BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Quantico -- Natl Museum of the Marine Corps -- Gallery: Defending the New Republic (1775-1865) -- Civil War

VA -- Quantico -- Natl Museum of the Marine Corps -- Gallery: Defending the New Republic (1775-1865) -- Civil War:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. MCMCW_130210_001.JPG: 1775-1865: The Civil War
2. MCMCW_130210_003.JPG: The Civil War: "A ship without Marines is no ship of war at all." -- Admiral David Dixon Porter, US Navy, 1864 When America's national tragedy wrenched the country apart, it also splintered the Marine Corps. Many veteran officers resigned to fight for the Confederacy. The marines who remained loyal to the Union performed valiantly at sea and ashore, but, at 3,300 officers and men, the Corps was very small when compared to naval strength and US Army enlistments. At least 620,000 Americans perished during the Civil War. Of the total, 148 were US Marines and about 50 were Confederate Marines. Fifteen US Marine noncommissioned officers and two privates received the newly created Medal of Honor for valorous behavior during the war. Eight were foreign-born (give from Ireland); ages ranged from 19 to 53; and all but three of the awards resulted from conspicuous bravery under fire during the Mobile Bay and Fort Fisher campaigns.
3. MCMCW_130210_009.JPG: John Brown's Body: "Send all the available Marines at Head Quarters... to Harper's Ferry... which is endangered by a riotous outbreak." -- Secretary of the Navy Isaac Toucey to Colonel Commandant John Harris, 17 October 1859 John Brown, an abolitionist, hoped to trigger a slave uprising when he led 18 armed raiders into the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, on 16 October 1859 and seized local hostages. Responding to urgent orders, Colonel Harris dispatched 86 Marines by train from Washington under Lieutenant Israel Greene, USMC. Greene and Army Lieutenant JEB Stuart led a storming party into a fortified building, freeing 13 civilian hostages and killing or capturing the insurrectionists. John Brown, struck down by Greene's sword, was later executed, but his uprising inspired Northern antislavery support, widening the gulf between Yankees and Southerners.
4. MCMCW_130210_015.JPG: Sledgehammer Used at Harpers Ferry: The heavy wooden doors of the Engine House proved difficult for the Marines to breach. Under the command of Col. Robert E. Lee, USA, and led by Lt. Israel Greene, USMC, three Marines wielding sledgehammers unsuccessfully attempted to break through the doors. A second group, armed with a ladder, created a small opening through which the Marines entered the building. This sledgehammer head if one of the three used by the Marines on 18 October 1859.
5. MCMCW_130210_025.JPG: Marines at Harpers Ferry: In October 1859, the abolitionist John Brown sought to incite a slave uprising by seizing weapons and hostages from the Harpers Ferry arsenal. The rapid deployment of Lieutenant Israel Greene and his Marines from the Washington Barracks provided an immediate storming party. Charging the building under fire with a battering ram, the Marines cut down the defenders and rescued the hostages unharmed. Few Marine operations in the ensuring Civil War were as professionally executed.
6. MCMCW_130210_073.JPG: First Marine Medal of Honor: "I cannot understand how any of you escaped alive." -- President Abraham Lincoln, inspecting the battle-damaged Galena A powerful Union naval force led by ironclads Monitor and Galena steamed up the James River toward Richmond, Virginia, on 11 May 1862, until halted by obstructions beneath Drewry's Bluff. Plunging fire from enemy guns atop the bluff battered Galena mercilessly. Confederate soldiers and Marines poured musketry into her ports. "Blood flowed on her decks like water," reported Corporal John F. Mackie, USMC, who rallied the stunned survivors and kept the ship's guns in action. The Confederate defense, which saved their capital, marked the war's most notable fight between opposing Marines. Corporal Mackie, a 26-year-old silversmith from New York City, received the Medal of Honor from President Abraham Lincoln, becoming the first US Marine to be awarded the nation's highest award for valor.
7. MCMCW_130210_078.JPG: When Confederate fire raked Galena's deck on 11 May 1862, killing and wounding many Marines and sailors, Cpl John Mackie fearlessly maintained fire against the enemy. He became the first Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
8. MCMCW_130210_086.JPG: Based on a drawing by C Parsons, this engraving depicts the ironclad warships Monitor and Galena in action on the James River in Virginia. Both ships were commissioned to meet the threat of the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia.
9. MCMCW_130210_089.JPG: The USS Galena is depicted engaging Confederates at Fort Darling on Drewry's Bluff, VA, on 15 May 1862. The engagement was the most notable battle between US Marines and Confederate States Marines.
10. MCMCW_130210_094.JPG: Galena's port side is seen in this photograph taken shortly after engaging the Confederate batteries at Drewry's Bluff. Raked by fire, she was badly damaged. Note the hole near the waterline.
