a pictorial history-the marines in the revolution

8/7/2019 A Pictorial History-The Marines in the Revolution

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H I S T O R Y A N D M U S E U M S D I V I S I O NH E A D Q U A R T E R S , U . S . M A R I N E C O R P S

W A S H I N G T O N . D . C .1975


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Te bir th of the Marine Corps took place two centuries ago in

the midst of the American Revolution. Intervening years, how-ever, have done something to our recollect ion of the circumstances.The legends and a good body of t radit ion remain but a good deal ofthe real ity has been fi ltered ou t . Wh en we look back we see MarineCaptain Samuel Nicholas and his three companies advancing acrossthe f i e lds of Pr inceton on a cold winter mor ning in January, orNicholas singlehandedly direct ing the capture of the island of NewProvidence; we see the tal l , lanky, enl isted Marine picturesque in aclean, bright , green uniform; but somehow i t al l seems to be out ofa pageant , and nei ther Nicholas nor the men wh o followed himqui te com e a l ive.

A romantic haze has settled over the whole affair, and when welook throu gh i t the fac ts t end to become blur red. W ha t i s mostwor th remember ing - he thing that so often is forgotten - s thefact t hat l ike al l of history's wars the American Revolu tion, andContinen tal Marine part icipation in i t , was a hard, wearing, bloody,

and tragic business - struggle that we came very close to losing.But all of this says nothing more than that Continental Marineswere human. Most were willing to fight hard and even die for what

they believed in order to make the dream of independence and free-dom come true. They did not have a very easy t ime, and i t is notsurprising that a number of them got confused and discouraged nowand th en. B ut beh ind those who broke rank were others who werejust as willing to take their place.

T is pictorial history is an at tempt to give f lesh and blood tothat group of men who in a small way helped give us our in-dependence , to ge t back to the rea l i ty beneath the l egend - otonly in the t ext wr i t t en by Char les R . Smi th , but a l so through aseries of paint ings created by Major Charles H. Waterhouse,US MC R. If th e history provides a clearer understanding of what tookplace o n a num ber of significant dates during th e eight hard years,if it breathes a little life into the legend and tradition, it will haveserved its purpose.

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U S . Government Printing OfficeWashington, D.C. 20402 - Price $1.05Stock Number 008-055-00084-0 / PCN 19000317900


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weeksresolution passed by the Continental Congress on 10 No v e m -ber 1775 brought the Marines into existence. Within threeofficers were appointed and the recruitment of several com-

panies began. By mid-December recruits thus far enlisted were as-sembled on the Will ing and Morris Wh arves and assigned the dutyof guarding Continental ships and stores on colonial Philadelphia'swaterfront.

As the first Marines were assembled Captain Samuel Nicholasand Lieutenant Matthew Parke, dressed in green coats and off-whitewaistcoats, breeches, and facings, stood by as a sergeant brought hismen to order.

Both the sergeant and privates were dressed and equipped asthey might have enl isted; the sergeant in a uniform of the French

and Indian W a r with a Bri tish army sword hang ing from his waist ,and the recrui ts dressed in huntin g shir ts , f rock coats, pet ticoatbreeches, and carrying homemade powder horns, cartridge boxes, andan assortm ent of B ri t ish and French muskets. Th en as now, thesigh t o f dri l l ing troops probably at t racted a variety of interestedspectators.

P r t ial ly obscured by the two ranks of privates and the gatheredspectators is the stern of the Alfred - l agship of the Cont i -nental f leet commanded by Commodore Esek Hopkins. In earlyJanuary 1776, Cont inenta l Mar ines would board her an d s ix o therships of the Hopkins ' squadron and wi th in two months , l and andoccupy the Bri t ish island of New Providence in the Bahamas.


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T o weeks to the day after leaving Cape Henlopen, Delaware,ships of the Continental Fleet under Esek Hopluns rendez-voused three leagues north of Nassau harbor in the early morninghours of Sunday, 3 March 1776. The sounds of alarm that greetedthe Americans' careless show of force argued the wisdom of an in-direct attack against Fort Montagu; the weaker of the two fortswhich guarded the island of New Providence.

