary of War but the Navy refused to supply two 12-pounders. These
were subsequently purchased by Collector Barney. Also requisitioned were
12 muskets, 12 pistols, and 12 cutlasses. In addition to Revenue Cutter of-
ficers, her crew would consist of a coast pilot, a boatswain, a gunner, two
quartermasters, ten seamen, two boys, a ship’s cook, a steward, two engineers,
and two firemen.!°

Secretary Chase was eager to get her to Norfolk as soon as she was finished.
On March 12, 1862, he wrote Barney saying:

“L hope the vessel will be able to leave New York Saturday. Hasten her
to Norfolk.”!!

One of Stevens’ men, W. W. Shippen, was made temporary captain and
assigned to take her to Baltimore. On board also were Chief Engineer I. R
Dryburgh and Assistant Engineers F. H. Pulsifer and Walter Scott, all
Revenue Marine Service men. The Baltimore Collector was ordered by Chase
to pay the expenses of crew and officers and supply rations while she was
in Chesapeake Bay. She arrived in Baltimore late in March. On April 1,
Assistant Secretary Harrington wired the Baltimore Collector, saying:

“Is she ready to sail? Can the Secretary see her if he comes over this after-
noon? Is the gun on board.”!?

On April 24, Captain Shippen went back to New York and Lieutenant
D. C. Constable took command. He was ordered to report to Flag Officer
Goldsborough in command of the Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Hamp-
ton Roads. Shippen was thanked by Chase for his “prompt and important
services.”

Constable, no doubt chosen by Captain Faunce, had been in the service
since 1852, and had been Faunce’s Second Lieutenant on the Harriet Lane
He reported to Goldsborough April 29 and was almost immediately sent into
action. '$

Five weeks earlier, the Confederate ironclad Merrimack had steamed down
the Elizabeth River and out to Hampton Bay to attack the Union fleet. The
frigates Cumberland and Congress were destroyed and others damaged. The
whole Bay area was in shock lest the new monster continue on to shell
Washington

The next day, the Union’s ironclad Monitor appeared. After a battle that
lasted all morning, both vessels retreated. There had been no further
engagements by the time the Stevens appeared in Hampton Roads late in April

Goldsborough ordered the Stevens to anchor next to the Monitor. On several
occasions, the Stevens was sent to the mouth of the Elizabeth River to entice
the Merrimack to come out and do battle. On one occasion when she appeared

to be coming out to meet the challenge, Constable fired three shots at her.
All three fell short, but the Merrimack turned and went back up the river.'*

13-4



July 8 when he wrote Secretary Chase proclaiming that he was loyal. During
the summer of 1861, he became acquainted with leading Army and Navy
men. He won the approval of Captain Silas H. Stringham, commander of
the Adantic Blockading Squardron, when he boarded and chased away a
suspected British vessel trying to enter a creek on Cape Charles. Stringham
wrote Chase about this, and also said:

“I have the honor to report some suggestions made to me by Gapt. John
Faunce of the “Harriet Lane” which I cheerfully endorse.”"!

Faunce had suggested that a revenue cutter be anchored at the Hog Island
inlet and another in Chincoteague Inlet. He had told Stringham that there
were several spare cutters at New York that might be used. No cutters,
however, were ever stationed in the inlets.

Faunce had other plans for the Revenue Marine which he wrote in some
detail to Secretary Chase asking that they be proposed to Congress to make
the system more proficient.

On August 10, he was ordered by Stringham to leave Newport News and
rendezvous with the United States frigate Si. Lawrence which had just sunk
the Confederate privateer Petrel off the coast of Georgia. He was to carry mail
to the ships in the Blockading Squadron off Charleston and Savannah and
bring back two witnesses to the sea battle

Petrel, on her first raiding cruise out of Charleston, had mistakenly fired
on St. Lawrence thinking she was a merchant ship. Return fire sank her in
30 minutes. Of the 38 rebels on board, 36 were rescued. The other two were
drowned. The “pirates”, as they were called, were all tried for piracy but lat-
ter acquitted

Faunce returned to Chesapeake Bay August 20 bringing with him the two
witnesses, a midshipman and a seaman from the St. Lawrence.!2

On to Hatteras

Back in Hampton Roads, Faunce found a large fleet being assembled, under
command of Flag Officer Stringham and Army General Benjamin Butler,
to sail south. He also found that the Harriet Lane was to be part of the fleet
which consisted of four Navy vessels, the chartered Navy steam transports
Adelaide and George Peabody with 1,000 troops, the Navy tug Fanny, and over
200 surfboats. Many of the surfboats had been loaned by the Revenue Marine,
having been gathered up at life-saving stations along the coast of Long Island
‘The transports towed schooners carrying surfboats; the Monticello and Pawnee,
two of the warships, towed the surfboats themselves. The expedition left the
Chesapeake, destination Hatteras Inlet, on August 25. Early in the morning

of August 27, the red and white striped lighthouse at Cape Hatteras was in

view, and at five P.M., the fleet anchored near shore and lowered the lifeboats
in preparation for landing the troops the next morning

There was a rough surf the next day but by noon, the surfboats had landed
many of the men about two miles east of Fort Clark with Harriet Lane, Pawnee,



CHAPTER VIII

New Problems for the Revenue
Marine

In its new role as Jack and Jill of all trades, the Revenue Marine ran into
some unusual problems. Take the case of the Tiger, the Baltimore steam tug
bought from the Patapsco Steam Tug Company in August 1861 for $9,000."
Put in commission and commanded by Captain McGowan, she hunted rebel
vessels in Chesapeake Bay for a month and was then turned over to Captain
Hyde to cruise along the Eastern Shore of Maryland with the two other deep
draft steam tugs, Reliance and Hercules.

On November 13, the Navy steamer Pocohontas, with 1,000 troops on board,
went aground in Tangier Sound. It took all three tugs to get her afloat. Tiger
supplied her with water for the troops and towed her back to her squadron
late that night. A week later she was assigned to escort Pocohontas, with cavalry
on board, from Annapolis to Fortress Monroe. Returning to Baltimore she
seized a rebel at Smiths Island and took him and his belongings to the city
Then she was ordered by the Baltimore Customs Collector to proceed to New
York via the canals.?

