Taggert Of The Marines
Novel by
David Ekardt
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Novel by
David Ekardt |
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The Marine Corps was given birth 10 November 1775 in Peg Mullen’s Beefsteak Tavern on Tun Alley (better known to all Marines as Tun Tavern), in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This came just a couple of weeks after the Navy was created. Both were the products of John Adams’ Committee on Naval Affairs (alternately known as the Marine Committee or the Naval Committee). The Marine Corps was to consist of two battalions commanded by a Colonel. Samuel Nicholas, a Philadelphia native, was put in command. His family owned the Conestogoe Wagon Tavern which along with Tun Tavern was used as rendezvous points in recruiting. Robert Mullen of Tun Tavern raised a company in January 1776 as captain.
There were throughout the war, three types of Marines. The US Marines as created above, individual states’ marines, as several of the states had their own small navies, and the privateer marines. These were privately owned ships that were given letters of marque as privateers to attack enemy shipping. The privateers made good profit during the war. The others did share in prize money when they were fortunate to capture enemy cargo ships which were taken to port to have the ships and their cargoes sold at auction.
The duties of the Marine Battalions consisted of guarding naval stores and yards, duty aboard ships, and duty with the army. The flagship of the fledgling Navy was the Alfred, a converted cargo ship.
It is said that at this time in March 1776, that the Navy and Marines flew the Gadsden flag which had a rattlesnake and the slogan, “Don’t Tread On Me!”
The first action of the new fleet was to attack New Providence Island in the Bahamas where the British had great stores of war material. Commodore Essex had hoped to sail right into the harbor at Nassau, however the residents had seen the fleet in time to fire shots at it as the ships approached. The fleet sailed to the other end of the island where they achieved an unopposed landing under the direction of John Paul Jones. This was the first of many Marine landings and one of the few unopposed ones. The Marines and sailors captured Fort Montague and held the position for the night. The next morning they moved overland to Port Nassau which they took after giving terms to the governor.
Painting by Charles Waterhouse USMC Museum The Marines and sailors of the fleet captured both Fort Montague and Fort Nassau with only a couple of defiant shots fired from Fort Nassau by cannon so old that it fell apart. The island was protected by local troops who did not have the desire to fight the invaders.
The landing force captured a considerable amount of war material, however the governor had managed to send all the badly needed gunpowder off the island before the force took the second fort on the second day. General Washington’s Army benefited from the stores captured by the fleet.
On the way back from the Bahamas, the small fleet took part in a night action taking some casualties, but also capturing two more British ships before returning to port.
Later that year, Washington who insisted on having control of the Navy and the Marines, pulled the Marines to assist the Army as it was being driven across New Jersey by the British. As winter assailed the fighting forces, Washington had been driven across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. The enlistments of his troops were expiring, and he knew that if he did not end the fighting season with a victory, there would be few recruits rejoining the Army in the spring to continue the war. The Marines took charge of many river crossings guarding them from possible British attack. They made several scouting trips into the New Jersey countryside and on more than one occasion came up against the vaunted Jaeger Corps, the pride of the Hessian mercenary forces. The Jaeger Corps units were armed with rifles and the ranks were filled with the best hunters and shots in all of the German provinces. Coincidentally, they wore green uniforms as did the Marines.
Washington twice convinced his soldiers to extend their enlistments by a few weeks, and on Christmas Eve during a blinding snowstorm, crossed the Delaware and attacked the main Hessian forces at Trenton, driving them out of the town. The militia and Marine forces were unable to cross the river downstream that night as the river froze up too far out from the bank to land. They did land the next day and continued the fight. The final fight was at Princeton where the Marines played a key part in defeating the British and Hessian forces.
The enemy withdrew into winter quarters as did the American Army. A large part of Washington’s forces, returned to their homes for the winter with a major victory behind them. The Marines stayed on with Washington during the winter, manning his artillery and performing guard and scout duty along the Delaware River.
Painting by Charles Waterhouse USMC Museum That winter, the British and Hessian troops pillaged, raped and plundered the New Jersey countryside. They turned the inhabitants that were not too keen on the idea of breaking away from England into die hard revolutionaries. The following spring, Washington tried to keep the remaining Marines in his Army, while several went back to ships. They fought on through the rest of the war in ship-to-ship actions and many other small actions. This is the time frame of the story of Taggert of the Marines. The story is fiction; however it follows close to the real actions.
Charles
Waterhouse prints done for the Marine Museum are available for sale at
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