the u.s. marine corps is

fighting spirit and effectiveness is widely known, but few are aware the cause, mb achievements during the early years of the revolution through successes and failures and down the eastern seaboard, the opening years of the war saw the american military develop. the continental marines as an effective force in service support, naval vessels and amphibious operations, and in support the army in land warfare. washington's marines is the first complete study tontwined together the men strategy perform myths and personalities of the marines formative years into a single study. today's knows the marine corps inside major-general jason cuba is a marine with more than 30

years of service. an infantry man by level from commander to commanding general. jason has also served in several key staff positions,ij including as a strategic planner with the joint chiefs of staff, the director of the marine calls expeditionary warfare school manelegislative affairs and chif staff of the us naval naval striking and support forces for naito. he holds master's degrees in military studies and in national security studies and has written articles for the marine cause gazette and won several awards from t corps association. he is the author of from cold war to iso one marine's journey and marines th origins, the corps and the american revolution, 1775 to 1777, which is the subject of today's talk. so please join me in welcoming maj jason cuba.

all right well, good morning ladies and gentlemen. our afternoon now. and let me just say what an absolute lou honor it is for me to be here today. and i want to thank dr. brooks and mr. dozer for the very kind invitation and allow me to for l time and attention they give me is very gracious. host this morning. if you were one of my marine corps units right now, i'd up ad center here and consolidate forces. but since you're a little more senior crowd, i think we'll right where you are. but i am really encouraged by the of you that have joined us today that tells me that your near and dear to my heart. and today, without making a political statement that's more important than ever. and as we get ready to approach the 250th anniversary of the birth of, our great nation, i can't think of a better time

reconnect with our history and to be able to understand it, to put it into context and what we're dealing with. so thank you. thank you for. being here today. before i, i must say that anything i personal based off oy own research, and it does not represent the official position of the u.s. government. defense, department of the navy, or the united states marine corps. fair enough. all right. this is bowen's take on the world. okay, so again, thank you for being here. we're going to take a bit of a journey here to tell you about the birth of our great nation and then how the marine corps ca existence. in the context of those times. and it really is a parallel journey that we have both went on during this time. heard dr. k about, you know, many people are familiar, the very honorable service and the selfless sacrifice and war fight and proudest of united states marines and very many people are

familiar with this iconic image of the flag raising it, where you, iwo jima, melchior, baji, and that great quote by our former president, ronald reagan. but lot of people really don't know about our humble beginnings and what resulted in the need for a marine corps men and future who could fight on land and sea. and then in today's environment, there's actually five domains of war. backn, land■ and. sea. then we added air. now we have space cyber and we just added information. and you think about how information is used as a tool of war. today, just watch what's going on with hamas and israeli forces israel. okay, so let's jump right in. so the roots of the american revolution can be traced back to the french and indian war from 1756 to 1763. in which england, france and

spain vied for control of the north americ■ continent. you know, the british and americans prevailed. this victory and providing for the defense of the american colonies came at a very high cost. the mother country thought it only that the colonies bear their fair share of costparticuy paying about 1/20 of the taxes being paid by those back in england. but thely minded americans pushed back on several taxes, particular equally when levied without proper representation in the government. saw the war, conflict was inevitable. and as you see in the image here on t lt is a british tax collector being tarred and feathered by sons of liberty. that conflict began on april 19, 1775, in upper right hand corner, when captain john parker formed a company of minutemen on

the lexington green off against 700 british soldiers and marines before the day was done, the americans had placed the british in boston under but this victory on land was half the equation. is a maritime nation with an extensive coastline and, canals that can be used to quickly move people and things america will need. men who could fight and win on land and if it hoped to defeat one of the world's most powerful forces. in mid-june 1775, during an event that author james fenimore cooper referred to as the lexington of the sea. at the time, principal british supplies and reinforcements had to travel. 3000 miles across the atlantic ocean. this proved to be timely. it was expensive and it was dangerous.

