175) on 4 August 1790 as the Revenue-Marine upon the recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to serve as an armed customs enforcement service.

Urged on by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, the United States Congress on 4 August 1790 established the Revenue-Marine, later renamed the Revenue Cutter Service by act of 31 July 1894 (28 Stat.

Among those commissioned were Hopley Yeaton and John Foster Williams of Massachusetts, Jonathan Maltbie of Connecticut, Patrick Dennis of New York, James Montgomery of Pennsylvania, Simon Gross of Maryland, and Richard Taylor of Virginia.

[5] Each cutter was constructed where it was to be assigned; a move by Hamilton to satisfy members of Congress and gain their votes for the establishment of the service.

All crew pay, requests for supplies, arrangements for repairs to the cutter, and mission-specific tasking came directly from the port's Customs House.

[9][10] Standing orders for individual cutters were stated in general terms, allowing captains to exercise their discretion and judgment to the fullest.

Yet despite this considerable authority, Alexander Hamilton, in his first letter of instruction to the captains, had specifically directed that they "will always keep in mind that their countrymen are freemen, and, as such, are impatient of everything that bears the least mark of a domineering spirit.

Revenue cutters were assigned to enforce the very unpopular Embargo Act of 1807, which outlawed nearly all European trade, import and export, through American ports.

[13] On 3 August 1812, the boats of the British frigates Maidstone and Spartan captured the 6-gun revenue cutter Commodore Barry in the Little River, Bay of Fundy, together with three privateer schooners, Madison, Olive, and Spence (or Spruce).

[14] Then on 22 August 1812, HMS Barbadoes, under the command of Captain Thomas Huskisson, captured the USRC James Madison after a chase of seven hours.

"[15] On the night of 12 June 1813, the small cutter Surveyor, with a crew of 16 and an armament of only six 12-pounder (5.4 kg) carronades, was anchored in the York River (Virginia), when a 90-man boarding party from the frigate HMS Narcissus attacked her.

[17] On 11 October 1814, the cutter Eagle encountered Narcissus, and the Cruizer-class brig-sloop Dispatch, which was guarding the Suzan, a captured American merchant ship.

Not yet defeated, the Revenue Marine seamen removed the guns from Eagle, hoisted them up a 160-foot bluff, dragged them into position, and continued firing at Dispatch.

In 1832, Secretary of the Treasury Louis McLane issued written orders for revenue cutters to conduct winter cruises to assist mariners in need, and Congress made the practice an official part of regulations in 1837.

[citation needed] On 11 April 1861, the USRC Harriet Lane fired the first shot of the maritime conflict in the American Civil War of 1861–1865.

[19] Captain John Faunce, skipper of Harriet Lane, gave permission for Nashville to proceed to Charleston harbor and she was promptly seized by the Confederate Navy.

After carrying President Lincoln from Washington on 9 May 1862, USRC Miami assisted navy transports in landing federal troops at Ocean View, Virginia.

In June 1863, in an incident known as the "Battle of Portland Harbor", the revenue cutter Caleb Cushing was captured by Confederate raiders, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Read, CSN, from the CSS Tacony.

The increase in coastal trade along the Atlantic seaboard after the civil war and the purchase of Alaska in 1867 had a significant impact on the development of the Revenue Cutter Service.

[22] Demands by the public to do something about losses in lives and property at sea prompted Secretary of the Treasury George S. Boutwell, under President Ulysses S. Grant, to reorganize the service.

Additionally, Devereaux requested $125,000 to cover the unexpected costs of operating cutters Lincoln, Wayanda and Reliance in Alaskan waters during 1869.

[25] Although the Department of the Treasury remained in charge of the service throughout the 19th century, its conventional organization was resumed after the war, with cutters reporting to local customs officials.

[citation needed] During the harsh winter of 1897–1898, Lieutenant David H. Jarvis of USRC Bear led a relief party to 265 whalers whose ships had been stranded in the ice off the northern coast of Alaska.

Together with Navy torpedo boat USS Winslow, Hudson fought against a Spanish gunboat and coastal batteries until forced to withdraw.