The Bureau of Internal Revenue is a federal agency that serves as one of the main antagonistic factions of the Moonshiners DLC in Red Dead Online.
History[]
Background[]
Responsible for collecting federal taxes across the United States, the Bureau of Internal Revenue was established during the American Civil War to raise money collecting income tax for the Union war effort. After the war the Bureau continued to operate and expanded its operations, becoming responsible for finding and destroying illegal alcohol stills and arresting the moonshiners who operated them.
In the Lemoyne region, senior agent Reid Hixon has been responsible for tracking down and arresting moonshiners and has had a long-running feud with veteran moonshiner Maggie Fike. In 1892, Hixon's agents finally cornered Fike and her associates, Lemuel Fike and Danny-Lee Caton, in Bayou Nwa. They captured Lemuel and destroyed Maggie's business, seemingly killing her after setting her shack ablaze and throwing her inside.
Events of Red Dead Online[]
In 1898, revenue agents set up checkpoints on various roads, stopping any passing wagon and searching them for moonshine. After starting a moonshine business alongside a still-living Maggie Fike, the player can encounter these checkpoints while making deliveries, and will be forced to stop for a short inspection. If the player doesn't stop or attempts to flee before the inspection ends, the agents will open fire, usually damaging whatever shipment they are carrying.
Revenue agents also feature in many bootlegger missions given by Fike, which are meant to help their business and reward the player with smaller production costs for their next moonshine batch. Occasionally, Fike will ask the player to go to one of the revenuers' checkpoints in a random location, and kill all the agents they find there.
A Life of 'Shine[]
Revenuers feature prominently in the moonshiner story campaign titled A Life of 'Shine, where they are first encountered when Fike asks the player to rescue Lem, who is being transported to prison. After saving Lem, the pair are ambushed by revenuers, whom the player must kill before returning to Fike. They next appear when the player and Lem are unloading supplies at the port of Annesburg. Hixon emerges from a train car and declares his intention to have the bootleggers arrested before ordering his men to attack. The assault is repelled, however, and while Hixon is forced to break off the pursuit, he vows to put an end to their moonshine operation.
Later, Fike arranges a meeting with her rivals, Bartholomew Braithwaite and Danny-Lee, and has Lem anonymously tip off Hixon. When Danny-Lee and Bartholomew arrive at the meeting place to find no one, they are quickly held at gunpoint by the recently-arrived revenue agents. However, only Danny-Lee is arrested, as Bartholomew bribes Hixon to let him go. The revenuers also capture the player and Lem, who were hiding nearby, but they escape after Lem accidentally shoots a wagon full of explosive moonshine that they brought, setting the surrounding swamp on fire. The player then chases Hixon through the inferno, killing numerous revenue agents along the way. Cornered, Hixon tries to bargain his way out, saying that the player will be hunted down by the government if they kill him, but they proceed to do so nonetheless.
Mission appearances[]
Red Dead Online
- "Blood is Thicker Than 'Shine" (flashback)
- "Come Hell, Come High Water"
- "The Certainty of Death and Taxes"
Tips[]
As the Revenue Agents are one of the most durable foes the player can encounter either in Story or Bootlegging Missions, it is highly recommended to face them armed with weapons of the shotgun variety or explosive ammo for revolvers and pistols.
Trivia[]
- The Bureau of Internal Revenue is a real government agency founded on July 1, 1862, and later renamed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1953.
- The appearance of revenue agents is anachronistic as the Bureau of Internal Revenue did not police bootlegging until forming the Prohibition Unit after the passage of the National Prohibition Act of 1919.