The very next day, November 30, at 6:30 A.M. she “got underway and
stood out of the Harbor to proceed to New [York] via the canals.” There were
two canals to negotiate—the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal between
Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River, and the Raritan Canal between
Bordentown and New Brunswick, New Jersey

Tiger ‘‘Takes the Bottom”

Even before she entered the Elk River leading to the Delaware and
Chesapeake Canal, Tiger “took the bottom.” That was at 11:30 A.M. Cap-

8-1



‘The Forward had played a major part in assisting the Navy in the War with
Mexico in 1846. She was transferred briefly to the Coast Survey in 1847 and,
in 1854, was sent to search for the missing steamer San Francisco.?2

In 1860, under the command of Captain Henry G. Nones she patrolled
Delaware River and Bay from Philadelphia to the Delaware Breakwater. In
December she went aground in a gale in Christmas Greek, Newcastle,
Delaware.

The Philip Allen at Baltimore

The Philip Allen, a schooner, was built by Page and Allen at Portsmouth,
Virginia, in 1855,?* and was named for Senator Allen, a leader in the
Democratic party, Governor of Rhode Island, cotton manufacturer and
builder of the first steam engine in Rhode Island. He was known as a “Tariff
Democrat.”

Allen, stationed at Baltimore, patrolled the upper Chesapeake Bay and its
many tributaries. She normally carried three officers and a crew of ten. In
December 1860 her officers were Captain Thomas Sands, an officer since
1833, and Lieutenants R. A. Morsell and Charles R. Berret.

Much of the international and coastwise traffic that came into Baltimore
had already been boarded and inspected at Norfolk. Allen’s chief duties in-
volved inspecting outward bound vessels and the almost limitless number of
log canoes, bugeyes, and pungies that criss-crossed the Bay carrying fish,
oysters, produce and lumber. On December 11, 1860, she boarded 18 of them
at Drum Point on the Paxtuxent River. The same day she inspected an aban-
donned American schooner at Point Lookout. Her crew was treated to a rare
sight August 5 at Annapolis. As recorded in her Journal

At 5 PM the steamship “Great Eastern” anchored in Annapolis Roads. His
Excellency, the President of the United States [Buchanan] passed out of
the harbor on U.S. Steam Vessel Anacostia to visit the steam ship Great
Eastern. *®

Philip Allen fired a 21-gun for the President as he passed by

The William J. Duane at Norfolk

Built in the Philadelphia shipyard of Jacob Tees in 1848-1849, under the
supervision of Revenue Cutter Lieutenant John McGowan, the William J,
Duane was named for the man who had been Secretary of the Treasury under
President Jackson. She was one of four topsail schooners measuring between
150 and 155 tons built that year. She carried a crew of fifteen.

Much of her early life was spent in New Orleans but in 1855 she was ordered
to Norfolk where she boarded and inspected hundreds of vessels at the en-
trance to Chesapeake Bay. They carried cargo that ranged from yokes of oxen

brought down from Maine, to oranges, lemons and brimstone from Sicily.

Some were found to have contraband “seegars” from Havana on board. She



Bristol, R.L. 2:2

Bronx, U.S.R.C. (Addison F, Andrews) 14:8

Brother Johnathan 11:9

Brown, Arron V. U.S.R.C. 2:1, 13; 9:2-7

Brown, Governor Joseph E. 3:4

Browne, Special Agent A.G. 15:2

Brown's Shipyard 2:3

Buchanan, President John 2:4, 5; 4:1

Butler, General Benjamin 6:8

Caldwell, Lieut. Samuel B. 2:9; 3:5-7

Campbell, James 2:3; 6:2-4

Canonicus 15:4

Cary, Lieut. A.G. 10:2, 5

Cass, Lewis 2:8; 3:4-5

Chaddock, Capt. John S. 2:12; 11:3, 6, 9

Chappelle, Howard I. 2:9

Chase, Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. 3:9; 4:4-6; 5:1; 6:1-4, 6-10; 7:3; 8:2, 5, 8; 9:1-4, 7;

10:1-6; 11:2, 3, 6-9; 12:3-6; 13:4, 5; 14:4, 6, 7; 16:2

Chase, Salmon P, U.S.R.C. 16:7

Chesapeake 12:2-6, 8

Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (see Delaware and Chesapeake Canal)

Chrisopoles 11:7

Clarence 12:1-2

Clarke, Capt. George 2:3;

Clason, Collector G.W. 6:6

“Coast Guard” 1:2

Goast Survey 2:10; 11:6

Cobb, Howell U.S.R.C. 2:13; 9:2-7

Cobb, Secretary of Treasury Howell 1:4-5; 3:7; 4:4; 16:2;

Coffin, Gapt. Rufus 6:10; 8:3

Golesbury, Capt. S.C. 9:2

Conkling, James C. 10:1

Constable, Lieut. D.C, 9:2-4

Constitucion, Mexican Navy 2:11

Continental Hotel 7:7

Cora 5:2

Cornell, Gapt. Stephen 2:12

Fessenden, William PF. U.S.R.G. 16:7

Fessenden, Secretary of the Treasury William F. 16:3, 4
ister, Lieut. Thomas D. 2:9; 3:6

Flora, U.S.R.G. (Nemaha) 13:3; 15:1-6

Florida 12:1

Floyd, John B. U.S.R.C. 2:13; 9:2

Flying Dragon 11:7

Folley Island, S.C. 15:2

Forest City 12



Chase, Pease, and the Collector need not have worried about the expense
of chartering the steam cutter. Her patriotic owner refused payment and
donated her services to the Union cause.

