Army and Navy Review 1915 Panama-California Edition - Balboa Park

THE MARINES
By Captain C. H. Lyman
THE MARINE goes back to antiquity, to the days when vessels
were first used in warfare. Originally the Marine was a soldier
solely, embarked on the vessel for fighting purposes, and had no
part whatever in the handling of the vessel, this duty being performed
by sailors. At this period vessels were propelled by oars,
and the complement consisted of three distinct bodies, the oarsmen, usually
slaves; the sailors who navigated the vessel; and the soldiers who were
aboard for fighting purposes only.
The Marine Corps has the distinction of being the oldest military body
in the service of the United States, it having been organized by act of the
Continental Congress in 1775, which was prior to the organization of either
the Army or the Navy.
The two battalions of Marines organized by the above act fought all
through the Revolutionary war, taking a notable part in practically every
naval engagement, and were disbanded at the end of the war.
The present Marine Corps was organized by act of Congress on the
11th day of July, 1798, and has borne a gallant part in every naval action
since that time.
The Marine, owing to events of recent years, is becoming better known
to the people of the United States. We still hear occasionally the query,
“What are Marines,” but this query is being heard less frequently. The
people are beginning to realize that the Marines are sea-soldiers, who are
equally at home on short or afloat. The Marine Corps, because of its training,
is the most mobile force in the United States, and because of its great
mobility, is the branch that is first on the scene in any trouble in which
the United States may become involved. Thus the battalion of Marines
under Colonel Huntington was the first American force to be landed in
Cuba in 1898; it established a base at Guantanamo, Cuba, and held this base
against tremendous odds. Then again in China in 1900, during the Boxer
trouble, Colonel Waller’s Marines were first to the relief of the legations.
The Marine Corps today consists of approximately ten thousand officers
and men, serving ashore and afloat, approximately two thousand
serving aboard vessels of the Navy, where they constitute one-eighth of
the complement of the ship. The rest of the Corps is serving ashore in the
United States at our various navy yards, and in our foreign possessions.
We have Marines guarding the legations at Pekin, China, and Managua,
Nicaragua, and Marines at Cavite and Olongapo in the Philippine Islands;
Guantanamo, Cuba; Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii; and Guam, Marianne
Island.
Aboard ship the Marines perform practically all the duties that the
bluejackets perform, having a certain number of the large guns turned over
to them, usually the guns of the secondary battery, which constitute the
torpedo defense of the ship, and which range in size from three to seveninch.
While the Marine is not stationed at the guns of the main battery
of the ship, he is trained at those guns, in order that in case of necessity
he may fill vacancies at those guns. In addition, the Marine performs the
guard duty of the ship, and also performs the orderly duty. Because of
his training as a soldier, the Marines of a ship constitute the backbone of
any force sent ashore from the ship.