Revenue Cutter Service

Item NMC-11100

Description

Levi Woodbury—originally named Mahoning after a creek and a valley in Pennsylvania—was one of six Pawtuxet-class screw schooners ordered by the Treasury Department in 1863 for the United States Revenue Marine. Mahoning was built in Philadelphia by J. W. Lynn.  Among those aboard for the launch, on the afternoon of Wednesday, 29 July 1863, were "a number of ladies, many officers of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and other invited guests." Mahoning was christened by Miss Rebecca B. Thomas, daughter of Philadelphia's Collector of Ports, Colonel W. B. Thomas.

Mahoning was commissioned into the Revenue Marine on 18 July 1864. Among her first duties was the transport of a Congressional Committee in mid-August to Wiscasset, Fort Popham and Bath, Maine.  On 29 September, Mahoning arrived in Boston, Massachusetts from Portland, Maine, on the same day as her sister ship Pawtuxet from New York City, and a comparative trial between the two vessels announced. 

Source: Wikipedia

On 16 November, while attempting to enter the port of Castine, Maine during a gale, Mahoning was mistakenly fired upon by Battery White, which apparently mistook her for a Confederate privateer. Mahoning's Captain Webster reported that the Battery fired three rounds in total, at a range of 2.5 miles (4.0 km): "one blank cartridge and two excellent line shots [that] fell short". This reception persuaded the vessel to make for Seal Harbor instead.