Joseph Lane Goes to Mexico

The topsail schooner Joseph Lane, originally called the Campbell, had been
stationed at Astoria, Oregon, for six years when war broke out, Called “Queen
of the fleet” for her graceful lines, she was ordered to return to the East Coast
in April 1861. She left Astoria in June and sailed to San Francisco where
her captain, John S. S. Chaddock, learned that the order had been rescinded.
She received armament and in July was ordered to San Diego. Before she
left, her men set up a target on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay and spent
several days firing at it from the cutter 600 yards off shore. In addition to
her regular crew of between 20 and 25, she now had ten “marines” on board.®

Orders were changed again. Chaddock was directed by Collector Rankin
to by-pass San Diego and go to the Gulf of California with stops at La Paz
and Guaymus in Mexican Territory where there were rumors of trouble with
Mexican insurgents

The cutter left San Francisco September 13, reaching La Paz September
28 and Guaymus October 5. Here she was cordially received by the Captain
of the port. However, her men were not so cordially received the next morn-
ing when they went ashore in the market boat. They found a fierce battle
raging between insurgents and government troops. They made a hasty retreat
back to the cutter.

Soon after Captain Chaddock saw the flag at half mast on the American
consulate. Two officers were immediately dispatched. They returned with
Consul Alden who said government troops had ransacked the consulate and
tried to put him in prison. They had stolen ten stand of rifles and had seriously
wounded Walter Paul, an American. Joe Lane’s surgeon was sent ashore with
bandages. The injured man was brought on board

Captain Chaddock then moved the cutter closer ashore and anchored her
so she swung broadside to the town, where her guns would do the most good
if needed. The guns were shotted and aimed but remained silent. All was
quiet that night. The next morning First Lieutenant James G. Merryman,
sent ashore to investigate, found order restored.

Leaving Guaymus soon after, the cutter returned to La Paz where she spent
the next two weeks on a diplomatic mission. While her crew painted and
repaired the Joe Lane, the officers visited Governor Rivera of Mexico and in-
vited him and his friends to come aboard the cutter. The Governor and several
“ladies and gentlemen” were entertained Sunday, October 20, while the crew
was given liberty. Salutes were fired and friendly relations established. The
occasion was such a success that more residents of La Paz came aboard the
following day and more salutes were fired. When the Joe Lane left October
24, she was towed out into the Gulf by a Mexican steamer. She reached San
Francisco November 14 and discharged the ten “marines.



damaged in a gale but was repaired in Vera Cruz by Navy carpenters from
the warships Saratoga and Brooklyn, also there on international business. The
Dodge carried dispatches from the American minister to Hacienda de Monte
Pahio. Upon returning to Vera Cruz, she was delegated to transport a
secretary, with dispatches for the Secretary of State, to Galveston.

She made a second trip to Vera Cruz in May and later to Tampico where
she anchored close to the Mexican warship Constitucion and the American
steamer Ware. Captain Harby went ashore to visit the American counsel and
was presented to Mexican Governor Garcia. He invited them and others to
come aboard the Dodge. For two days, there were festivities on the cutter with
many gun salutes. The weather was “misty and rainy.” Towed out to sea by
the Mexican Constitucion, the Dodge carried American diplomats and a large
sum of money back to Galveston.*#

Later an action was brought against Harby by his Second Lieutenant
William A. Tennison who accused him of giving rifles to the Mexicans; sell-
ing the cutter’s sails, two boats and a gig; removing armament; and being
abusive to his officers and crew. By then Harby had left the cutter and was
ashore suffering from “fever and rheumatism.”

When the Dodge returned from Mexico, the men went ashore and the cut-
ter was “smoked.” When the hatches were opened the next morning, 65 dead
rats were removed. The Journal reported no other unusual events until
November when two men fell overboard in a gale. Since they could not swim,
a boat was lowered to save them.*®

With Captain Harby ashore, Lieutenant Rogers took command of the cut-
ter. In Washington there were plans to commission him a captain for his long
and faithful service, but although the certificate was made out and signed,
it never reached him.

The Charleston South Carolina newspaper “Mercury” reported that on Sun-
day, December 29, not a “single vessel in Galveston flew the United States
flag.”*6 All that Lieutenant William G. Roche noted that day in the Journal

was:

“Commences strong winds from N.E. let go the Starbd anchor and veered
away on both chains all hands present served ten rations.”47

The Dodge usually carried a crew of fourteen.

The William L. Marcy at San Francisco

In 1860 there were only three Revenue Cutters on the Pacific coast — William
L. Marcy at San Francisco, Joseph Lane at Astoria, Oregon Territory, and Jef-
ferson Davis at Port Townsend, Washington Territory. Marcy and Davis were
sister ships, both having been built at J. M. Hood's Bristol, Rhode Island,
yard in 1853, and sailed around Cape Horn later that year.*8 They were almost
identical. They were topsail schooners 94 fect long, 23 feet wide, with a depth
of 9 feet and a tonnage of 179 and a fraction. Both had round sterns, round
tucks, carved eagle figureheads, and ornamental shields on their sterns. Each
cost approximately $9,000.49



The steam cutters were not a success, and those connected with their con-
struction fell out of political favor. Congress ordered the number of officers
greatly reduced. Howard was dismissed, but in the meantime, he had
superintended the transformation of the steam cutter Po/k into a sailing bark.?

From 1849 to 1861, he remained in the shipping business in New York
Called back to public duty by Secretary Chase when war began, he was re-
commissioned Captain and ranked Number 3 on the Revenue Marine
Register. The two highest ranking officers were Captains John A. Webster,
Sr. and Henry D. Hunter.

On April 29, Howard was told by Chase that he had ordered Jackson and
Campbell to New York, Cushing to Boston, and Forward and Dobbin to
Philadelphia, withdrawing all five from revenue duties. They were to be armed
by Howard for “any service that the exigencies of the Treasury Department
might demand of them,” including participation in the Atlantic Blockade then
being organized. To replace them in their regular revenue work, he directed
Howard to examine the Coast Survey vessels and select those that were ac-
ceptable. Howard was now classified in the Treasury Department as being
on “special duty” and was given permission to purchase arms from the Navy
for the cutters. He called himself a “senior captain.”’

