According to the Coast Guard’s website, “The cutter Pickering was a brig-rigged vessel of about 135 tons and measured 58 feet along her keel. She entered Revenue service in July, 1798, and ably served during the Quasi-War with France.” (Quote from http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters).
What was the Quasi-War with France? What, in fact, is a quasi-war? And what exactly was the Revenue Service’s role in times of war?