11. MCMCW_130210_099.JPG: The 950-ton ironclad Galena, commissioned in April 1862, was the second armored warship put into service by the US Navy. This engraving, published in Harper's Weekly in 1862, depicts Galena's gun deck.
12. MCMCW_130210_103.JPG: The Galena was commissioned in April 1862. The second of three armored warships, she steamed up Virginia's James River as part of a drive to take the Confederate capital city of Richmond.
13. MCMCW_130210_123.JPG: Confederate Marines: "The battalion of Marines in the battle of sailor's Creek... fought like tigers and against odds of at least ten to one." -- Captain Daniel B. Sanford, Phillips' Georgia Legion, Army of Northern Virginia Most Marines of Southern origin joined the Confederacy as their states seceded from the Union. Among them were several Marines who had distinguished themselves in the Mexican War, including one of former Commandant Archibald Henderson's sons. Lieutenant Israel Greene of Harpers Ferry renown became adjutant of the Confederate States Marine Corps. The Confederate Marines probably never mustered more than 600 men at any one time. They served aboard ships in the war's famed naval fights, defended the James River below Richmond, and made a desperate last stand as an infantry rear-guard at Sailor's Creek in Virginia just before General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox in April 1865.
14. MCMCW_130210_127.JPG: Marine Weapons: Marines in the Civil War fought with firearms and edged weapons procured from the Army and Navy. Enlisted Marines gave good accounts of themselves with the reliable US Model 1861 Springfield .58 caliber rifled musket. Some seagoing Marines favored the .52 caliber Sharps breech-loading rifle, often coating the barrel with tin to reduce saltwater corrosion. Many Marine officers carried the Model 1851 .36 caliber Navy Colt revolver. During the Civil War, Marine officers gave up their traditional Mameluke swords and, along with the noncommissioned officers (NCOs), adopted the sturdier M1859 Army saber. When the officers reverted back to the Mamelukes in 1875, the NCOs retained the Army sword for their own. Both swords remain in the service today.
15. MCMCW_130210_133.JPG: Lt. Alan Ramsey was with the Marine battalion at Bull Run and later commanded the Marine detachment aboard the USS Richmond. In November 1863, he traveled with President Abraham Lincoln to Gettysburg.
16. MCMCW_130210_137.JPG: First Battle of Manassas: "We faced them on the left of the battery, and when about fifty yards from it, our men fell like hailstones." -- Private William Barrett, USMC, Manassas battlefield The first great battle of America's bloody Civil War also proved to be the only major land engagement fought by US Marines during that war. Major John Reynolds led a 350-man Marine battalion with the Union army southwest from Washington, DC, toward Manassas, Virginia, on 16 July 1861. Five days later, the Marines fought desperately near the crest of Henry House Hill, where TJ Jackson earned his renowned nickname of "Stonewall." When inexperienced Confederates finally overwhelmed inexperienced Northerners, the Marines joined a ragged retreat toward Washington. They left behind 44 casualties, nearly half of them becoming prisoners.
17. MCMCW_130210_141.JPG: Maj. John Reynolds, a veteran of the Mexican War, commanded the Marine battalion during the First Battle of Manassas. Only Reynolds and three other officers had combat experience.
18. MCMCW_130210_145.JPG: Jacob Zeilin: "Concluded to retire the marine officers who are past the legal age, and to bring in Zeilin as commandant of the Corps." -- Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, diary entry, 9 June 1864 When Commandant John Harris died in 1864, Major Jacob Zeilin stood 4th in seniority in the Corps. His stellar field record included combat leadership in the Mexican War; senior Marine with Commodore Perry during the 1853 expedition to Japan; and command of a rifle company at First Manassas, where he was wounded and left for dead. Unseemly feuding among the higher ranking officers gave Zeilin the chance to become the 7th commandant of the Marine Corps. He served in this post for 12 years.
19. MCMCW_130210_151.JPG: Civil War Marines Corps Colors: Maj. John Reynolds' Marine Battalion reportedly carried this flag at the First Battle of Manassas, 21 July 1861. The battalion, comprised primarily of raw recruits with three weeks' service, suffered the same fate as the rest of the Federal army in their defeat by the Confederate Army.