The same day, Howard wrote “Friend Harrington” (Assistant Secretary

asury Harrington) asking for a list of officers on leave, and of of-
ficers of vessels in the Coast Survey. On May 31, the steam cutters Bibb and
Corwin and the sailing cutters Arago, Varina, Vixen, and Crawford were trans-
ferred from the Coast Survey to the Revenue Marine. The Bibb was station-
ed at Kill Von Kull, Staten Island, the Varina at New Bedford, the Crawford
at New York, the Corwin at Baltimore, and the Arago at New York. The Arago
was used as a troop ship, shuttling government personnel between New York
and Hilton Head, and the others as guard ships and also for transporting
troops and other duties that did not take them out to sea.*

Howard then made a list of all the cutters and officers, the condition of
the cutters, and the loyalty of the officers. Some suspicion attached to young
Captain Webster in connection with the Dobbin’s capture at Savannah. Cap-
tain Faunce was asked to investigate. Lieutenant Tennison of the seized cut-
ter Dodge at Mobile had appeared in New York looking for a future assign-
ment but had “disgraced the service by drunkeness— rolling around the streets
Howard asked that he be dismissed.>

In a letter to Secretary Chase, May 2, he asked for ten copies each of the

‘Telegraphic Dictionary, the Signal Book, and Lockwoods Manual for Mid-

shipmen. He was then completing work on transforming Varina and Crawford
into armed Revenue Cutters, calling them “two fine schooners.” They re-
mained in the Service throughout the war. The others, Bibb, Arago, Corwin,
and Vixen were back in the Coast Survey before the end of 1861, having served
their purpose for what Howard called “temporary deficiencies” in the Service.

After visiting Philadelphia in May, he wrote Secretary Chase that the Philip
Allen was “totally unworthy of repairs” but could be used as a guard ship in
New York Harbor. He would transfer her officers to either Crawford or Varina



Spit in Lynhaven Bay. To reach this shore Merrimack would have had to run
the gauntlet of Fort Wool and Fortress Monroe

At 10 A.M. Miami “sent both boats on shore at Lynhaven Bay rebel shore
to reconnoiter below Willoughby Spit.” (This beach is now called “Ocean
View.”)

Here her men found “three and a half faths of water [21 feet] right into
the shore.” When the boats returned, the Miami herself ran in close to shore
(about 500 yards) whereupon a number of people appeared on the shore wav-
ing a flag of truce. As the Journal reports

Our officers Lieut A. G. Cary in charge of cutter Lieut W. E. Hollaway
in charge of Gig with armed boats crew landed to meet them.!®

The tug on which Lincoln was a passenger was nearby, having approached
within 100 yards of the shore. Wool ordered a flag of truce hoisted on Miami
so a bedshect was hastily snatched from a bunk and run up on the flag line.
Chase may have thought that Norfolk was surrendering for when the boats
returned without any passengers, he went ashore himself to talk to the peo-
ple on the beach. They included one white woman and a number of black
persons. They did not want to be taken to Fortress Monroe but were afraid
the Miami and the tug were going to attack them

The two vessels then returned to Fortress Monroe. Miami anchored off the
upper landing until 5 P.M. when the tug carrying Lincoln, Chase and others
appeared. Ottinger was then ordered to up anchor and follow the tug “to the
rebel coast.” This time they reconnoitered a beach which Lincoln favored since
it was closer to Norfolk. As the Journal reports:

On arriving lowered boat with officers and armed men to procede on
shore to reconnoiter. On the approach they discovered some men on
Horseback — supposed to be Cavalry and returned to the vessel hove up
Anchor & proceeded to Fortress Monroe where the Secretary and General
Wool and party left.!9

Ac7 P.M. Ottinger received orders to return to Lynhaven Bay and cover

with his guns “the landing of our troops on their arrival.” Of the two sites

reconnoitered it had been decided to use that prefered by General Wool at
Ocean View. Miami arrived there at 8 P.M. and lowered boats to take sound-
ings. She went as close to shore as possible and dropped her anchor at 9:50
P.M. Then all hands went to quarters. At 1:10 A.M. four troop transports
arrived. As the Journal reports:

Transports landing troops as fast as possible with the assistance of our
boats and kedge anchor.2

Captain Ottinger went on shore between 4 and 5 A.M. to assist in the land-
ing. At 8 A.M. Secretary Chase and General Wool arrived from Fortress
Monroe and went on the beach, after stopping on the Miami. Ottinger shifted
his lines to let the Miami swing in the ebb tide, and it was found that her
anchor was unshackled. This was easily mended about 8:30 A.M. Most of



The next day the James C. Dobbin arrived and anchored close to the Duane.

After her narrow escape from being seized by Secessionists at Savannah, she
put in for repairs. She did not stay long, no doubt fearing another seizure
On March 1, Captain Evans was relieved of the command of the Duane.
His place was taken by Captain Hudgins, a Southerner but not then a Seces-
who was ordered to dismiss the crew, place the lieutenants on tem-
porary leave, and superintend extensive repairs on the cutter.3* Hudgins was
so short-handed he took the responsibility of employing a man and two boys
to guard the vessel. The cutter was threatened by angry mobs along the water-
front while under repair in March and April
Lieutenant James G. Milligan, one of the men on leave, asked to be re-
tained as a Lieutenant, and when his request was denied, wrote the follow-
ing letter to the new Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, April 15:

As I believe the principles coercion to be submersive to the institution
of the United States spirit as it would be incompatible with my moral
convictions of thought to sustain a Rights as enunciated and set forth
by the immortal Jefferson and Madison in the Virginia and Kentucky
Resolutions of 98,99, I hereby most respectfully resign my position as a First
Lieutenant in the United States Revenue Service. In doing so | have within me
a peace above all [unintelligible] dignities a still and quiet conscience,
consoled with the assurance that I have ever and at al] times done my
Duty to the best of my ability and never under any circumstances have
I betrayed any Federal trust reposed in me by the Constitution (obliga-
tions required of me upon sworn in to office.)”35

‘Two days later Virginia seceded from the Union, Duane’s guns were then seized
by an angry mob. As Captain Hudgins wrote to Secretary Chase April 18:

