Marines Born: Samuel Nicholas Raises First Flag

The Continental Congress passed a resolution on November 10, 1775, authorizing two battalions of Marines "good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea." Captain Samuel Nicholas, a Philadelphia tavern keeper, began recruiting at Tun Tavern on Water Street, buying drinks for potential enlistees in what has become the founding legend of the United States Marine Corps. The decision was practical. The Continental Navy, established just weeks earlier, needed soldiers capable of fighting aboard ships, conducting amphibious raids, and maintaining discipline among often-reluctant crews. Marines served as shipboard sharpshooters, boarding parties, and security against mutiny. The first detachment, roughly 300 men, deployed aboard the Alfred, the Columbus, and other vessels of Commodore Esek Hopkins' small fleet. The Marines' first significant action came in March 1776, when Nicholas led 234 Marines and 50 sailors in an amphibious assault on British-held New Providence in the Bahamas. The raiders captured Fort Montagu and Fort Nassau, seizing cannons, ammunition, and supplies desperately needed by Washington's army. The operation was the first amphibious landing in Corps history and established the expeditionary character that would define the institution. The Corps was disbanded after the Revolution, re-established in 1798, and has participated in every American conflict since. From the shores of Tripoli in 1805 to Belleau Wood in 1918, from Iwo Jima in 1945 to the deserts of Iraq, the Marine Corps has cultivated an identity built on combat readiness, esprit de corps, and the principle that every Marine is first a rifleman. November 10 remains the most celebrated date on the Marine calendar, marked annually with a formal ball where the first slice of cake goes to the oldest Marine present, who passes it to the youngest.