so british leadership sought closer local solutions and they used the west indies, which is now known as the caribbean, the southern colonies in the area ■3x"between, boston and nova sc, which would be future become the future state of maine. british admiral graves at the time sent two merchant vessels loaded with flour and other food supplies and guarded the armed schooner margherita to the town. and beatrice, massachusetts. future maine in the area. and that's the picture. you see depicted in the middle. local patriots captured the two merchant vessels, but the margherita escaped and the americans grabbed pitchforks and muskets, boarded the merchant and gave chase the were lucky. the resultant battle of margherita, also° known the battle of machias became, the first american naval victory and

the first naval fight of the american revolution. four days later, colonel william prescott led approximately 1600 americans up breed's hill, not bunker hill, but breed's hill on the charleston peninsula. resulting in a british victory but at a very high cost. three days later, george washington assumed command of the continental. outside of boston. the immediacy oft boston. the continental congress efforts on first establishing the army. but it would soon need to address the need for a navy and four marines not possess an either. at the time congress leraged a temporary stopgap in the use of privateers or sanctioned pirates in which private merchant were converted into warships and manned by civilian crews. capture british shipping on the high seas.

privateers had some positive impact in capturing british supplies, but many were in business for gain. their actions rarely coordinated with ground forces, and washington had no over them. in fact, they became a draw on thewer and resources that would later be needed by the continental army. navy, marines. realized that the privateers alone were insofar urgent to blockade the british in boston being resupplied and reinforced from overseas, so added necessity. he created his own navy using soldiers to fill role of sailor. colonel john glover, marblehead, massachusetts, provided washington with his first ship that you see depicted here and named it the honda in recognition of glover's wife. washington's navy soon grew to

six ships, and although they had early success, the challenge is associated with building a pickup team like this soon came to forefront. one of washington agents described the situation this way and i quote the people on board the brigantine washington aresce agreed to do no duty on said ships and say they enlisted to serve in the army and not as marines. benedict arnold and you see arnold's navy in the lower left hand corner depicting or excused there. he had a similar experience a year later when he was assigned in soldiers to man a fresh water fleet that he built on lake champlain in upstate new york to fight what would become the battle of bell corps to block british advances coming south from canada and arnold describes his folks this way we have a

wretched crew. the marines, the refuse of every regiment and the seamen, few of them ever wet with salt water, recognized in these challenges, congress was forced to act when it received an intelligence report■ on. the 5th of october 1775. the report said that there were two unprotected vessels moving from england, filled with reinforcements and resupply guys going to quebec. so congress assigned a committee of three consisting of john adams from new york, john langan from new hampshire, and silas from connecticut, to devise a plan to have washington captured these two vessels. they developed a plan in which they tasked washington with purchasing two merchanips, converting them into warships, and capturing these two vessels. the committee of three briefed the full congress otober, makinl

birthday of the and future united states navy. so washington had difficulty finding the ships in england. but thanks to the lucrative privateer business, there were no ships available up north. so he recommended that the congress look a little further south. so five merchant ships were purd converted into warships in philadelphia, pennsylvania. the navy now had its;%■ç first fleet. five converted merchant ships that were loaded and manned with cannons. but now it needed an admiral to this gentleman, isaac hopkins, 57 year old from providence, rhode island, who served as a privateer capta during e war. now, hopkins established largest of the five merchant vessels that alfred as his flagship that

you see depicted in this painting. and he identified a young sailor named john paul jones to be the first lieutenant for the navy's first flagship. and gentlemen, we're asking about the flags earlier as the first fleet prepared to saily o. it raised flags on the alfred. congress had approved the grand flag that you see in the officig of the united colonies. on the 3rd of december 1775, in advance of the declaration of independence and congressman christopher gadsden of south carolina and a member of the newly nowded marine committee presented paul jones with the flag. you see in the lower right hand side. the slide famously gadsden flag, which was approved on the 20th the december 1775.