T have to report to the Dept. that about 3 o'clock yesterday a large party
of men and boys headed by R. B. Ball, Alex Santos, Edward L. Young
and McCoant, citizens of Norfolk, came to the old Customs House, and
took possession of the three guns, one 18 and two 32 pr., shot, ballast
and water tanks belonging to the Revenue Cutter “Duane” and removed
them to the City Hall. I asked one of the parties, R. B. Ball, by what
authority he and his party were seizing and removing the public prop-
erty. He replied that they were acting under the order of the Mayor of
the city. I called on that functionary this morning to ascertain the facts
in the case and he assured me that he knew nothing whatever of the trans-
action until some time after it had happened, and learning early last night
that an attempt would be made to force the doors of the old Custom House
for the purpose of removing the two 32 Pr. guns and other public prop-
erty stored there, he detailed a police force to guard the premises during
the night with instructions to see no one entered the building. He very
emphatically disavowed the act of the Mob, and assured me that he would
today write Governor Letcher informing him of the circumstances and
request him to have the public property seized by the Mob returned to
the place where it was taken from and also that a strong Military guard
be placed over it to protect it from further molestation.*°

‘The Federal shipyard was in a state of turmoil, Navy officers having delayed
too long in removing the government vessels. Only the warship Cumberland
got away. Seven vessels were burnt April 20, but the Navy warship Merrimack

3-9



They were anchored off Land's End April 18 when they heard “the melan-
choly news of the assasination of the President of the U.S.” On board the
boatswain, the coxswain and a seaman welcomed the news and made disparag-

ing remarks about Lincoln. All three were placed in double irons and on April

21, put in prison in Savannah where they remained for several months

Late in April Nemaha was used to transport the rebel prisoner, G. B. Lamar,
and his daughter from Savannah to Hilton Head. The cutter remained in
the South until the end of June £865 when she arrived at Baltimore for repairs.’
She later served at Norfolk in Mother Hawkin’s Hole, and was burned to
the water's edge under questionable circumstances in February 1868 at the
mouth of the Wicomico River, Ghesapeake Bay.*

Gunfire on Tibbots Creek

Captain Thomas M, Dungan was on an errand of mercy when he left Point
Lookout on Chesapeake Bay August 12, 1864 and headed south in the cutter
Reliance for the Great Wicomico River. He had been asked by a Mr. Appleby,
a refugee from the hotbed of rebels along the Wicomico, to bring his children
to northern territory. They were to be waiting for Reliance on Tibbots Creck,
one of the tributaries that flowed into the Wicomico.?

It was a dangerous area but Gaptain Dungan and Reliance were accustomed
to visiting dangerous territories. For more than a year Dungan had been cruis-
ing in the lower Chesapeake where goods were constantly being smuggled
to rebel forces defending Richmond. He had seized a number of log canoes
and small schooners and sloops carrying contraband and dispatches, and he
had rescued several persons, white and black, fleeing from rebel territory. °

Reliance and her sister cutter Hercules took orders from both the Baltimore
Collector and the Army at Norfolk. They were not subject to Navy orders
and, in fact, found themselves competing with the Potomac Flotilla of the
Navy in 1864

Captain Dungan complained to Secretary Chase that the Potomac Flotilla
had ordered the Reliance and Hercules to stay out of their territory. He said
they had been told by officers of the Flotilla that they would be seized “if found
in the waters of western Virginia.”!! The Baltimore Collector then sent Cap-
tain J. M. Jones in the Tiger to the Rappanhannock River. The Flotilla of-
ficers refused to discuss the matter, but when it was brought to the attention
of the Navy Secretary he said “no such order” had ever been issued. ‘This
was good news to the revenue cutter men for they received a small amount
of prize money for every rebel vessel seized and adjudicated

Reliance had scized a small sloop Union and sent her to Baltimore for ad-
judication. She had captured a log canoe with seven barrels of whiskey on
board, and had taken the three men on board as prisoners to Point Lookout
On one occasion, Dungan sent his men ashore on Mill Creek to investigate
rumors that rebel cavalry was “prowling about the neighborhood.” He also
seized several vessels loaded with coal for rebel steamers



aided many vessels in distress, and regularly visited the district's lightships,
leaving men to tend the lights while the lightship keepers had time off.
Duane was commanded in 1860 by Captain Richard Evans, one of the oldest
officers in the service, and a Southern sympathizer. Snow and hail plagued
Norfolk in December. There was much unrest along the waterfront.?7

The William Aiken at Charleston

In 1855 a former Charleston pilot schooner named Eclipse was purchased
from ship chandler Hugh Vincent by the U.S. Treasury Department for
$4,500.28 She became the Revenue Cutter William Aiken, named for the
wealthy southern planter whose great rice plantation at Jehossee Island near
Charleston was a model of agriculture. Aiken, of Irish descent, had been
Governor of South Carolina, and was widely known as a statesman and
philanthropist.

The cutter’s cruising grounds included the seacoast from North Carolina
to St. Mary’s, Florida. She carried a crew of twelve. She was armed with
six muskets and six cutlasses, and was no match for the buccaneers and slave
traders who abounded in the waters she patrolled. She was commanded by
Captain Coste, who had fought aboard the steam cutter Legare in the War
with Mexico, and had supervised the building of four cutters at Somerset,
Massachusetts in 1853.79

Although ordered to enforce the law and seize slave ships, Coste evaded
the issue. By 1860, he was in open defiance of government regulations. In
December 1859 he wrote in Azken’s Journal

Boarded and examined Schr William @ John of Charleston from St.
Thomas, Captain Paris, with 250 negroes bought by B. Boyle, Esq. to
be carried to Montgomery, Alabama.°°

The James C. Dobbin at Savannah

The James C. Dobbin was another of the six schooners launched at the J.
M. Hood shipyards in July 1853, and one of the four supervised by Captain
Coste.3! Her name, surely an odd one for a cutter, derived from James
Cochran Dobbin, Secretary of the Navy under President Franklin Pierce in
1853. Dobbin knew little about the sea or the Navy but became popular with
Navy men when he favored the building of steam vessels and increased the
size of the service. The cutter Dobbin carried a crew of fourteen.

