USS Cherokee (1859)

Transcription

During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain and France routinely violated American neutrality. British ships stopped U.S. vessels at sea and impressed American seamen into the Royal Navy, while French privateers captured American merchant ships. President Thomas Jefferson hoped to assert American neutrality through economic pressure with various embargoes, enforcement and non-intercourse acts. In the years leading up to the war, U.S. ships were forbidden to sail for foreign ports and revenue cutters, vessels of the US Coast Guard's predecessor service, were required to enforce these unpopular laws that put thousands of Americans out of work. These acts were eventually repealed, but they contributed to the outbreak of war between Britain and the U.S. in June of 1812. Now know as the War of 1812. On June 18th, 1812, President James Madison signed a declaration of war against Great Britain. At the time, the United States faced the Royal Navy's 600 ships with 16 navy vessels and 16 revenue cutters. In the wars opening phases, Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin requested from Congress, "small, fast sailing vessels," because there were, "but six vessels belonging to the Navy, under the size of frigates; and that number is inadequate..." Much like the modern Coast Guard, the revenue cutters already served a multi-mission role in service of the federal government. They would expand that role during the war to include several combat-oriented and homeland security missions that remain with the Coast Guard today. On June 25, 1812 the Norfolk cutter Thomas Jefferson captured the first British vessel of the war. In addition, the cutter James Madison, of Savannah, captured a British vessel on July 5 and gave chase to British merchantmen along the South Carolina coast. The Madison also captured an armed British brig and brought a Spanish prize into Savannah. On August 22, after catching a British convoy and sending home two British prizes, James Madison was captured by a much larger and more heavily armed British frigate after a seven-hour chase. British commerce raiding and destruction were only a part of revenue cutter operations during the war. Other duties included providing protection for American vessels that navigated the sounds, bays and inland waterways of the U.S. For example, the cutters Active from New York, Eagle out of New Haven and Vigilant from Newport were kept very busy escorting merchantmen between New England and the This escort duty was later repeated by Coast Guard cutters that escorted convoys across the Atlantic in World War II. In addition, under orders from the local customs collector, each revenue cutter took responsibility for the security of its homeport and surrounding waters, foreshadowing the Coast Guard's significant homeland security duties in our ports today. Cutter Massachusetts from Boston and Thomas Jefferson, sailing from Norfolk proved worthy examples of cutters securing their respective East Coast ports. To keep regional waters secure for American commerce also meant fighting British privateers, which patrolled off East Coast ports, waiting for unsuspecting merchantmen. Fights between cutters and privateers occurred regularly and included the battle between the revenue cutter Vigilant and the British privateer Dart. The sloop Dart, formerly an American ship, was a British privateer that had captured over 20 merchant vessels. Cutterman John Cahoone, having placed extra men on board Vigilant, sailed from Newport, Rhode Island, in search of the enemy privateer. Having located Dart, off the east end of Block Island, Vigilant's crew fired their guns, boarded Dart and quickly overcame the privateer's crew. This was the last known use of boarding by a revenue cutter as a combat tactic. When news arrived in New Haven, Connecticut, that an American merchantmen had been American merchantmen had been captured in Long Island Sound, cutter captain Frederick Lee assembled volunteers to join the cutter Eagle to overtake and re-capture the prize vessel and try to capture the British privateer as well. Rather than privateers, however, the British vessels were Royal Navy warships of far superior strength. Lee decided to run Eagle ashore on the north coast of Long Island, drag her guns onto a high bluff, and fight HMS Dispatch and her armed tender from the shore. When they had exhausted their large shot, they tore up the ship's logbook to use as wadding and fired back the enemy's shot, which had lodged in the hill. During the engagement, the cutter's flag was shot away three times and was replaced each time by volunteers from the crew. Today the Coast Guard cutter Eagle, the only sailing ship in active US military service, trains future Coast Guard officers in seamanship and navigation. Cutters gathered intelligence regarding enemy naval movements, location of privateers and U.S. Navy vessels, and news of American