Adams turned quickly to naval questions, although he admitted Congress was preoccupied with other matters. He expected interest in maritime issues to grow. So, the lawyer took up his pen to survey fellow rebel leaders in Massachusetts, wanting to know how many men in the colony might be available for service as sailors or marines, in addition to potential officers and ships the Congress or the colony might employ.[3]
November was furiously busy for Congress. Attention naturally drifted towards the invasion of Canada, but the body also sought to tamp down a growing conflict between Pennsylvania and Connecticut over control of the Wyoming Valley, settle debts to merchants and some recruited army units, establish a firmer foundation for the army gathered outside Boston, offer guidelines to New Hampshire for establishing representative institutions, and make recommendations to South Carolina’s Convention or Committee of Safety take steps to defend Charleston.[4]
On November 10, however, the Continental Congress took a step that would prove monumental in American military history. Amid the fifteen resolutions it adopted that day, one called for the establishment of a marine corps:
“Resolved, That two Battalions of marines be raised, consisting of one Colonel, two Lieutenant Colonels, two Majors, and other officers as usual in other regiments; and that they consist of an equal number of privates with other battalions; that particular care be taken, that no persons be appointed to office, or inlisted into said Battalions, but such as are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea when required: that they be inlisted and commissioned to serve for and during the present war between Great Britain and the colonies, unless dismissed by order of Congress: that they be distinguished by the names of the first and second battalions of American Marines, and that they be considered as part of the number which the continental Army before Boston is ordered to consist of.”[5]
The resolution itself was remarkable in several ways. First, Congress explicitly acknowledged a state of war. It had spent much of the summer and autumn prevaricating on the issue, officially still holding out the possibility of reconciliation with Great Britain. Ambiguity was important to mollify the moderates in Congress. Second, marines were to enlist for the duration of the war. Just six days earlier, in laying out the rules and regulations for the army, Congress directed Washington to survey his officers to see who would continue to serve under the new rules and that they seek to re-enlist their soldiers only through the end of 1776.[6] Third, marines were expected to have an additional skill set compared to soldiers in the army, i.e., they had to be good seamen or at least familiar enough with ships to serve capably at sea. Fourth, Congress did not create American Marines as a subservient element of the Continental Navy, although everyone understood marines served aboard ship.
Two other resolutions portended possible early actions for the new corps of marines. The Congress received the report of the committee examining Passamaquoddy’s petition. Congress had already committed resources to the invasion of Quebec. Nova Scotia would be another plumb if it fell into American hands. The Royal Navy’s North American Station was normally headquartered in Halifax, where substantial shipyard facilities supported its operations. One historian argues that the committee sought to launch a second invasion with an eye toward depriving Britain of these important facilities.[7] Marines would be key to the mission.
Congress, however, was not prepared as a body to go that far. Instead, it decided to send two people to Nova Scotia to determine “the disposition of the inhabitants towards the American cause” and the extent of Britain’s defenses in the area. These spies would report their findings to General Washington. While Congress hoped he might send an expedition to Nova Scotia to seize such supplies as it could carry and destroy the rest, it left the ultimate decision to Washington’s discretion “in case he should judge it practicable and expedient.”[8]
Washington objected to the Congressional plan for creating marines, arguing that the raising two battalions from the Continental Army besieging Boston would weaken it and complicate an ongoing reorganization in the middle of operations. He suggested raising the marine battalions in New York and Philadelphia.[9] Washington did engage two men, Aaron Willard and Moses Child, to undertake the spy mission to Nova Scotia.[10] He later highlighted to Congress that the enlistment periods for men in the army were shorter than those proposed for marines, which would suggested to him that continuing in the army’s service before Boston would be preferable to service in the American Marines.[11] On November 30, Congress relented and ordered that the marine battalions be raised independently of the army in Massachusetts.[12]
In the meantime, on November 28 the first American marine, Samuel Nicholas, was commissioned as a “Captain of Marines.” As President of the Congress, John Hancock signed the commission.[13] The Marine Corps was off and running, establishing traditions that survive today, 250 years late as the United States Marine Corps celebrates its birthday.
[1] Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, Volume III. 1775, (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1905), 311. Hereafter JCC, volume, page.
[2] JCC, III, 316.
[3] “John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, November 5, 1775” and “John Adams to James Warren, November 5, 1775,” William Bell Clark, ed., Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Volume 2, (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1966), 896-897. Hereafter, NDAR, volume, page.
[4] JCC, III, 316. Immediately after authorizing the Naval Committee to draw on the treasury to outfit a navy, Congress took up the Passamaquoddy petition on November 2.
[5] JCC, III, 348.
[6] JCC, III, 324.
[7] Charles R. Smith, Marines in the Revolution: A History of the Continental Marines in the American Revolution, 1775-1783 (Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, U.S. Marine Corps, 1975), 7-8.
[8] JCC, III, 348; “John Hancock to George Washington, 10 November 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0317.
[9] “George Washington to John Hancock, 19 November 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0367.
[10] “Instructions to Aaron Willard and Moses Child, 24 November 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0388.
[11] “George Washington to John Hancock, 28 November 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0404.
[12] JCC, III, 393.
[13] Smith, Marines in the Revolution: A History of the Continental Marines in the American Revolution, 1775-1783, 12-13; Major General Jason Q. Bohm, USMC, Washington’s Marines: The Origins of the Corps and the American Revolution, 1775-1777, Kindle, ed., (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2023), 9 of 346.
Emerging Revolutionary War Era 