Despite the seemingly never-ending torrent of books about the American Civil War, relatively little has been written about the role of the United States Revenue Marine Service (now the U.S. Coast Guard) in the naval struggle against the Confederacy. The United States Revenue Cutters in the Civil War presents a ship-by-ship study of this neglected aspect of the war, from the decisions of individual cutter commanders as to which side they would take in the struggle to their ships' key role in enforcing the Northern blockade of the South's coasts.
The author, an expert on the early history of the Revenue Service, also tells the amazing story of the capture of the cutter Caleb Cushing by Confederates under the command of Lieutenant Charles W. "Savez" Read, CSN in the harbor of Portland, Maine, his daring escape, brief battle with Union ships, and the scuttling of the Cushing. This hard-to-find publication also documents the other combat actions, nautical mishaps, and ultimate fates of these unsung participants in the naval side of the Civil War.