A short time before noon, 230 Marines and 50 seamen underthe command of Marine Captain Samuel Nicholas jumped fromlongboats into the surf, about two miles east of the fort. CarryingTower muskets, cartridge boxes, bayonets, and wearing a variety ofcivilian coats, white vests and breeches, and hats, the Marinesgathered ashore in preparation for their march toward the fort.

The Continental Marines; in their first amphibious assault, cap-tured Fort Montagu in a battle as "bemused as it was bloodless."After resting the night in their prize, the invasion force completedthe job of securing the island by taking Fort Nassau and arrestingGovernor Montfort Browne the next morning.

But Browne and his council had the last laugh, for while theMarines rested in Fort Montagu and the Continental Fleet stood farto the east, Browne managed to deprive the Americans of the gun-powder they had sought by sending it out the unguarded harbor toSt. Augustine, Florida, and safety.

A gered by the loss, Hopluns had the forts and town strippedbare of cannon and cartridge before departing the island withthe fleet on 17 March 1776.


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T e voyage northward following the raid on New Providencewas rou t ine . An hour in to the midn igh t wa tch on 6 Apri l1776, however, the situation changed; two unidentified sails weresighted t o the southeast. All hands were called to quarte rs as thedistance closed, and it became clear that one of the vessels was aship of considerable size. She proved to be the Glasgow, a 20-gunship of the Royal Navy, accompanied by her tender.O n b o ar d t h e Alfred, Marine Cap ta in Samue l Nicho las wasroused out of bed and his company ordered t o assemble. Once col-lected and outfitted for action the Marines were divided int o twogroups; one group under First Lieutenant Matthew Parke talung themain deck, and the other under Captain Nicholas and Second Lieu-tenant John Fitzpatrick mann ing the quarter deck.

As the Cabot r e el e d a w a y u n d e r th e w e ig h t o f t h e Glasgow'sc a n n o n , t h e A@ed was b rough t in to ac t ion . In on e o f the f i rs t ex-changes, Captain Nicholas' second lieutenant, John Fitzpatrick, wasfelled by a musket ball. "In h m ," Nicholas la ter wrote , "I have losta worthy officer, sincere friend and companion, that was beloved byall. he ship's company."

A ter several more broadsides a lucky shot from the Gla~gowcarried away the Alfed's wheel block and lines malung thesh ip unm anageab le and causing he r to b roach to . As he r c rew a t-tempte d to bring her under control o ther ships of the fleet managedto work the ir way in to the f igh t be fore the Glasgow tu rned abou tand made all possible sail for New port harbor, her stern guns firingall the while .


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I the fall of 1776, the American Revolution appeared doom ed tothe ignom inious fate of a suppressed insurrection. T he invasion ofCanada had collapsed with the assault on Quebec, where GeneralRichard Montgomery was slain, and the oth er colonial comm ander,Benedict Arnold, severely wounded, was forced to flee southwardwith his men.

De te rmined to th rust sou thward u p Lake Cham pla in , cap tu reAlbany, and split rebellious New England from the remainingcolonies, Sir Guy Carleton, Governor General of C anada and theBritish commander, spurred the construction of a large fleet a t St.Johns on the Richelieu River.

Upon hearing rumors that the British fleet had been completedand was in motion up the lake, Arnold ordered his fleet a t Crown

Po int t o set sai!. Late on 11 October 1776, the t wo f lee ts m e t o ffVa lcour Is land . Hour a fter hour th rough out the long a f te rnoon thef igh t con t inued un t i l the super io r Bri t ish f lee t d rew ou t o f range ,conc lud ing tha t the fo l lowing day would see the dest ruc t ion o f i tsadversary. Resolved that there would be no surrender, Arnold guidedthe fleet silently by the slumbering British and made his escape upthe lake.0 13 Octob er, two days after the battle , the two fleets m etagain. As the British closed in, Arnold ordered the five remain-ing ga l leys beached . Soon a f te r the boa ts were g rounded , theMarines were directed to jump over board, ascend a bank on shore,and form a line in order to provide covering fire against the Britishwhile Arnold put the torch to the five vessels.