so although congress had established a navy, it failed establish the marines to serve beside it until another fateful event occurred on november 2nd, 1775. the citizens of passamaquoddy, nova of canada joined in the struggle against the mother country as a 14th colony. the commiee petitioned congress to allow it to mission into. i quote the association of the north americans for the preservation, their rights and liberties. congress responded by commissioning the first continental marinehree days later. this gentleman, samuel nicholas, that you see depicted here on november 5th, samuel nicholas became first and therefore the senior marine officer when president of the continental congress at the time. john hancock signed his

commission. many mistakenly to this as designate nicholas as the first commandant ofbut that's not becs did not bestow that title on the commandant until 1798, during a quasi war against france, after the american revolution. nicholas was a 31 year old philadelphia native. he was born a quaker and his father died when he was seven years old. he attended the academy of philadelphia. became the future university of pennsylvania. and graduated at a of 16, after which he became a merchant and owner of contest omega wagon tavern in downtown philadelphia. starting a trend of marines being affiliated with alcohol that remained strong this day. and any of you marines out there know what i'm talking about. all right. but nicholas, would honorably serve as a senior marine. the war from 15 thro the first s

became the first marine recruiter. following the noterom pastor mccarty, congress energized the marine committee. now increase to five members by ed in john from new york and stephen hopkin from rhode island. recognize last name, nepotism was alive and well. the first fleet, admiral hoin was a brother of the congressman. they met on second story room of this building you sedeon the sl, which is commonly accepted the birthplace of the united states marines today. brooks how that building no longer in philadelphia. there's just a historical marker on the site where it but there are gentlemen that have purchased land in very close proximity to the original location that are now rebuilt in an■çtavern

and. hope to have that complete by the 250th anniversary on passamaquoddy advice, congress developeth from to conduct a naval campaign to capture the british principal naval base located in halifax, nova scotia. the committee presented its recommendation to the full congress on the 9th of november, and the fgress resolved. i quote that two battalions of marines be raised, that they be distinguished by the names of second battalion of american marines making the 10th in november. the official of the united states marines, regardless of where they are in the world, regardless of what their circumstances are, they still celebrate the birth of our core today and again, i shared with dr. brooks earlier how i distinctly recall being in a combat situation. we@w

have a full ball, a large birthday cake. so i took one of my my what we call meals ready to eat field rations had pound cake in it, took that little pound cake out, put a match in it and lit it. and we sang happy birthday to the marine corps.what marines. so congress directed washington order to form these two battalions of marines to cherry pick soldiers out of his battalions holding the british under siege in boston. and those sailors, soldiers that may have had any type of maritime experience like john glover's folks, he used to create his own navy outside of boston. but washington was his own challenges at the time, so he balked at the idea. he also balk idea, leading an expedition up to capture halifax. he had his hands full and challenges galore outsid■=e of boston. so john hancock acquiesced, but

he was still determined to form body of marines for service with the fleet. soongres directed nicholas and other marine officers to recruit their own men. this picture depicts, those first recruits. congress chose to organize the marines differently than thtwo battalions they originally envisioned. in order to have them be able to easily tnsition from fighting at sea to fighting ashore. so theyed first marines into ten companies of 50 marines each one company of 50 marines could be as marine detachment on board that ship if required. do limited operations ashore, they could task, organize those 50 man companies into larger battalions to fight ashore. and that's, in fact, what would happen in support of george washgt■jon during ten crucial

days, which we'll talk about here in a moment. nicholas led the effort recruit fiw've companies to man the fleet's first five ships and he took personal command of the marine detachment on board the alfred the flagship. a snapshot of lieutenant isaac kriegsmarine detachment on the ship, andrew duryea provides a good of a continental marine company. in 1775. craig's consisted of 40 marines, few of which were born in they were mostly immigrants from great britain, ireland, holland and germany. all but one of the marines was recruited from philadelphia. their average age was 25 and a half years old, with the youngest being 18 and the oldest being 40. age height was five foot six, with the shortest marine five three and a half inches and the tallest being six foot.