In 1854 Dobbin was one of the cutters sent in search of the missing steamer
San Francisco. After serving in Wilmington, Delaware, she was ordered to
Savannah under the command of the highly popular Captain Robert Day,
a native of Savannah, who had fought on the steam cutter Legare in the War
with Mexico. Dobbin did little or nothing to eliminate the slave trade when
under his command.

Captain Day died July 22, 1860. Command then went to the Yankee Gap-
tain John A. Webster Jr., whose father had been a popular commander in

2-7



PRESIDENT OF THE CNLUBD STATES CF AMERICA,

fo all who shall see these presents, Greeting:

Tewow yey Hat epoung special tuusl and confiilence in the
sntegaity, diligence, and. good conduct of A arssuard
PF de appoint ham Oftaa f ¢ Gatie?? tin the seevice of
dhe Writed States, £P the protection of the evenue, and do authorize
and empower thim to execute and fulfil the dutics of that office according
0 law: Otnd to have and to hold the said office, with all the uights and.
privileges thereunto legally oppertatring, unto tim, ths said Be,
CP ivccecec> dang the pleases of the Drovers of the
United Gates foP the time being.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, Of fave caused these tellers to Ue
made fratent, and the sal of the Sreasery De-
jpractment of the United Gates to be heceunto
offized.

GIVEN under” my hand, at the Gi of Heastington,
tn the yea? of our? Loud one Ghousand tight
tandeed and Keg fiw ond of th
Sndeponidence of the United Hates of meet:
ca the enetcly 7 A

By the Beevident ae ae Aa >

"a bah, Sedey of te There

Commission of Captain John Faunce

National Archives



transfer Delaware's troops to the steamer Wyoming. After this busy day Nemaha
returned to Hilton Head with General Foster and his staff for the night

The General and his staff returned on board at 8 A.M. the next morning
to be taken back to Boyds Landing. They reached there at 10:40 A.M, to
find the steamer Cosmopolitan aground for the third time. After she was afloat,
Nemaka went down the river to find the troop ship Philadelphia and tow her
to the landing.

On the following morning, December 1, the Nemaha had direct encounter
with the enemy when she left Boyds Landing and steamed up the
Goosawhackey River to shell a rebel battery while the troops marched on to
attack the rebel forces along the railroad. As her Journal reports

Thursday, December 1, [864

Commences light breeze from the N.W. and clear At 7:30 weaighed an-
chor and Steamed up the “river” to enter “Goosawhackey river, and
“Shelled” a rebel Battary on the “Port” Side of the “river” firing “Seventy
Seven (77) Rounds” having cleared them out the “Battary” ceased fire-
ing. “Sccing two “Negro Boys” in the marsh Sent a boat, and brought
them on board. at 2 P.M. sent a boat with “Lieut Webster to Sound up
the “Fullafinny river” as far as possible. he sounded up the river to within
six hundred yards of the enemy’s “Battary, Surprised a Rebel Picket Sta-
tion Boat” then returned to the “Vessel” Got underway and Steamed down
the river arriving at Boyd Landing at 6:47 P.M. anchored in the Stream
and communicated with the Shore, “At 12 midnight calm with fog, this
day ends the same “Shiped S. March, Mr, Guinnis “Boy” Served 27 ra-
tions to the crew, and two rations to the Negro Boys & one the Pilot
272 Rations on hand the Ist day of December 1864."*

Early December 2 she took on board the 25th Ohio Regiment and with
General Foster in command, steamed up Whale Branch Creck to flush out
any rebels that might be there. ‘The morning fog was so thick that navigation
on the creck was impossible. She was ordered to return to Boyds Landing
and disembark the troops. She returned later to Hilton Head, and Gencral
Foster and his staff went ashore

They returned the next day, bringing 127 rounds of ammunition back to
Boyds Landing where they again picked up the 25th Ohio and proceeded
up Whale Branch Greek. At Pages Point they landed the troops and then
“dropped down” to the Port Royal Ferry dock. Ranging their guns on shore,

General Foster sent an armed party ashore to scout the road. At 6:20 P.M

the armed party and the troops returned on board, having captured two pieces
of artillery. The troops were taken back to Boyds Landing on Nemaha, One
piece of the artillery was towed on a scow behind the cutter.

On December 5, Nemaha left Boyds Landing at 9:15 and steamed up the
Coosawhackey River to join the gun boat Daffodil and the steamer Plato in
attacking “Dawson’s Rebel Battary.” After Nemaha fired 25 rounds of shot and
shell she was obliged to go to the assistance of Plato, disabled by a shot that
struck her cylinder. She towed Plato back to Boyds Landing. The next morn
ing she took a company of infantry with horses to the Fullafinney River, land-
ing them on Gregory's Plantation. From morning until midnight she ferried

15-3



Chesapeake which had been captured by the rebels. Meantime 38 men from
the U.S. gunboat Acadia and a detachment of soldiers were put on the Dobbin
to guard her in his absence. The Chesapeake was found in Nova Scotia by
another vessel. Webster and his men were back in Portland within a week.2?

‘The following March, Miami was ordered from New York under command
of Lieut. Alvin H. Fengar to Halifax and St. John’s to bring back the Chesapeake
and the rebels who had seized her. Stopping at Portland on the way down
east, she, like Dobbin, was greeted with gunfire from Fort Preble by mistake.
At Portland, Fengar learned that another vessel had taken the rebel prisoners
on board but that he was to convoy the Chesapeake from St. John’s to New
York. At St. John’s he armed the Chesapeake with rockets, blue lights, swords
and pistols and put one of his lieutenants in command. They both ran into
a snow squall and barely made it to Portland. Fengar left Miami at Portland
for repairs, among them some new wings for her eagle figurehead.?3

Miami, called “a poor little outcast,” was sent out again in August 1864
to chase the privateer Tallahassee which had burned 15 vessels in Atlantic.
Fengar despaired of catching her, saying:

Oh for a well armed steamer of eight hundred or a thousand tons now
under my feet. I think I could catch her. I will do the best I can with
the little Miami however if I have the opportunity.

