Ned Harrison, of Greensboro, NC, writes a monthly Civil War column for the Roanoke, Va. Times. In his latest column, he wrote about the Marines, and said about half the officers of the USMC left service at the outbreak of the Civil War and formed the CSMC. He gave a short history of the USMC. It was established November 10, 1775 by the Continental Congress.
They participated in the wars with Tripoli, War of 1912, and the Mexican War, "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli." They saw limited action, mostly aboard ships, in the Civil War.
The CSMC was established in March of 1861. Thirty-four officers and 944 enlisted men were authorized.
Out of two millions enlisted in the Union forces, there were 4,100 Marines who mostly did duty aboard blockaders. At one point, there was discussion of merging the Marines with the army, but fortunately, nothing much ever came of it. About 400 Marines participated in the Naval land assault on Fort Fisher in January, 1865.
Some Federal Marines served guns aboard ships. A total of 148 were killed in action during the war and another 312 died of other causes. CSMC losses were not listed.
You can e-mail him at n-b-h@mindspring.com
One Great Organization. --the Old B-R'er
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