USS Aaron V. Brown (1861)

USS Aaron V. Brown (1861) was a revenue cutter in the service of the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for United States Postmaster General Aaron V. Brown.

Pre-Civil War service
Prior to the Civil War, Brown, whose records have for the most part been lost, operated on the Great Lakes from her base at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As the national crisis deepened after Abraham Lincoln was elected President, Brown was transferred to the Atlantic and, in company with four other cutters, arrived at Boston late in December 1861.

Civil War service
Following a brief assignment at Salem, Massachusetts, she was repaired, provisioned for a deployment in Southern waters, and sailed for the sounds of North Carolina. Commanded by Captain John Mason, Jr., USRCS, she served in the shoals of those dangerous and bitterly contested waters until May 1864, when she proceeded to New York harbor to be sold.