United States Marine Corps

=== Foundation and American Revolutionary War ===
{{More citations needed|section|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Portrait of First Leader of Marines, Maj. Samuel Nicholas.jpg|thumb|upright|Maj. [[Samuel Nicholas]], first Commandant of the Marine Corps, was nominated to lead the Continental Marines by [[John Adams]] in November 1775.]]

The United States Marine Corps traces its roots to the [[Continental Marines]] of the [[American Revolutionary War]], formed by Captain [[Samuel Nicholas]] by a resolution of the [[Second Continental Congress]] on 10 November 1775, to raise two [[battalion]]s of marines.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Marine Corps University > Research > Marine Corps History Division > People > Who's Who in Marine Corps History > Mackie - Ozbourn > Major Samuel Nicholas |url=https://www.usmcu.edu/Research/Marine-Corps-History-Division/People/Whos-Who-in-Marine-Corps-History/Mackie-Ozbourn/Major-Samuel-Nicholas/ |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=www.usmcu.edu}}</ref> This date is celebrated as the [[United States Marine Corps birthday|birthday of the Marine Corps]]. Nicholas was nominated to lead the Marines by [[John Adams]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Upton|first1=Stewart|date=6 November 2014|title=First Marine Corps Leader All About Institution, Not Self|url=https://www.imef.marines.mil/News/News-Article-Display/Article/554000/first-marine-corps-leader-all-about-institution-not-self/|access-date=29 July 2020|website=www.imef.marines.mil|publisher=U.S. Marine Corps|quote=During this time of the late 1760s and into the 1770s leading up to the War for our Independence … Samuel Nicholas would spend time aboard super-cargo merchant ships traveling to and from China. At the time of his nomination by (future U.S. President) John Adams to lead the Continental Marines in Nov. of 1775, he would have been well known in the community of Philadelphia for his maritime knowledge and experience.|archive-date=25 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025112036/https://www.imef.marines.mil/News/News-Article-Display/Article/554000/first-marine-corps-leader-all-about-institution-not-self/|url-status=live}}</ref> By December 1775, Nicholas raised one battalion of 300 men by recruitment in his home city of Philadelphia.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Marine Corps Birthday and Veterans Day – A Message from the NPS President |url=https://nps.edu/-/u.s.-marine-corps-birthday-and-veterans-day-a-message-from-the-nps-president |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=nps.edu |language=en-US}}</ref>

In January 1776, the Marines went to sea under the command of Commodore [[Esek Hopkins]] and in March undertook their first amphibious landing, the [[Raid of Nassau|Battle of Nassau]] in the Bahamas, occupying the British port of Nassau for two weeks.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=Marines at the Battle of Princeton |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/marines-battle-princeton |website=The American Battlefield Trust |date=30 January 2017 |publisher=American Battlefield Trust |access-date=28 July 2020 |archive-date=29 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729030644/https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/marines-battle-princeton |url-status=live }}</ref> On 3 January 1777, the Marines arrived at the [[Battle of Princeton]] attached to General [[John Cadwalader (general)|John Cadwalader]]'s brigade, where they had been assigned by General [[George Washington]]; by December 1776, Washington was retreating through New Jersey and, needing veteran soldiers, ordered Nicholas and the Marines to attach themselves to the [[Continental Army]]. The [[Battle of Princeton]], where the Marines along with Cadwalader's brigade were personally rallied by Washington, was the first land combat engagement of the Marines; an estimated 130 marines were present at the battle.<ref name="auto"/>

At the end of the American Revolution, both the [[Continental Navy]] and Continental Marines were disbanded in April 1783. The institution was resurrected on 11 July 1798; in preparation for the [[Quasi-War]] with [[French First Republic|France]], Congress created the United States Marine Corps.<ref>{{cite web |author= U.S. Congress |author-link= Congress of the United States |title= An Act for Establishing and Organizing a Marine Corps |date= 11 July 1798 |url= http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=7833&page=1 |access-date= 6 August 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100610134122/http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=7833&page=1 |archive-date= 10 June 2010 |url-status=live |df= dmy-all}}</ref> Marines had been enlisted by the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] as early as August 1797<ref>{{cite web |author= Captain John Barry |title= Muster Roll of Officers, Petty Officers, Seamen, and Marines, on the Frigate United States |date= 9 February 1798 |url= http://wardepartmentpapers.org/document.php?id=25096 |access-date= 16 May 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090827075735/http://wardepartmentpapers.org/document.php?id=25096 |archive-date= 27 August 2009 |url-status=live |df= dmy-all}}</ref> for service in the newly-built [[frigate]]s authorized by the Congressional "Act to provide a Naval Armament" of 18 March 1794,<ref>{{cite web |author= U.S. Congress |author-link= Congress of the United States |title= Act to provide a Naval Armament |date= 18 March 1794 |location= NARA |url= https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/new-us-navy/act-draft.html |access-date= 16 May 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110107211812/http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/new-us-navy/act-draft.html |archive-date= 7 January 2011 |url-status=live |df= dmy-all}}</ref> which specified the numbers of marines to recruit for each frigate.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003125-00/sec1.htm | title=A Different War: Marines in Europe and North Africa (Introduction) }}</ref>

The Marines' most famous action of this period occurred during the [[First Barbary War]] (1801–1805) against the [[Barbary pirates]],<ref>Richard Leiby, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A59720-2001Oct14 Terrorists by Another Name: The Barbary Pirates] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810132404/https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A59720-2001Oct14 |date=10 August 2018}}, [[The Washington Post]], 15 October 2001</ref> when [[William Eaton (soldier)|William Eaton]] and First Lieutenant [[Presley O'Bannon]] led 8 marines and 500 [[mercenary|mercenaries]] in an effort to capture [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]]. Though they only reached [[Battle of Derna (1805)|Derna]], the action at Tripoli has been immortalized in the [[Marines' Hymn]] and the [[Mameluke sword]] carried by Marine officers.<ref name="Simmons">{{Cite book |last= Simmons |first= Edwin H. |title= The United States Marines: A History, Fourth Edition |publisher= Naval Institute Press |year= 2003 |location= Annapolis, Maryland |isbn= 1-59114-790-5 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesmari0000simm_r8b9}}</ref>