By the 1840s, the young United States of America had started to flex its muscles, coveting the tempting, sparsely populated, and vast Mexican territories of the Southwest. President James Polk, deciding to make this dream real, organized the conquest of Texas and California. Following the annexation of Texas in July of 1845, he dispatched Marine First Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie on a covert mission to the U.S. consul at Monterey, California, with special instructions for the takeover of that Mexican territory. Gillespie joined the famous explorer John C. Fremont, who led the California rebellion a year later.[2]
Meanwhile, the United States had declared war on Mexico. General Winfield Scott's invasion force included a battalion of about three hundred Marines led by Brevet Captain Alvin Edson. Landing at the Mexican port of Vera Cruz in March, 1847 aboard specially designed landing boats (the first purpose-built landing craft), they helped take the port in a matter of just two weeks. They also undertook a series of coastal raids to pin down other Mexican forces along the coast. Later, reinforced by additional Marines, the combined Army/Marine force marched on the Mexican capital, taking part in the final assault of the Battle of Chapultepec (September 13th, 1847).[3] The victory at the fortress of Chapultepec, the famous "Halls of Montezuma," led to the capture of Mexico City, and itself became a part of Marine Corps folklore. The scarlet stripes Marines wear on their dress pants are said to be in remembrance of the blood shed in the Mexican War.
While Marines took part in other actions, from quelling labor unrest to fighting in the War of 1812 and the American Civil War, it was these two conflicts just mentioned that defined the roles and missions of the Corps in its first century. Most notably, Marines fought alongside their Army and Navy brothers-in-arms, a precursor of the joint warfare so typical of today's military operations. The ethos had been born and was taking form.
Martial Tradition: The Music of John Philip Sousa
You do not need to be in the military to know that every organization has its own character or culture; for human groups spontaneously create culture. At IBM, it was conservative suits, John D. Watson's motto "THINK" on every desk, and a silly company song. Within other organizations, like the Jesuits or the Baltimore Orioles, those who belong to them are empowered by their culture, which is articulated in their traditions, rituals, and collective memories. Employees or members of an organization use the symbols of their culture to identify their roles and missions in the world.
Music forms an important part of Marine tradition. Though the Corps formed a band in the 1800s to play at ceremonial functions around Washington, D.C., it was pretty much like other military bands of the period (i.e., loud and probably out of tune) until 1880, when Colonel Charles McCawley (the 8th Commandant) appointed composer and musician John Philip Sousa to lead the Marine Corps Band. Sousa created and popularized the Corps' martial music tradition. And in so doing, he revolutionized marching music and the bands that played it. He also composed a body of music that is at the core of Marine Corps tradition today. His compositions included "Semper Fidelis" (1888), "Washington Post March" (1889), "King Cotton" (1897), and the most popular of all, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (1897). For a dozen years he led the Marine Band, taking it on tours all over the country and the world. The effects were both deep and lasting.
Since Sousa and his music were as popular in his time as Glenn Miller or the Beatles have been in ours, his band's performances were the 19th century equivalent of a recruiting commercial for young men of the period. More than that, in the age of global imperialism, the band's bright uniforms, the precision of their drills, and the inspiring qualities of their music left a positive impression of the Marine Corps in the public mind. Perhaps Sousa's most lasting contribution to the Corps, however, was forging the Marines' relationship with the President of the United States. As the Chief Executive's personal band, the Marine Band often played at the White House and other official functions. And by the time Sousa left to form his own private band in 1892, his music and service had forever bound the Presidency to the Marine Corps. You see this when the President flies in his Marine helicopter, when you walk up to an American embassy guarded by Marines, or when you note that wherever the Navy has nuclear weapons, there are Marines guarding them. Sousa's music was the link that forged that special relationship.
World War I: The Corps Is Forged
For over a century, the Marine Corps was a tiny portion of the American military structure. Before World War I, its strength of 511 officers and 13,213 enlisted men made it just a fraction of the strength of the Army and Navy. America's entry into World War I meant that the country's modest peacetime military was going to expand exponentially in a short time. In support of this effort, the Marine Corps expanded rapidly. With the addition of new training facilities at Parris Island, South Carolina, the Marines grew to a wartime high of 2,462 officers and 72,639 enlisted ranks. This included a small number (277) of the first women Marines, recruited to free up men for combat. The war also saw 130 Marine aviators, a new kind of warrior. For World War I, the Marines deployed the largest formations in their history, brigades of up to 8,500 men, to fight on the Western Front. Rapidly pushed into that cauldron, they fought at Belleau Wood, Soissons, and St. Mihiel, and in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. These victories came at a high cost, with the Marine Brigade suffering 11,968 casualties, with 2,461 killed. Following the Great War, Marines participated in the occupation of Germany, keeping watch on the Rhine until July 1919, when they finally returned home. Following a victory parade in front of President Wilson with the rest of the U.S. 2nd Division, they were demobilized.
For all of its costs, World War I left the Marine Corps with positive results: For the first time, the Corps was allowed to form and operate combat units as large as those of the Army. They demonstrated that their unique training and indoctrination produced a more effective and aggressive combat infantryman than the other armies on the Western front. They experimented with new ideas, like integrating women into the Corps and using airpower to support Marines on the ground. Virtually every kind of challenge that faces Marines today was discovered and dealt with during the Great War — for example, the horror of poison gas. But most importantly, the Marines had been allowed to grow large, and had shown the country what a larger Corps could achieve. This would make it easier for the Marines to expand to meet the challenge of their defining moment, the Pacific campaign of World War II.
The "Small Wars"
With the Great War won, the Corps returned to its peacetime routine of duty aboard ships, and peacekeeping missions in China and the Philippines. This was an era of "small wars," with interventions mostly in Central American and Caribbean countries in support of American foreign policy. This "gunboat diplomacy" was a typically American mix of corporate greed (dominating the regional economy) and noble intentions (rescuing local populations from despotism or anarchy). At the cutting edge of these interventions were Marines, leading the way and taking most of the casualties.
2
In 1846 American settlers poured into California, where they soon outgunned the tiny Mexican garrisons. Fremont led these settlers in the "Bear Flag Revolt," which briefly established California as a fictitious independent country. This is why the state flag is still inscribed "California Republic." Later, during the Mexican War, the Navy's Pacific Squadron under Commodore John D. Sloat seized the towns along the California coast, with the help of Fremont's local forces. California officially joined the United States in 1850 as the thirty-first state.
3
They did so alongside the "Brave Rifles" of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, the predecessors of the modern 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment which we explored in