brought a wealth of background and experience to their unit. they included carpenters, masons, barbers, bakers, cabinet makers, coopers jewelers, brass founders, tailors, butchers, painters, wool climbers, millers, servants, and a single doctor. so the american fleet set sail on its inaugural cruise on january. fourth 1776. in all the fleet at this time consisted of seven ships armed with 110 cannons 680 sailors and 234 marines. now, hopkins, the admiral, had two sets of orders when he set sail. he opened up the first set of orders, and it basically told him what the congress has expectations of the good order and discipline of the fleet would be and how they were to perform their duties. and one of the principal duties of the marines with the fleet is to maintain good order and discipline. the second s oidentified severad

quite frankly, unrealistic tasks. hopkins was to bay, where he was to locate capture or destroy the fleet located there. now, think about this. this is the most powerful navy in the world. men in ships of war with nearly 100 cannons in their top line vessels. we had seven converted merchant ships. if that was not enough once he was mp fleet off of the virginia coast, he was then to proceed down the carolinas where he was to do the same thing, locate the fleetjb down there ad destroy that fleet. and if that were not enough, once that was complete, he was to shoot back up north, engage e the rhode island coast and destroy that fleet as well. so, you know, however, as these orders, he found that there was

a caveat in orders that he hoped to exploit. it stated, i quote, if bad winds or stormy or any other unforeseen accident or disaster, disable you so to do you then to follow such course as your best judgment shall suggest. well, hopkins wisely chose to use his better judgment, and determinedfollow his own plan. he had earlier received an intelligence report that there was gunpowder and weapons being held down in the bahamas at a place called providence and new providence was once very and ito forts for my ten go garden. the eastern approaches to nassau and fort nassau garden. the western approaches to nassau which was the capital of new providence. now events on the north american continent had weakened the island's defenses when its

regiment of regulars was sent north to reinforce british forces fighting in. governor montfort browne, who was the of new providence, established a 300 man militia force and he had one small schooner, the saint john for protection. now, hopkins tasked samuel with capturing both of these forts with 220 marines and 50 sailors. unfortunate fleet. the fleet was discovered before the raid and brown had most of the gunpowder shipped to eastern florida before the marines landed. regardless, nicholas, the marines in a successful raid and they captured both forts with 88 cannons, 15 mortars and an abundance of ordnance and of no, this exceeds the number of guns transported by henry knox from fort ticonderoga to washington outside of boston. it's just that they were a

thousand miles south of boston, and knox arrived with his cannons before the marines and sailors arrived theirs. but nonetheless, those cannons were used effectively throughout the rest of the war and in at the time attempted to escape during the raid and he was placed on house and guarded by marines. he later complained that the marines and i, quote, use that discretion. all of my wines and other liquors as did everything else, they had occasion for. you know, now hopks loaded, brown and the prize was captured by the marines. he departed for rhode island. brown was later used in a prisoner exchange toase of amern sullivan, who had been captured during the battle of long island earlier. as they wereoving north towards rhode island. they understood that strategically this first amphibious operation conducted by the navy and marines had

other benefits. what it did achieve was it forced the british to employ their naval forces over a much broader area in order to protect its other holdings across world. because the marines and sailors demonstrated they could strike them where and when they wanted. that's the great advantage of naval as theet north. the british sent the force the delaware river to test the american defenses protect and philadelphia trying to use their advantage of maneuver of seas. this resulted in a second stage of recruitment of sailors and marines, which included a gentle named robert mullen. mullen was the owner of the ton tavern, the official birthplace of the. this also the time when a gentleman named john martin, otherwise known as cato, became the first african-american recruited in april of 1776.

now hopkins captured several british merchant vessels on their way to rhodean a frigate's depicted in this. the frigate was known as the glasgow, and itesulted in the death of second lieutenant john fitzpatrick of nicholas's marine detachment. you see that being depicted in this painting on board the alfred making this the first marine killed in combat during the american revolution and therefore our history. on nicholas excuse me. hopkins sent nicholas back to philadelphia with dispatches for the congress giving him the word about the successful raid in providence. congress promoted nicholas on the spot to major and they assigned for new companies of marines. excuse me. these man the marines detachmens

on four of the 13 original frigates that the congress had authorized to be built to fight the war. these are warships being built from the keel up. the first in the united states navy. warships plans were dispersed across the major seaports of the eastern seaboard for them. the washington, the delaware, the effingham and the randolph safe were being constructed in philadelphia. nicholas was assigned those four companies, the marines, to man those ships. well, in the meantime and i apologize, this may be a little difficult to see, but in the meantime shifts his army to new york. the british evacuated boston. and now washington islenged oncg a credible naval force, which would play to his disadvantage. what do you notice about this map here?

this is manhattan island and this is new jersey. long. what do you notice about this area? there's a lot of water and controls the waterways can control the war and the battle. so once again, we don't have a credible navy to be able to engage the royal navy. so washington does what he did before. he created his own navy using 0s■soldiers, serve in the role f sailors and marines. unfortunately, it was never adequate to be able to meet the needs. and when isaac hopkins took the fleet up into rhode island they were blockade made by a british fleet located up there. so they were not successful in assisting with the fight for new york. by mid august 1776, the british had assembled a massive of 32,000 troops supported by a fleet of 10,000 sailors.

