Happy Birthday to the United States Marine Corps.
We took the Rope from the Army
We took the Eagle from the Airforce
We took the Anchor from the Navy
And on the seventh day, when God rested,
We over ran his perimeter and have been
running the show Ever since
Happy 228th Brothers and Sisters, young and old!!!!!!
Semper Fidelus
(Always Faithful)
Tun Tavern
Philadelphia 1775
The Tun Tavern (the "Tavern") was a brew house
built by Samuel Carpenter in 1685.
It was located on Philadelphia's historic waterfront
at the corner of Water Street and Tun Alley
leading to Carpenter’s Wharf near what is today known as
"Penn's Landing."
On November 10, 1775, Robert Mullan, the proprietor of the Tavern
and son of Peggy Mullan, was commissioned by an act of Congress
to raise the first two battalions of Marines,
under the leadership of Samuel Nicholas,
the first appointed Commandant of the Continental Marines.
Nicholas's grandfather was also a member of the
Tun Tavern Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons
and it is this relationship between Mullan, Nicholas and the
Tavern which has resulted in Tun Tavern being acknowledged
as the birthplace of the United States Marine Corps.
Resolution of the Continental Congress
"That two Battalions of Marines be raised consisting of
one Colonel, 2 Lt. Colonels, 2 Majors, and Officers
as usual in other regiments, that they consist of an equal number
of privates with other Battalions, that particular care be taken
that no person be appointed to Officer or enlisted in said Battalions,
but such as are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime
affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea."
It has been theorized by historians, that since the "Tavern"
was host to such notables as George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and members of the
1st and 2nd Continental Congress, that the resolution that
created the Marine Corps was drafted and adopted at the Tavern
Historians have revealed that even though the
"Resolution of the Continental Congress"
provided authority to appoint a Colonel to command the two
Battalions of Marines, the highest rank achieved during the
Revolutionary War was that only of Major
Robert Mullan, then proprietor of the "Tavern,
received word that he was commissioned by an act of the
"Continental Congress"
to seek out volunteers for the formation of the first two
Battalions of Marines, which would be under the direction of
Samuel Nicholas, who had been duly appointed the first
Commandant of the Continental Marines by the Continental Congress
November 28, 1775
In just under 3 weeks, the two Battalions had been raised, and it
was at that time, that Samuel Nicholas was officially appointed
"Captain of the Marines"
(the 1st Commandant)
The "Continental Marines" enter the Revolutionary War
We took the Rope from the Army
We took the Eagle from the Airforce
We took the Anchor from the Navy
And on the seventh day, when God rested,
We over ran his perimeter and have been
running the show Ever since
Happy 228th Brothers and Sisters, young and old!!!!!!
Semper Fidelus
(Always Faithful)