The Wreck of the Bohemia

In 1863 and 1864 there were many mutinies and wrecks off the coast of
Maine. The most notable was the wreck of the British mail steamer Bohemia
which went ashore on the rocks near Cape Elizabeth the night of February
23, 1864, in a snowstorm. Her passengers and crew were rescued before
Webster’s men reached her the next day. They found her sunk, with the sea
making a complete break over her. She carried valuable cargo and was im-
mediately overrun with plunderers. Some of the Dobbin’s men were detailed
to stand guard and protect any property that washed ashore. They had to
fire on some of the plunderers to drive them off. Several were taken in custody.
It was June before the Collector recalled the men from the wreck, saying there
was now “no necessity” for them to look after it.®

Under command of Captain Usher after June 1864, the Dobbin continued
to cruise in search of rebel privateers. In October each man on the cutter
received $100 for war duty from the State of Maine. In January 1865 Dobbin
left Portland to be stationed at Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard,
Massachusetts. ?¢





Chapter I.
Chapter IT.
Chapter III
Chapter IV.
Chapter V.
Chapter VI.
Chapter VII

Chapter VIII.

Chapter IX.
Chapter X.

Chapter XI.
Chapter XII.

Chapter XIII.

Chapter XIV
Chapter XV.

Chapter XVI.

ENDNOTES .

SELECTIVE
BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX. .

Contents

On THE EvE oF SECESSION .

REVENUE CuTTers oF 1860

New Facs For Otp..

Tue First SHor.. oe oo

Tue Navy anp THE REVENUE MariNe....
Tue Rise anp Fatt or Captain Howarp.
Captain FAUNGE AND THE Harriet LANE
New PRosiEMS FOR THE REVENUE MARINE
Tue Cutty VoyaGe or Captain OTTINGER .
PrestpENT LincoLn on Boarp Cutter Miami
Curters on THE West Coast ae
Cusine Captured at Porttanp, Maine
Sam. Bows To STEaM...

More New Revenue Cutters .

Cutters in Comsat IN 1864.

Tue Four Great Captains .



By May 2, it was obvious that another mission was in store for the cutter.
She was thoroughly scrubbed and special provisions were brought on board,
including 30 pounds of coffee, 15 pounds of butter, and 20 pounds of cheese
from the Navy yard. She also took on 12 tons of Navy coal. The next day,
with the Secretary of War on board, she weighed anchor and proceeded to
Aquia Creek where General McDowell came on board. They then returned
to Washington, arriving Monday morning May 4

There was no rest for Ottinger and his men. All hands were mustered at
10 A.M. and the vessel was inspected throughout. The next day she was
cleaned, and eight tons of coal were taken on board. The men were paid for
the month of April.?

Monday, May 5 was a pleasant Spring day, with the wind from the South
and Southwest, but by afternoon the wind had shifted into the East and it
had begun to rain. By 6 P.M. it was dismal and rainy when, as the Journal
reports:

The President ‘Lincoln’, Secretary Chase and Secretary Stanton with
General Viele came on board 7 P.M. Boat underway and proceeded down
the River wind ESE & rain at 8 P.M. Wind and weather the same 8-12
{unintelligible} pleasant but cloudy at 10 P.M. came to anchor a short
distance below Mt. Vernon."

Here Pilot Watts of Washington was replaced by Pilot John Rail for the
rest of the voyage. Third Lieutenant Cary, keeper of the Journal, ended the
day’s record with the customary “Ends The Same,” noting that 33 rations had
been served.

Did Lincoln sleep in the ward room or in the cabin? Miami was equipped
with a 19-foot cabin containing four beds, and a wardroom containing eight
beds. In any event, he had a peaceful anchorage just off the White House,
below Mt. Vernon, until 3 A.M. when a brisk northwest wind came up and
the Miami made sail. She was soon scudding along, under sail alone, at more
than ten knots. The top gallant yard and the squaresail were set aloft as she
flew down the Potomac and out into Chesapeake Bay. Captain Ottinger and
his men rejoiced but below decks some faces, including that of the President,
began to turn pale. By lunchtime the President declined to eat and instead
stretched out on a locker.!!

In the afternoon, off Wolf Trap, all hands went to quarters and fired

shrapnel from the cutter’s two big guns, a 24-pounder and a 12-pounder, and

from her pivot gun. The wind died down later and one of the cutter’s six awn-
ings was set up on deck for the Presidential party.'?

s was slow later in the day. It was about 9 P.M. before Miami tied
up alongside the George Washington at the wharf at Fortress Monroe. Imme-
diately Secretary Stanton ordered General Wool and his staff aboard the Miami
for a conference. While the conference was in progress, the cutter cast off
“and dropped off into the stream.” It was then 1:10 A.M

In spite of the late hour the President insisted on visiting Commodore Louis
M. Goldsborough aboard the U.S.S. Minnesota. It is said that a tug carried
Lincoln, Stanton, Wool, Chase and Viele to the Minnesota in pitch darkness.

10-3





Pulsifer, FH, Reminisences of the Harriet Lane, Journal of the United States Coast Guard
Academy, 1917; Under Lincoln, ‘The Coast Guard,Vol.1,No. 4,U.S, Coast Guard,
Washington, D.C. Feb. 1928

Newspapers and Magazines

The Bulletin, United States Coast Guard Academy, New London, Conn
Century Magazine

Charleston Daily Courier

Civil War Times

Harpers Weekly

New Orleans Daily True Delta

New York Tribune

South Carolina Mercury

Vineyard Gazette, Edgartown, Mass.



were in Charleston, on the 12th at Hilton Head. At Hilton Head, Chase
boarded the cutter Nenaha and went to Beaufort, South Carolina. He also
visited Savannah

The next leg of the voyage took them to Fernandina, Key West, Havana,
Mobile, and New Orleans, where the Chief Justice left the cutter