2000 marines. men and hundreds of vessels armed with over 1200 cannons. washington 19,000 green troops militi formed. units to become soldiers and no navy or marines. the tcthe army faced a string of defeats, starting with the battle of long island in august. washington a slight victory in the battle of harlem heights in september. only to defeat, face defeat at white plains in october. arnold fought valiant lee up in upstate new york during the battle bell corps island that same month. but the americans face a devasted fate and defeat at fort mgwashington in november, follod by loss of fort lee in new jersey that same month, and washington an at this time is now being pursued by british forces is across new jersey

until the 8th of december, when he crosses the delaware river south into pennsylvania pennsylvania. to make matters worse, general grant of the british forces captured newport, rhode island, that same month. so this is a difficult time for the connental forces. disease is desertion. casualties terminate and enlistments had all dwindled. with those are accompanying him south of the delaware to about 2500. something needed war, and washington knew he had to seize the initiative back from the british. or the war could be lost. but he needed more troops. enter washington's marines. so washington's marinesour sepad distinct groups. i already mentioned to you that

washington had soldiers fill in the role of marines as depicted here by. that picture of john glover that you see in the left hand side. and i mentioned that there were well. privateers were served in the role of marines as well, particular on some of the larger ships. an example, this is a gentleman named william shippen. william shippen was a 27 year old merchant from philadelphia. and the of four. he started the war as a privateer before assuming command of the marine detachment on board the pennsylvania state flagship, thee separate stage hd their own navies as well because the continental congress had not yet been able to acquire the resources to build a national navy with the british international eyes now on philadelphia's doorstep ship and went ashore to fight beside the continental marines as a member

of the philadelphia militia unit known as the s.o.s. unfortunately, ship would be killed in the battle of princeton in the coming weeks, making him the first state marine to be killed in the war. the pennsylvania navy consisted of 48 vessels of various sizes to include two floating arnold in putnam, each with 12 18 pounds cannons manned exclusively by pennsylvia state marines like you see in this center photo. that is 29 year old thomas forest, who received a commission and a pennsylvania marines in march of 76. he commanded the arnold until transferred on october fifth to the pennsylvania state artillery to command his own company. now force play a critical role in the upcoming and the #x■,gentlemen see on the right s andrew porter. andrew porter was a schoolmaster

in philadelphia when he ce as al national marine. many of the marines in his were reportedly his current or previous students. now, porter commanded the marine to task been on board the frigate f and ham and would fight as a company under samuel nicholas in the coming battles. but there's an interesting story about this gentleman. a bit of trivialater resigned he commission to take on a full time army as an artillery fihappened a moment, but just lt it be known that while he was serving as an army officer, there was another army officer named major eustace who called him out one day and said, are porter, you are nothing but a -- schoolmaster. and out and said, i have not forgotten my vocation, sir, and struck him in the back with the flat of the

sword. does anybody know what that o a duel. you are a disgrace to me. and i'm calling you out. so they met on thedowntown phil. they drew pistols and boom, ■íñsporter shoots eustace right through the heart and kills him on the spot. and because of that, he was court martialed, thinking his career was over. he was laterz exonerated, though promoted to major. then, given the assignment of, the gentleman he had just killed. it all works out in the end. a marine's honor. it doesn't end well for people. okay. so nicholas received his orders at this time from, the congress to consolidate the marine detachments on those four vessels being constructed in and to move up delaware river to link up with george washington to see how they can support the