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E couraged by his success against the Hessian garrison at Tren-ton on Christmas night 1776, General Georg e Wa shingtondetermined upon a further stroke. Crossing t he Delawa re Riveragain on 30 December, he reoccupied Trenton. General CharlesCornwal li s , w ho com manded a l a rge Br it i sh force occupying thetown of Princeton, at once responded by marching toward Trentonto give battle. After a rather indecisive skirmish at Assanpink Creeko n 2 January 1777, Wa shing ton wi thdrew a sho r t d i s t ance to theeastward and set up camp.

Full of confidence, the Bri t ish com man der made his camp,bel ieving that at last he had caught the elusive American general ,and that with the dawn of the next day, he would be able to scatteror crush the oppo sing army. W ashington , however, had other ideas.W h en nigh t had fallen he gathered his forces, leaving guards tokeep h i s camp f i res burning throughout the n ight , and se t out toforce his way through the rough country to his rear , around to thePrinceton road.

At sunrise on the 3d, the British 17th and 55th Regiments just

outside Princeton on their way to reinforce Cornwallis were startledto see an American army rapidly approaching. Quickly ordering upthe 40th, the guard at Princeton, Brit ish Colonel Charles Mawhoodopened up wi th h i s cannon and sent the 17th forward wi th f ixedbayonets.

Th e v io lent charge hur led the Amer icans under Genera l Hu ghMercer back in disorder . Pennsylvania t roops under Ge neral JohnCadwalader and Mar ines under Capta in Samuel Nicholas quicklytook over the f ight , but they too were repulsed. Wa shing ton, fearinga rout , rode up and personal ly re formed the Vi rg in ians , Pennsyl -vanians, and Marines.

A pealing to their patr iot ic fervor, Washington led the Ameri-cans in an extended l ine to w ithin 30 yards of Mawho od's red-coa t s . "Fire," he shou ted . An Amer ican vol ley , the n a Br i t i sh -smoke enveloped both forces. But the Americans had the bet ter ofi t , and as the red l ine broke and sca t t e red , Washington urged h i smen on, exclaiming, "It 's a fine fox chase, my boys!"


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D fenses a long the De laware River were p lan ned- o p ro tec tPhiladelphia, the capital of the new republic , against a pos-sible invading naval force. Aware of these defenses, the Britishentered the Chesapeake and took the capital by the land route.

By late September 1777, the enemy was in the rear of these de-fenses and could bring up cannon along the Pennsylvania shore. Thefort at Billingsport, on the New Jersey side of the river, was part ofthese defenses, but because all the breastworks faced down-river, thefort was unprepared t o resist an assault fro m th e rear. W i th an at-tack on Billingsport m ore than a possibility, General George Was h-ington ordered the garrison evacuated to Fort Mifflin on 28 Septem-ber, but it was already too late.

That very night the British loth and 42d (Black Watch) Regi-ments marched ou t o f Germantown dest ined to take Bi l lingsport.Dur ing the next two days they moved dow n to Chester, crossed the

Delaware nea r Marcus Hook , and marched up th e N ew Jersey s idetowar d the fort. Along the way they twice routed N ew Jersey militiaforces under Brigadier General Silas Newcomb.

W it h news of the Je rsey mil i t ia in re t rea t , Co lone l Wil l iamBradford ordered the immediate evacuation of the 112-man Billings-port ga rr ison to Fort Miff l in on the morn ing o f 2 October . Guardboats officered by Continental Marine Lieutenants Dennis Leary andWi l l i a m B a rne y o f t h e b rig Andrew Doria worked feverishly untilmost o f the amm unit ion and m en were t ransfe rred t o sa fety . A fewMarines remained behind to spike the guns and set fire to the fort 'sbuildings.

B noon all had been completed and there were several exchangesof shot as the last of the evacuation force jumped into the oneremaining guard boat and started rowing out to the Andrew Doria.