merchantmen. Cutter captains shared this information with customs collectors, local officials, newspapers and military personnel. For example, the primary mission of the cutter General Greene out of Wilmington, DE during the British blockade of Delaware Bay was to monitor the movement of enemy vessels and report back numbers of enemy units, their position, any landing of troops and provisioning of the enemy, and any American vessels providing illegal support to the enemy. Captains Frederick Lee of the Eagle, John Cahoone from Vigilant and Caleb Brewster on board Active also shared much of this information to inform land-based military units, merchants and the public. Today Coast Guard intelligence specialists are a vital part of the national intelligence community. Throughout U.S. history, revenue cutters and later cutters of the Coast Guard provided a vital capability in shallow waters. From riverine patrols in Vietnam to ongoing coastal operations in Iraq, Coast Guard cutters have played an integral part of U.S. maritime war plans. It was during the War of 1812 that the revenue cutters established their role as important shallow water naval vessels. The smallest warships of the U.S. Navy were far too large to enter the estuaries and inland waterways of the American coasts. Designed to catch smugglers in such areas, the revenue cutters proved effective in navigating these shallow waters. At the outbreak of the war, revenue cutter Commodore Barry served in Maine's waters, where trade and smuggling flourished. The cutter managed to avoid British naval units initially before being trapped at Little River, Maine, with an armed American privateer. The two vessels were run ashore and guns mounted on a temporary shore battery to thwart enemy attacks. On August 3, 1812, the cutter was captured but not before exacting heavy British losses. The cutter's crew escaped safely through the Maine woods. On April 11, 1813, in the shallows of Hampton Roads, cutter Thomas Jefferson ran down and captured three Royal Navy barges, including over sixty British officers and men, and it repatriated the crew of an American merchantmen captured by the barges On July 12, 1813, cutter Mercury saved the day by sailing out of an enemy ambush of the shallow harbor at Ocracoke, North Carolina, taking with it all of the customs collectors papers and funds. Units of the British squadron attempted to capture the cutter and the papers and proceed on to attack the city of New Bern, North Carolina; however, Mercury thwarted all of those plans by escaping and proceeding directly to New Bern to warn the city of a possible attack. The most famous of the shallow-water engagements during the war involved the cutter Surveyor of Baltimore. The battle of the Surveyor was one of the most hotly contested revenue cutter engagements of the war. Not knowing the proximity of British forces to his anchored cutter, Captain Samuel Travis set out a picket boat and placed boarding nets around the cutter's deck. On the rainy and dark evening of June 12, 1813, British barges with over fifty officers and men approached with muffled oars to deaden the noise of their approach. By the time Travis could see the enemy barges, they were too close to fire on with the ship's cannon. The British invaders made the deck and Travis armed his fifteen crewmembers with two muskets each. The British eventually overwhelmed the crew and captured the cutter after stiff resistance by the cuttermen. The British lost three British seamen and had several more wounded. Although Surveyor was captured, the British commander returned Captain Samuel Travis' sword and remarked on the crew's bravery: Best suited to swiftness and agility, revenue cutters provided a multi-mission vessel during the war. Besides their primary mission of law enforcement and various combat missions, the cutters also delivered messages and dispatches to American naval units and transported naval personnel to and from ships of the U.S. Navy. In addition, cutters were entrusted with important cargoes, including diplomats and important papers. This included the cessation of hostilities after ratification of the Treaty of Ghent, which cutter Active attempted to announce to the British squadron sailing off the coast from New York. Before the war, revenue cutters had protected the revenue, enforced U.S. trade laws and quarantined restrictions, interdicted smuggling, supplied remote lighthouses and unofficially conducted rescue operations. During the War of 1812, the cutter adapted new missions, including port and coastal security convoy and escort duty, brown water combat operations intelligence gathering and a variety of other naval support missions. After the was, as part of their long standing multi-mission role, revenue cutter operations would forever include their previous peacetime missions and their new war time missions. The War of 1812 there by cemented many core missions that the Coast Guard supports today.