USRC Washington ( 1833 ) The United States Revenue Cutter " Washington " was one of the 13 cutters of the Morris - Taney class . These cutters were the backbone of the United States Revenue Cutter Service for more than a decade . Samuel Humphreys designed these cutters for roles as diverse as fighting pirates , privateers , combating smugglers and operating with naval forces . He designed the vessels on a naval schooner concept . They had Baltimore Clipper lines . The vessels built by Webb and Allen , designed by Isaac Webb , resembled Humphreys ' but had one less port . Service history . 1833 – 1835 . The revenue cutter " Washington " was completed at New York in 1833 , initially operated out of Mobile , Alabama . She shifted to Key West , Florida , as her base of operations and spent a brief period of time at Charleston , South Carolina , undergoing repairs , before returning to Key West on 20 May 1835 and remaining based there for the remainder of the year . Second Seminole War , 1835 – 1837 . Around Christmas of 1835 , two companies of regular Army troops under the command of Major Francis L . Dade , were massacred by Seminole Indians . One badly wounded survivor managed to make a difficult 60 - mile trek to the head of Tampa Bay , where he reported the disaster to the garrison commander at Fort Brooke , Florida , Captain Francis S . Belton . Fearing for the safety of his post , Belton immediately dispatched a request for reinforcements via the sloop " Motto " . Belton ' s message reached Key West early in January . Meanwhile in the Federal capital , Levi Woodbury , the Secretary of the Treasury — who had also heard of Dade ' s disaster — directed Revenue Captain Ezekiel Jones , commanding " Washington " , to place his ship under Navy control " until otherwise directed . " Interestingly enough , Jones did not receive this order — issued on 6 January 1836 — until he had already begun operations in cooperation with the Army and Navy . Word of the massacre reached Jones on or about 11 January . Washington soon got underway and proceeded via Tampa Bay to Charlotte Harbor and arrived at Fort Brooke on 25 January . At 1700 that afternoon , the revenue cutter landed a pair of 12 - pounder guns — with sufficient powder and shot for 35 rounds — along with 10 seamen under the command of Lieutenant L . B . Childs and a Lieutenant Clark , to cooperate with the Army garrison troops . Belton , expecting an imminent attack by the Seminoles , took the precaution of ordering noncombatants — mostly women and children — to take refuge on board the merchant ships in the harbor . " Washington " , meanwhile , lay to with springs to her anchors and her decks cleared for battle . At that juncture , the sloop - of - war , Master Commandant Thomas T . Webb , USN , in command , sailed from Pensacola , Florida escorting a small merchantman carrying a detachment of 57 marines under First Lieutenant Nathaniel S . Waldron , USMC . " Vandalia " and her mercantile consort reached Fort Brooke on 28 January . With the arrival of " Vandalia " and Waldron ' s marines , " Washington " withdrew her landing force from the beach on 1 February . Three days later , the revenue cutter received orders to reconnoiter Charlotte Harbor , south of Tampa Bay ; got underway on 5 February , and arrived at her assigned destination on the 8 February . Under the command of Lieutenant Childs , a party of 13 men in two boats landed at 0800 on the island of Sanibel in search of Seminole dependents reported there . Finding none , however , they withdrew but sighted three canoes and 10 men on the opposite shore at 1500 that day . Going ashore again on 10 February , " Washington ' s " landing force ascertained that the 10 men and three canoes had been in the employ of a local friendly Spaniard that lived in the vicinity . After the men returned to the ship , " Washington " shifted back to her previous anchorage near Fort Brooke , reaching there on 13 February . At 1230 , men in the revenue cutter heard the reports of heavy guns to the southeast side of the bay and spotted two canoes full of Indians " who appeared to be retreating from the scene of action . " " Washington " made sail and gave chase , firing a 12 - pounder loaded with round shot . Anchoring at 1230 , " Washington " dispatched all of her boats , with crews , to overtake the Indians , who eventually hove to under the threats of superior force . They turned out to be friendly , though , and were allowed to go on their way . Captain Jones brought " Washington " back to Key West on 19 February to repair his ship . Such were the vagaries of long - distance communication that Jones only then received Secretary Woodbury ' s instructions of 6 January . The following day , Jones reported