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S ortly after his arrival at G eorgetown, South Carolina, CaptainJohn Peck Rathbun of the sloop Providence was informed by amerchant captain who had just returned from the Bahamas that theMary had put into Nassau for repairs. The news immediatelybrought back memories of his brief encounter with the enemy brigoff New York several months before. In the short but heated battle,Rathbun's well-liked sailing master, George Sinkins, was killed.No w, wro te his captain of Marines, John Trevett , "we ware. . .D et e r m i nd t o Take Fo rt N as s au and t hen w e C ou l d H ave C om -mand of the To wn and Harber and take W ha t we Pleased."

Abou t mid night on 27 January 1778, after a month's sailing, theProvidence dropped anchor off the western point of Hog Island, andthe sloop's barge was lowered into the water. Twenty-six Marines,under Marine Captain Trevett , f i l led their pockets with extra cart-ridges and went ashore, landing a mile west of Fort Nassau.

Cautioning his men to remain si lent , he and his Marines madetheir way thro ugh on op ening in the palisade, over the fort 's stonewal l , and quickly captured the two-man Br i t i sh gar r i son. At day-break the fol lowing morning, Trevett had the Stars and Stripeshoisted over the decaying fort.

Ater capturing the Mary and two other schooners in the har-

bor, Trevett maintained an elaborate scheme to convince th eislanders that there was a large force in the fort throughout the nexttwo days. By the 3 0th of January, the captu red vessels were mannedand ready for sea. Only Trevett and a few Marines remained ashoreto comple te the evacuat ion. As soon as Trevet t and hi s men wereon boa r d, t he Providence and her capt ives put to sea for Ne w Bed-ford, Massachusetts .


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I the period prior to the Revolution, James Willi ng, scion of aprominent Philadelphia family, had engaged in trade at Natchez.In the fall of 1777, he received, through the influence of his brotherThomas and a close friend, Robert Morris, a commission from Con-gress that authorized him to organize a volunteer company ofMarines to be drawn from the hardened soldiers then stat ioned atFort Pi t t ; secure and arm a large boat; proceed down the Oh io andMississippi Rivers, winning the assistance or forcing the neutralityof all the inhabitants along the river's east bank; and then return toFort Pitt, conveying five boats loaded with dry goods and arms forthe cause.

W it h matters of supply and organizat ion quic kly set tled,Wi l l ing and hi s 34-man company depar ted th e for t in th e armedboat Rattletrap on th e night of 10 January 1778. Recruit ing moremen as he went, Willing succeeded in slipping by British outpostsalong the Ohio and upper Mississippi Rivers.

By mid-February, his flotilla had reached the plantation ofColonel Anthony Hutchins, a short distance above Natchez. Under

the cover of darkness a party was sent out of seize the prominentloyal . ist , his property, and slaves which were loaded o n bo ard thearmed galley Rattletrap.

Several days later the expedit ion arrived at Natchez whereseveral more prominent pro-British residents were seized. As soon asWill ing passed the southern boundary of the Natchez distr ict , hisprogress became an orgy of plunder - late, slaves, and provisionswere seized, and much other property was burned. A period of in-

,activi ty fol lowed the expedit ion's arr ival at New Orleans - he nmore forays were made in to the count rys ide agains t Br i t i sh sym-pathizers.

A ter several more unsuccessful attem pts t o enforce neutrality,the Marines started up the west side of the Mississippi underLieutenant Robert George in order to join General George RogersClark in the Illinois territory, while Willing himself departed by seafor th e east.


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Erly in April 1778, Captain John Paul Jones in the 20-gun Con-

tinental sloop Ranger sailed from Brest in France for the IrishSea. His intention was to "end the barbarous ravages perpetuated bythe British in America." T o accomplish this seemingly impossibletask, he proposed t o descend upon an English port, dest roy mer-chant shipping, and carry away a person of distinction to be held asa hostage for the release of American prisoners.

April 22 dawned fair and cold; snow covered both sides of Sol-way Firth and the Isle of Man. After several days at prize taking,Jones now decided to carry out his planned descent upon the Eng-lish coast. Of the numerous seaports which dotted the inlets andcoves, the Ranger's captain settled upon the port of Whitehaven,partly because he knew it well, having sailed from there for Virginiaat the age of 13, and partly because of information which placed alarge number of vessels within its harbor.