of. they get to river and washington is perplexed. heow how to deal with these marines, but he has this gentleman named john called walter. karl walter was the brigade for the philadelphia militia known as the associated, who also came upriver to join washington in the army. so whingn rns to walter and he says, go talk to those marines and find out whether they mean to fight on land or on the water. and karl walter says they're gointo fight for you, general, and washington says very well, sir, i place them under your command. the continental marine says would fight as a sarate9j■8 and distinct battalion under or the philadelphia associated during the ten crucial days. so before arriving at the delaware, washington had the

foresight to collect all the boats up. the delaware river for 70 miles upriver from philadelphia. so when general howe, who was pursuing washingtonea to the delaware, they made a feeble attempt to find boats, but there were none to be found. so he did what most times of inclement weather. they went into winter quarters on december 1776. general, how established 17 separate control movements across eastern new jersey are the areas closest tthe americans and. for reference, this is trenton in the middle of the map and this area that was closest to the americans who were along the shores of the delaware were commanded by a hessian named colonel carl von donner. he has his troops, the burlington and border town.

was a gentleman named colonel johann rawl, who commanded a brigade trenton proper. as the hessians settled into their winter quarters. washington began to gather what forces he could while seeking intelligence to an important stroke against the enemy in washington knew again he had to seize the initiative. otherwise the war may be lost. but hens he wanted to meet before he could act. the first was that consolidation of forces. and not only did he have the associated z marines come philadelphia, which is down here in the bottom of the map. but he also assigned is continental forces under general charles lee and horatio gates to come down from new york and join him and fill in pennsylvania. he also needed favorable on the ground and he accomplished this through conducting several harassment raids to where the

hessian forces down in the area d participated did in several of these raids. and the third thing he needed to do was to the enemy, make a mistake that he could. and thatd when militia forces under general putnam were sent across the delarcolonel voe them towards the other shore across from philadelphia. in doing that, what he was he removed himself from being able to mutually support role in trenton. it was 22 miles away and a full day's march away, which provided washington with a golden opportunity. so washington came up capture te hessians in trenton. he lead his of 2400 continental soldiers with thomas force, the former pennsylvania state marine, and his battery of

across mcconkey ferry and to a nine mile march to attack rawl in trenton. from the n■7th west. and then he had three supporting efforts. the first one, and this is the history that no one knows. the first one was new jerseypen. who was supposed to cross right at trenton and capture a key bridge across the us and trunk? that was to prevent rawl being able to escape. once washington attacked col walder and nicholas with the brigade ofa4o2 philadelphia ande marines were cross in the bristol area and were to establish blocking■i from able o reinforce rawl once and then the final support and effort was putting him send a more militiaf fortunately washington's was the

only one of the four to successfully cross the delaware river on christmas day. if you look obviously this is the famous of the delaware. you see the ice in snow forming on the river. this is an actual picture, delaware river. and what the conditions look like at that time of year. so although washington was able with john glover's help get his force across the militia, that was supposed to cross right where trenton falls is located, where facing conditions lik't e. the marines in philadelphia staters actually got two thirds of their force across the river before a nor'easter hit. a blizzard came in. and the conditions so dangerous that karl walder aborted the mission, bringing his forces ck philadelphia, to pennsylvania. he thought that no one else was able to successfully cross either.

and then thewn by philadelphia was also unsuccessful in crossing. so the next morning, karl walters in the process of writing a note to washington, ying, hey, i'm sorry, none of us were able to get across river and also and boom, he hears cannon going off in the direction of trent son of a gun across the river. so what does he do? the marines are now animated. there's a philadelphia make the decision to cross back over new jersey, to join washington in the fight. over into the new jersey side, washington, the decision after successfully capture and nearly a thousandback into philadelphie he knows that there's about 10,000 british soldiers up in the princeton. so now washington's on the south side of the river cole during the marines are on the northern side of the river.

and what they are doing■e is thy are now trying to take von dunlop's forces under pursuit out who are retreating up towards princeton, where there's a british brigade holding out. karl walter identifies that washington now re crossed into philadel into pennsylvania excuse me. and so he starts to get cold feet and he wants to abort the mission again. the marines are having none of it. his associates are havinnone it. no. ask washington. come back over the river and let's continue this fight. we have the advantage. we have the initiative. so washington does make the decision to cross over once more into new jersey and now wants to try and consolidate