For a week they cruised in the Gulf of Mexico, visiting Pensacola and seiz-
ing a schooner for violation of the revenue laws, On July 30, 1865, the Wayanda
was ordered from Key West to Aspinwall, Panama. She returned to New
Orleans in August. In December, Captain Merryman was given command
of the new cutter Hugh McCullough at New Orleans, and the Wayanda was
ordered to Philadelphia. She reached there January 8, 1866,'7

Later that year Wayanda was sent to the Pacific and was stationed at San
Francisco. In 1868, 1869, and 1870, she made several cruises to Alaska. She
was sold in 1873.18

Kankakee

Kankakee was launched September 15 at the J. A. and D. D. Westervelt
yard in New York. There was quite a celebration at her launching which was
attended by Harrington, Barney, Stillman, Faunce, Gonstable, and Fengar,
as well as the American consul at Rome. The vessel was christened with cham-
pagne by Barney’s daughter, Susie.'® Kankakee was a 350-ton brig-rigged steam
cutter with two oscillating low pressure engines of 36 inch cylinder, 36 inch
stroke. She carried a 30-pounder rifled Parrott gun and six 24-pounder
howitzers

Little is known of her early activities since there are no known journals
in existence for the 1863-1865 period

Late in the war, the Kankakee was sent to Savannah under command of
Captain John G. Baker to convoy confiscated cotton from the South to the

Quarantine Station on Staten Island, New York. Baker was delighted with

his command. On February 5, 1865 he wrote the Treasury Department
saying:

This splendid little steamer arrived at Port Royal on the 3rd haying made
the passage from New York (off Jersey City) to Hilton Head in 67 run-
ning hours.2°

After the war, she was sent to Mobile, Alabama, and then to Charleston
and Norfolk. In 1866 she was laid up at Staten Island and sold June 20 to
Wetmore Cryder and Company. She was registered in New York for mer-
chant trade July 26.7!

Kewanee

The Kewanee was built by J. A. Robb and Company, Baltimore, and
launched September 23, She was a 135-foot steam cutter with a single
cylinder and a single screw. She measured 236 tons. She was stationed at

New York later that year.

14-6



Piette, £2

(Pec Eeew -2 >

PRESIDENT OF THR UNITED STATES CY AMERICA,
Zo all who shall see these presents, Greeting:

Krow ye, Mat cchoning special tus and confiitence in the
— tntegeely, ddigence, and good. conduct f Foil an é. Ge...,
PS ce aftpoint him ae f 2 Gutter? in the seevice of
He Cried States, fP 4 pucleolion of the covenuc; and do authotco
and empowe? tim to execute and fuifed the dalics of that offece accouting
0 law: Ofnd to have and to hold the said office, with all the eights and.
privileges theceunte legally appadaining, unto tim, the said Mhhn.
‘ dauing tha pleasure of the Benitent of the
United Liates fo? tha time being.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF; Of dave caused these llers lo te
mads patent, and the seal of the Sheasusy Dus
fractment of the United Grates to be hecounto
offered.
GIVEN andor my hand, at the City of Washington,
ts GPE day of
tn tha yeaP of ou? Lord one thousand eight
Kandeed and exam and of the
Pndependonce of ths Unis
noes Aevewig tL

Pritt. CE.

Ee ee

Commission of Captain William Pease
National Archives



and an equally miraculous escape from a gale off Hatteras on her way North,
she reached Baltimore much in need of repairs. During the gale she had
“doubled” Cape Hatteras and then had been thrown back twice into the Gulf
Stream. Nearing Norfolk she had been driven on the False Cape, where she
had anchored to keep from going ashore, and then had to “slip moorings”
and leave a valuable anchor in the sea to gain an offing.!®

After repairs at Baltimore, Captain Webster was ordered back to Norfolk
to cruise at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, where the climate was then
decidedly unhealthy for Union vessels. He did not protest the assignment but
deplored the fact that he had but two officers on board, Lieutenants Edgar
Murden and Fred Schultz. On February 21, he arrived at Norfolk, and wrote
Secretary Dix:

“I have the Honor to inform the Department that I have arrived with
the Rev. Cutter James C. Dobbin at Norfolk, Va. and reported accord-
ing to instructions to the Collector of that Port.”!7

There were some in Washington who questioned Webster’s loyalty, as they
questioned the loyalty of many of the officers who had served in Southern
stations and had friends in the South, but he remained loyal. Once more,
in April at Norfolk, he narrowly escaped having his cutter seized. He was
still stationed there after Virginia had seceded from the Union April 15, and
angry mobs had attacked the cutter Duane April 17. That same night Webster
received word that the Dobbin would also be attacked. He wasted no time
in getting away and going up the coast to Wilmington, Delaware. '® He wrote
the new Secretary of the Treasury Ghase April 21 from Wilmington, saying:

“Having received information from a reliable source at Fortress Monroe
on the evening of the 17th inst. that obstructions had been placed in the
channel of the Elizabeth River (at Norfolk), that the Virginia Conven-
tion had passed the Secession Act, and that a strong expedition was fit-
ting out to attack this vessel, I deemed it my duty, being unable any longer
to enforce the Revenue Laws in the waters of Virginia, for the safety of
the vessel to repair to this place, where I have this day arrived and await
further orders.”!9

He soon found that Wilmington was no safer than Norfolk. Captain Henry
B. Nones,” stationed there on the cutter Forward, was also apprehensive. On
April 20, Webster wrote the Secretary that there were “respectable” citizens
in Wilmington backing plans to secede from the Union and seize the public
property, including the cutters.?!

Upon receipt of Webster's letter from Norfolk, Secretary Chase sent a let-
ter to Wilmington ordering him to Philadelphia. The Wilmington Collector
countermanded the order and told him to cruise in Delaware Bay. Chase then

instructed Captain Webster to proceed immediately to Philadelphia. He arrived
at the Philadelphia Navy Yard May 1, having lost two officers, Lieutenants
Blackwood and Alex R. Abercrombie, to the Confederacy while at
Wilmington.22

The Dobbin had escaped from the Secessionists three times. She was to serve
throughout the Civil War and to continue her charmed life until 1881, serv-

4-5