By midnight, the Ranger had crossed the Firth but was stillmiles away from the port. Wishing not to lose the advantage ofdarkness, Jones ordered two boats lowered and 30 volunteer Marinesand seamen over the side. Jones took command of one boat, whileMarine Lieutenant Samuel Wallingford of Somersworth, NewHampshire, officered the other.

The early morning raid on Whitehaven, a second raid later inthe day at St. Mary's Isle, accomplished little. Indignation, however,ran high. British ports along the coast were alerted and militiamenmobilized.

A though the raid on Whitehaven had been bloodless and theaffair at St. Mary's Isle in the nature of an outing, the battlewith HMS Drake the following morning tested the Ranger's crew.Wi th in o ne hour of the first broadside, the Drake was a badlybeaten ship; beaten at a cost of three lives, among them MarineLieutenant Samuel Wallingford.


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J& ws ones a m j n @ ~3%~17m

0 13 May 1779, soon after John Adams, American Commis-sioner to France, arrived at the p ort of L 'Orient, France, onboard the Continental frigate Alliance, he an d 16 other officers andgentlemen were given an elegant dinner by John Paul Jones atL'Epee Royal, a fashionable inn situated on the port 's waterfront.Th e dinner conversation, according to Adams, was no t very instruc-tive, but "we practiced the old American Cu sto m of d rinkin g toeach other, which I confess is always agreeable to me."

After the repast Adams was escorted by Jones outside the inn tov iew the commodore ' s M arines . According to the A merican Com-missioner, they were "dressed in the English Unif orm, red andwhite," instead of the green prescribed by Congress in 1776.

However , the Marines , pa r t icu la r ly the o ff ice rs , were wear ingthe proper uniform of a red coat with white waistcoat and breeches.They were members o f the In fan te r ie I r landa ise , Reg iment deWa lsh -S e r ra n t , w h o h a d v o lu n te e red fo r se rv ic e a s A m e r ica nMarines on board the Bonhomme Rzchard

I the mo nths following the A dams review, Jones and his Marinescarried the war to Brita in 's shores. On 23 September off Flam-borough Head they met the two-decked Serapis of 44 g u n s a n d th eCountess of Scarborough of 20 guns. Comm andi ng a vessel hardly sea-wort hy, Jones and his seamen and Marines fought an d won in littlemore t han t hree hour s one of the most desperate and bloody battlesin American naval history.


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I spring of 1779 the British comm ander-in-chief in N ort h Amer-ica, General Sir Henry Clinton , directed tha t a strong outpo st beestablished on the tip of the Bagaduce Peninsula in Penobscot Bay,Maine. Brigadier General Francis McLean, military commander ofNova Scotia, led 700 troops of the 74th Foot (Argyle Highlanders)and 82d Foo t (H ami l ton Reg iment) a shore in mid-June to beg inwork on what became Fort George.

W ord o f the Bri t ish in t rusion in to wha t w as then Massachu-setts territory soon spread southward. At Boston militia troops werequickly assembled under the comm and of Brigadier G eneral Solo-mon Lovell. Captain Dudley Saltonstall of the Continental frigateWarren brought together an impressive array of Continental, Massa-chusetts state, and privateer vessels.

O n board sh ips o f the Cont inen ta l and Massachuse t ts nav ieswere slightly over 300 Marines commanded by the senior Marine of-ficer of the fleet, Captain John W elsh of the Warren. O n 1 9 July,

less than a month after news of the British occupation, the Ameri-can expedition cleared Boston harbor.

Tw o days a f ter the ir a rr ival in P enobsco t Bay (28 Ju ly 1779)200 Marines under Cap ta in W elch and an equa l num ber o f mil i tia -men sc rambled ou t o f sh ips boa ts and c l imbed the s teep , heav i lyforested bluff guarding the peninsula's western approaches, initiatinga drive that was intended to rid the area of the red-uniformed Brit-ish troops.

