Happy 250th anniversary to the USMC

[Catch1lion]

On 11/10 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Marines were founded . Tom if you want to put in any of your personal recollections of the day feel free . . Thank you men .

 

[Tom McAndrew]

On 11/10 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Marines were founded . Tom if you want to put in any of your personal recollections of the day feel free . . Thank you men .

LOL

There have been a number of events celebrating the anniversary in general, and in the Philadelphia area, over the past month. I've partaken in a few of them, especially those that were online.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Something that recently arrived in my e-mail related to the 250th:

Samuel Nicholas: The Lost Commandant “Indeed that he is buried in an unmarked grave, in such Hallowed ground, far from obscure, yet that his name and fame would be forgotten in the neighborhood where he lived and died.” -John P. Tinneny to Leonard P. Chapman, January 16, 1968 Born in 1744 to a prominent Quaker family, Samuel Nicholas was once a well-known Philadelphian and lived a complex life balancing his faith and the fight for independence. Nicholas and his wife, Mary Jenkins, were members of the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia (MMFP), and when the Revolution began, they, like many Quakers, wrestled with questions of loyalty and commitment to the testimony of peace. On November 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution for “two Battalions of Marines be raised”, officially forming the Continental Marines. Samuel Nicholas chose to serve, and on November 28, 1775, he was commissioned by John Hancock as the very first officer of the Marines. This decision went against his Quaker beliefs, and he was among four members of MMFP to be read out of meeting (disowned) for his military involvement.

​ Still, when Nicholas died of illness in 1790, he was laid to rest in the Friends’ Burial Ground at 4th and Arch Street with his family, just fourteen years before the meetinghouse’s construction. His grave remained unmarked, and his story was lost to time.

Almost two centuries later, in 1968, Marine veteran and local history enthusiast John P. Tinneny began reaching out to both the United States Marine Corps and Arch Street Meeting House to advocate for a memorial honoring Nicholas. His letters sparked decades of correspondence among Marines, historians, and Friends, all trying to better understand Maj. Nicholas’ life and legacy. While a memorial gravestone couldn’t be placed at the time of Tinnenny’s inquiry, the story stayed alive for nearly forty years. In 2013, a simple, Quaker-style memorial marker was finally installed in ASMH’s Burial Ground, recognizing both Nicholas’ historic role and the complex choices Friends faced during that turbulent era. As we prepare for the U.S. Semiquincentennial celebrations, marking 250 years since our nation’s founding, stories like Samuel Nicholas’ remind us that the journey towards independence was not just a revolutionary movement, but a personal and spiritual struggle for many Philadelphians, including Quakers.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

A little more on Samuel Nicholas:

Major Samuel Nicholas, the first Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps — Arch Street Meeting House

Samuel Nicholas was the first Commandant of the Continental Marines, the precursor to the U.S. Marine Corps. He was proprietor of the Conestoga Wagon Inn, which served as the administrative heart of the Marines before Tun Tavern.

www.historicasmh.org

 

[Cabinpenn]

Before graduating from Penn State, I was a proud graduate of Parris Island, South Carolina! Already drank a couple of cold beers for Chesty today.

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Dan Dailey.