The United States Marine Corps, the Marines, are celebrating the 250th anniversary of its founding today, like the US Navy, a force of men older than the nation itself.
The Marine Corps owes its history during the centuries since its organization and official standing, thanks to President John Adams, as a corps of discipline, bravery, dedication and pride.
It was in Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, itself a piece of the colonies for centuries, that the Marine Corps’ first two battalions were formed, the birth of the Corps. Samuel Nicholas, the owner of the tavern was its first leader, so essentially, the first Commandant of the Marine Corps.
It was easy for this feisty little group to grow and get recruits. The colonies were in a war against Great Britain, and the streets were filled with thousands of young men who wanted to see the success of a new nation. Within four months, the first and second battalions were 1500 strong, and John Adams officially signed the resolution identifying the Marine Corps.
James Fenimore Cooper, author of the Leatherstocking Tales, and unofficially recognized as a historian of the Marine Corps, described this new group of fighting men as an infantry trained for land and sea, a group with esprit de corps, a group “steadfast and disciplined.”
The Corps first amphibious action was January 4, 1776, when they were aboard the Columbus sailing from Philadelphia on a secret mission. That mission, which was first planned to be sailing south to attack the British holds in the southern colonies, swiftly turned to successfully defending the colonies at New Providence, Rhode Island.
John Adams was aboard the ship, sailing with his young son, John Quincy Adams, and explained to the captain, when asked why he would be involved in battle while a sitting member of the Continental Congress, explained, “I had to do my share.”
While the Corps disbanded in 1783, and was not formally re-established until 1798, it still holds November 10, 1775, as its official birthday and continues to celebrate it with the same pomp and circumstance as it did when it started.
Pomp and circumstance which was encouraged by and supported by the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson saw the Corps as the stalwart group of soldiers fighting on land and sea that it was.
But more than that, he saw the men as important enough to be part of every inauguration of a President. The Marine Corps formed a band in 1798, Jefferson heard it, liked it, and invited the band to play at his inauguration. He also gave it the title of The President’s Own.” Its first leader was John Philip Sousa, whose hymns and songs are still a vital part of the President’s Own, and the Marine Corps history.
It was Jefferson who sent his Marines to Tripoli during the first Barbary War when Tripolitania, the Ottoman leader, demanded payment from the United States as tribute. Jefferson refused, the Marines went in for their first battle on foreign soil since the Revolution, and the shores of Tripoli became a part of the Marine Corps hymn.
Webster officially recognizes “leatherneck” as a synonym for Marine. Why? The term dates back to an early uniform which included a stiff collar more than three inches high designed to ensure a stiff neck appearance for each Marine to enhance the appearance of military bearing. Since the stiff collar provided a Marine from having the full view and movement he needed in battle because the ‘leatherneck’ would not enable him proper movement, it was discarded by 1872 and is used only for formal dress uniform.
Today, General Eric M. Smith is the 39th commandant of the Marine Corps, the highest-ranking officer, a four-star General and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His duties include advising the President and Secretary of the Navy, ensuring the administration, readiness, and discipline of the more than 200,000 men and women in the Marine Corps and Reserve, Marine Corps, and has served as Commandant Since September 22, 2023, when he was appointed to the position by President Joseph Biden.
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