T e bold Marine- led assault was successful in gainin g the bluffand secur ing a foo tho ld on the pen insu la , bu t the exped i t ionfailed in its objective. After two weeks of skirmishes and abortiveattacks, the American fleet was forced by the appearance of a largeBri t ish rel ief squadron to re t i re up th e Penobsco t Rive r . There theAmericans burned the ir sh ips and re t rea ted sou thward th rough theMaine wilde rness . The land ing a t Bagaduce p roved to be the la s ta m p h ib io u s a ssa u lt c o n d u c te d b y M a r in e s u n t i l t h e W a r w i thMexico in 1846.


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A the American Revolution drew to a close General GeorgeRogers Clark was faced with the mon umental task of m aintain-ing mil i tary control over the O hio River valley. W it h few men athis disposal, he decided to construct an armed row galley for use insecuring the navigation of the Ohio, part icularly at the mouths ofthe Miami River and Licking Creek.

By early May 1782, Clark was able to report that the gal leywould be completed with 20 days. She had a 73-foot keel, carried46 oars , and would mount e ight cannon. The Miami , as she waslater cal led, had gunwales four feet high and thick enough to-stopboth arrow and bullet while traversing narrow parts of the river.

I t was no easy task to assemble the 110-man complement re-quired, for few men had the nautical skills needed. Among the firststeps taken by Clark was to authorize the recruitment of a companyof Virginia State Marines. Placed under the command of Captain

Jacob Pyeatt, the Marines constituted the vessel's gun crew and wereexpected to guard the ship's magazine.

The services performed by the Miami galley and the Marineson board her a re vague but impress ive . H er su mm er pa t ro l of theOhio adjacent to Shawnee Territory caused alarm among the Indiansw ho t hou gh t G ene r a l C l a r k w as p r epa r i ng f o r an i ncu r s i on . Al -though they had planned to str ike at Wheeling, the Indians insteadbroke off the march in order to defend their own territory.

T e Miami had a rather short career. According to the report ofa private wh o served on board her, she was sunk at Bear Grassnot far f rom the Fall s of the O hi o (Louisvil l e, Kentu cky) in Sep-tember 1782. The remaining men of Pyeatt 's Marine company werethen transferred to the Illinois Regiment where they served until theend of the war.


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ews of the treaty of peace reached the Alliance, the last Conti-N ental frigate in active service, on 31 March 1783. It found heranchored off Petuxet, s ome five miles below Providence, Rhode Is-land . With the war ' s end and the dec is ion to use the f r iga te as acargo vessel made, a majority of the crew was discharged; includedam on g those released from du ty were 33 out of the last 41 Marines.

O n the first day of April, the Marines gathered ashore for theirfinal pay. Under the watchful eye of Marine Lieutenant Thomas El-wood, the Marines were paid in coin and given a certificate of serv-ice as the company clerk read the roll. A bit wor n-lo oki ng after arather long and circuitous cruise from France, they eagerly stowedaway their gear and headed for home.

W it h the d ischarge o f L ieu tenan t E lwood s ix mo nths la te r ,Cont inen ta l M arines passed from the scene . For mo re th an seven

years this small force did its part to achieve final victory against theBritish.w i t ing in 1839, James Fenimore Cooper gave the AmericanMarine his muc h deserved, and long overdue recognition:"At no period of the naval history of the world, is it probable thatmarines were more importan t than during the war o f the Revolu-tion."

Existing records indicate that approximately 131 officers heldContinental M arine commissions. The numb er of non-commissionedofficers and enlisted men is not exactly known, but probably did notexceed 2,000. In comparison with the Army and Navy , the corps o fContinen tal Marines was relatively small, but it contributed measur-ably to the British defeat.


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w en it was decided that a book on Marines in the Revolu-tion was to be researched and written for the Bicentennialthe mat ter o f p roper i l lu s t ra t ions fo r the work was considered . 11 -lustrations preferably should be in color. They should be meticulous-ly r e sea rch ed in ev e ry d e t a i l . A n d , t h ey sh o u ld b e p a in t ed b y anartist with a feel and a flair for recording military and naval activi-ties, an abiding interest in history and historical reconstruction, anda master o f roman t ic real ism. Such an ar t i s t was found in Ch i i r lesW ate rh o u se .

