Ingham, 1832
The cutter Ingham was named for Samuel D. Ingham, born in 1779, who became a well-known manufacturer and a long time member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. He was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1829 by President Andrew Jackson and he served until 1831.
The Second Bank of the United States, viewed by President Jackson and much of the nation as an unconstitutional and dangerous monopoly, became Ingham's primary concern. Jackson not only mistrusted the Second Bank, but all banks. The president thought that there should be no paper currency in circulation, but only coins, and that the Constitution was designed to expel paper currency as part of the monetary system. Ingham believed in the Bank and labored to resolve conflicts between Jackson, who wanted it destroyed, and the Bank's president, Nicholas Biddle. Ingham was unable to reach any resolution between Jackson and Biddle but he left office over an incident unrelated to the Bank. Unwilling to comply with Jackson's demand that the "socially unacceptable" wife of Secretary of War John Eaton, Margaret O'Neal Eaton, be invited to Washington social functions, Ingham and the other members of Jackson's cabinet resigned.
Samuel D. Ingham died in 1869.
Builder: Webb and Allen, New York
Launched: NA
Commissioned: 1832
Decommissioned: sold 1836
Length: 73' 4"
Navigation Draft: 9' 7" (maximum)
Beam: 20' 6"
Displacement: 112 tons
Propulsion: topsail schooner
Maximum Speed: NA
Complement: 20-24
Armament: Much variation, typical was four 6-9 pdrs.
Cutter History:
Ingham was one of the 13 cutters of the Morris-Taney Class. These cutters were the backbone of the 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. Ingham was initially stationed at New Orleans, LA. She did a short term of duty in Baltimore during late 1831 and returned to duty in New Orleans in January 1832 and remained there until sold in 1836 for $1,710.
She became Independence in the Texas Navy, was captured by the Mexicans and renamed Independencia.
Sources:
Donald Canney. U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
U.S. Coast Guard. Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).