to the Secretary , " I have been cooperating since 11 January , having half my battery and crew on shore at Fort Brook ( sic ) a part of the time and have rendered such service as the emergency of the case required . I shall sail again for Tampa as soon as I can effect some necessary repairs . On 16 March , Master Commandant Webb , the local senior officer present , afloat , directed " Washington " to reconnoiter a reported Indian encampment in the neighborhood of the Manatee River . Late in the afternoon of that same day , 16 March , Jones landed a force of 25 men under the command of Lieutenant William Smith , USN , of " Vandalia " . By nightfall , the men had located the site of an encampment but found neither Indians nor cattle . Returning on board that evening , Washington again put the landing force on the beach on the morning of 17 March . With competent Indian guides , the party followed a fresh Indian and cattle trail 10 miles into the interior before they returned to the ship , again empty - handed . Almost simultaneously , Seminole forces were reported to be in retreat in boats down the Pease River . Webb ordered " Washington " to Charlotte Harbor to blockade the river " so as to cut off most effectually all retreat to or communication with the glades of the south . " Sailing to that locale , " Washington " examined St . Joseph ' s Bay , Costa Islands , Mullet Key , and sundry other places in and about Tampa Bay . She also examined Charlotte Harbor and Charlotte Bay , together with the neighboring keys and inlets . On 28 and 29 March , a boat expedition in the charge of Lieutenant Smith saw an Indian encampment some 30 miles from the mouth of Tampa Bay . Hoping to learn the whereabouts of " hostiles , " Smith and his two friendly Indian guides landed and invited a parley . Smith and his guides returned to the ship safely with no information as to any local Seminole strongholds in the area . " Washington " , her sister revenue cutters " Dallas " and , and the sloop - of - war " Vandalia " continued to perform valuable services in cooperation with Army units against the Seminoles , on patrol duties into the spring of 1836 . " Washington " subsequently sailed for Sarasota , Florida , and arrived there on 11 May , anchoring at the mouth of the bay . She dispatched a cutter — in charge of Lieutenant Childs — and brought out two Spaniards and about 20 women and children , all fleeing from hostile Seminoles in that area . " Washington " and " Dallas " subsequently cruised off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico during most of June . " Washington " later carried dispatches from Governor Call to Master Commandant M . P . Mix in " Concord " — the ship that had relieved " Vandalia " — in early July , before she transported a company of Army volunteers from Pensacola to St . Marks . She also surveyed the rivers , inlets , and bars along that stretch of the Florida seaboard . After operating in Pensacola Bay and Tampa Bay during most of August and September , " Washington " accompanied " Vandalia " from Pensacola to Key West , departing on 2 October 1836 for Cape Florida and New River . Their mission was to surprise and , if possible , to capture some 200 Seminoles — men , women , and children . Embarked in " Washington " — now commanded by Revenue Captain Robert Day , USRM — were 50 seamen under the command of Lieutenant Smith and four midshipmen , as well as 95 marines under the command of Lieutenant Waldron and Second Lieutenant McNeill . To carry this expeditionary force , six boats and two schooners were employed with " Washington " and " Vandalia " to carry the force . Sent to Tampa Bay on 4 November after the expedition had gotten underway , " Washington " delivered provisions from Tampa Bay to Cape Sable on 15 November . The revenue cutter subsequently sailed for Key West , arriving on 8 December . A party of men from " Washington " , under the command of the indefatigable Lieutenant Levin M . Powell , USN — the man who conceived of vigorous riverine warfare concepts — surveyed the coast around New River from Cape Sable to Charlotte Harbor and , while he penetrated 15 miles into the trackless Everglades , found no Indians during their trip . Commodore Alexander Dallas , in overall command of the naval forces operating in the Seminole War , highly commended Powell and his men , citing their " perseverance and exertions under circumstances of privation and exposure . . . in open boats . " Eventually , by the spring of 1837 , the pace of operations began to tell upon " Washington " , and she was released by Commodore Dallas . Needing extensive repairs , she sailed to Baltimore , arriving on 22 May 1837 and the Government sold the " Washington " in June 1837 .