Wa terho use had been a Marine in Wo rld W ar I1 where he hadb een w o u n d ed a t Iw o J im a f ig h t in g w i th t h e 5 th M ar in e D iv i sio n .In sp i r ed to w ard s an a r t ca ree r b y th e M ar in e d raw in g s o f C o lo n e lJ o h n W . T h o m a s o n a n d C ol o ne l D o n a l d L. Dickson he re tu rnedfrom the war to s tudy ar t a t the Newark Schoo l o f F ine and Indus-trial Art.

In the years af ter g raduat ing f rom the Newark Schoo l , Char lesW ate rh o u se p ro d u ced a t r em en d o u s v o lu m e o f w o rk fo r n a t io n a lmagazines in a wide range o f med ia , techn iques, sub jects , and aud i-ences. T h is career was ex tended d ur ing the Vietnam years to on- the-scene military art as Waterhouse, under the auspices successively ofthe M arine Co rps , Navy , Air Force, and Army v isi ted Vietnam,Alaska, the W ester n Pacif ic , and th e At lan t ic as a combat ar t i st .

For the past 17 years Waterhouse also served as lecturer-instruc-to r fo r i l l u st r a ti o n a t h is a h a m a te r, t h e N ew ark S ch o ol . T h en in1973 he re tu rned to act ive du ty as a M arine Reserve majo r to exe-cute thi s series of p ainstak ingly researched and empatheticallypain ted scenes o f Marine activ it ies in the Am erican Revo lu t ion aspart of t he Marine Corps' Bicentennial observance. Th e research andpai n t in g o f the 14 works occup ied Majo r W aterhouse fo r the betterpart of 18 m o n th s .

M j o r W aterh o u se 's s er ie s o f "M ar in es in t h e R e v ~ l u t i o n ~ ~paintin gs are being used a multitu de of ways during the Bi-centen nial years. Th e original 40" x 60" acrylic paintings are beingsh ow n widely in pub l ic galler ies and museum s. Beg inn ing in Jan-uary 1975 - he Marines' Bicentennial Year - hey are appearingas wrap-around covers for the Corps' professional journal, the MarineCorps Gazette, and also in a co lo r rep roduct ion por t fo l io o f the 14pain t ing s . Th ey have been used in co lo r to i l lu s t ra te Marines in theAmerican Revolution, a majo r h is to r ical work which is being pub-l ished by the G overnm ent P r in t ing Off ice , as well as in blackand whi te in th is shor t p ic tor ial h is to ry . They are a lso being usedas the basis for a slide show in the Marine Corps vans of the ArmedForces Bicentennial Exhibit Van caravans and in the Marine CorpsMu seum and M emorial in New H al l in Ph iladelph ia ' s Nat ional In -dependence His to r ical Park .


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The fourteen original paintings created by Major Charles H.Water house , USMC R, are based upon extensive research. Muchtime and effort was spe nt consu lting contem porary 18th centurydocuments and artwork in an attempt to represent accurately thoseevents selected to be portrayed from the eigh t-year existence ofContinental Marines.Th e Firs t Recrui ts : The paint ing includes two Marine off icers , asergeant , and two ranks of pr ivates . The two off icers representCaptain Samuel Nicholas and Lieutenant Ma tthew Parke, whoseportraits were taken from existing miniatures. T he ship stern pic-tured in the background is that of the A lfre d. It 1s based uponadvice and the extensive research of Dr. John J. McCusker, Jr., ofthe University of Maryland and other experts in the field of 18thcentury ship construction at the Smith sonian Irfstitution.L a nd i ng a t N e w Pr ov i de nc e : T he s h i p A l f r e d a ppe a rs once~ ~again in the background of this painting. It 1s based upon t he ex-tensive research of Dr. John J. M cCusker, Jr., and upo n a recentpainting of the ship by Colonel Phillips Melville, USAF (Ret.), anoted naval artist.A M arine L ieute nant Dies: Contemporary American and Brit ishship models were the basis upon which the artist recreated the seabat t le between the Cont inental ship Alfred and HMS Glasgow .Defeat on Lake Champl ain: The f ive ships of Arnold ' s Cham-plain Fleet were recreated from co ntemp orary drawings and thegondola Phi ladelph ia which now tests in the Smithson ~an nstitu-t ion.M a r i ne s W i t h W a s h i n g t on a t P r i nc e t o n : T he r e c ons tr uc ti on ofthe bat t le of Pr inceton is based upon a paint ing of the same sub-ject completed around 1789 by William Mercer. Th e portrait ofGeneral George Washington is taken from an exist ing contem-porary portrait by Charles Willson Peale.T he Evacuat ion of B i l l in gsport : Research on the s i te a t B il l ing-sport is based upon con temporary map s and field inspec tions bythe artist and Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons. The portrait

of Marine L ieutenant Wil l iam Barney (off icer s tanding in theboat) is broadly based upon an engraving of the subject by CharlesSt . Memin, completed in 1798.F l a g R a i s i ng a t N e w Pr ov i de nc e : Con t em pora r y m a ps a nd p l answere used to reconstruct Forr Nassau, a por t ion of w h~ ch ppearsin this paint ing.W i l l i n g ' s M a r i n e E xpe d i t i o n : C on t e m por a ry a c c oun t s o f ga l le ysconstructed at Pi t tsbu rgh form th e basis upon which the armedboat Rat t l e t rap was reconstructed for this paint ing.L a unc h i ng o f t he W hi t e ha ve n R a i d : C e n t r a l a m ong t he f i gu r e sportrayed is that of Captain John Paul Jones,whose portrait is basedupon the famous Houdon bust .J o h n A d a m s R e v i e w s J o n e s ' M a r i n e s : T h e u n if o rm s o f t h e In -fanter ie I r landaise, Reg ~m ent e Walsh-Serrant are based u pon ex-tensive research into both American and French archives by Mrs.John Nicholas Brown of Providence, Rhode Is land, and Mr.Eugene Lel iepvre of Mo ntroug e, France. The port rai t of JohnAdams is af ter a paint ing by John Trum bull , whi le the John PaulJones port rai t i s based upon the Hou don bust .Assa ul t a t Pe nobs cot : Research on the s i te a t Penobscot , Maine,is based upon contemporary map s and f ie ld inspect ions by Mr.Charles L. Updegra ph, Jr.F i gh t i ng T op s : T he pa i n t i ng o f t he A l l i a nc e by C on t i ne n t a lMarine Captain Matthew Parke and sh ip models form the basisupon which the sea f ight between the All iance and Bri t ish s loopsAtalanta and Trepassey was recreated.O h i o R i v e r R ow G a l l e y : A c on t e mpor ar y a c c oun t f o r ms t hebasis upon which the armed gal ley Miami was reconstructed forthis paint ing.M us t e r i ng O u t : T he C on t i ne n t al f r i ga te A l l i a nc e i s bas e d upona paint ing of th e ship by Matth ew Parke and Bri t ish plans of hers is ter ship the Confederacy.

C arles Richard Smith, who wrote the plate de-criptions for this booklet, is the author ofMarine s in the Revolution: A History of ContinentalMarines in the American Revolution, 1775-1783 (Gov-ernment Printing Office, 1975).

Smit h, a native of San Mateo, California, waseducated in that state's school system and holds anAssociate in Arts degree from Foothill College(1964), Bachelor of Arts in Political Science andBachelor of Arts in History degrees from the Uni-versity of California (1966), and a Master of Artsdegree in History from San Diego State University( 1968).

From 1968-1970; Smith served in the US. Armyas an enlisted man, including a year in Vietnam.

In 1971, he was engaged by the History andMuseums Division of Headquarters, US. MarineCorps as a civilian historian.

Q US. GOVERNMENT PRI NTING OFFICE : 1975 0-573-263


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Th e device reproduced on the back cover is the oldestmilitary insignia in continuous use in the UnitedStates. It first appeared, as shown here, on the MarineCorps buttons adopted in 1804. Wit h the stars changedto Jive points this device has continued o n MarineCorps buttons to the present da y.


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