20. MCMCW_130210_158.JPG: Command and Communications: "If officers desire to have control over their commands, they must remain habitually with them, industriously attend to their instruction and comfort, and it battle lead them well." -- Lieutenant General Thomas J "Stonewall" Jackson, CSA, November 1861 During the Civil War, command and communications were carried out primarily through the personal presence of officers and noncommissioned officers. This required that they be immediately identifiable to the men under their command, using unique uniforms and distinctive badges of military rank. Due to a lack of standardized message formats, clarity was often lacking in either direct orders or instructional messages. Communications were especially difficult during land or sea battles, where noise frequently drowned out virtually every verbal order. Orders to maneuver units and individual Marines were limited to voice commands, gestures, and written messages distributed by couriers and prearranged signals using bugles, fifes and drums, and boarding or battle rattles. Longer range communications from battlefields and ships used signal flags, flares, torches, non-reflecting heliographs, and telegraphs. Rubber-coated twisted metal wire land lines, introduced in 1862, provided new means of point-to-point communications.
21. MCMCW_130210_164.JPG: Non-commissioned Officers: "Andrew Miller, Sergeant of Marines, is recommended for coolness and good conduct as captain of a gun in.. actin in Mobile Bay." -- Medal of Honor nomination, submitted by Captain Thomas A. Jenkins, USN, commanding USS Richmond, 1864 The US Marine Corps survived the lackluster performance of many of its own Civil War-era officers, mainly on the strength of their noncommissioned officers (NCOs). Former commandant Archibald Henderson's insistence on professional training and high standards for NCOs produced young sergeants capable of assuming command of Marine detachments aboard smaller warships in the absence of officers. NCOs did not rate the customary privileges of lieutenants, but they led their detachments with disciplined authority and were fully accountable to the ships' commanding officers. Many served with distinction.
22. MCMCW_130210_172.JPG: The Battle of New Orleans: "We have had one of the greatest Battles on record... It was one of the grandest sights ever witnessed." -- Private George Riddell, USMC, USS Clifton, letter home, 1 May 1862 Marines manning the ships of Captain David Farragut's fleet played a role in capturing New Orleans and seizing control of the mouth of the Mississippi River. On 24 April 1862, Farragut's warships dashed past powerful Confederate forts below the city, then fought off Southern gunboats in a short-range slugfest. Marine sergeants commanded detachments on board six men-of-war during the battle. Captain John L Broome, USMC, raised the Union flag over New Orleans.
23. MCMCW_130210_177.JPG: USS Kearsarge versus CSS Alabama: "We had closed to about 500 yards when the ships were broadside to broadside and then it was give and take." -- Corporal Austin Quimby, USMC, USS Kearsarge, 19 June 1864 The USS Kearsarge, commissioned in 1862 with a complement of 163 sailors and 12 Marines, won the most memorable open-seas engagement of the Civil War. On 19 June 1864, Kearsarge cornered the infamous Confederate commerce raider Alabama, which had seized 65 ships around the world under Captain Raphael Semmes. Marines manning a forecastle pivot gun during the hour-long action about 10 miles off Cherbourg, France, helped to sink the famous rebel corsair.
24. MCMCW_130210_183.JPG: Amphibious Warfare: "I found it quite impossible to get all my boats together... It was very dark near the fort, and there was great confusion." -- Captain Charles G. McCawley, USMC, Fort Sumter, 9 September 1863 The US Marines had launched hundreds of landing prior to the 1860s, yet the Army made most of the amphibious assaults against Confederate ports and rivers in the Civil War. The Marines, struggling to provide detachment to every major warship, rarely had the numbers to field a landing party. Bad luck prevailed. A Cape Hatteras storm sank the Marines' troopship en route to a South Carolina landing in 1861. Subsequent assaults against Forts Sumter and Fisher went badly. In fact, it would take the Marines 70 more years before they could acquire the capability to attack heavily fortified positions from the sea.
25. MCMCW_130210_187.JPG: Amphibious Misfortunes: "On the 15th... about 11 o'clock, we landed, some with dry feet, some with wet feet, and some wet all over." -- Sergeant Richard Binder, UMC, Medal of Honor recipient, Fort Fisher, 1865 Marines made the first major strongly opposed amphibious landings in Corps history at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on the night of 8-9 September 1863 and at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, on 14-15 January 1865. Although individual Marines displayed exemplary daring, both ill-conceived assaults failed badly and at high cost, leaving opposed landings in disrepute for decades to come. Four Marine noncommissioned officers and two privates received the Medal of Honor for valor at Fort Fisher.
26. MCMCW_130210_193.JPG: The Battle of Mobile Bay: "How close the fighting was, when men could kill or wound each other through the port-holes of each vessel." -- Surgeon Daniel B. Conrad, Confederate States Navy, CSS Tennessee Admiral David Farragut sailed his squadron into Mobile Bay, Alabama, on 5 August 1864, fighting past Confederate defenses and plowing through minefields ("torpedoes" they were called). Marines under Captain Charles Heywood delivered hot fire from two guns on Farragut's flagship. Other Marines on the USS Lackawanna exchanged point-blank rifle and pistol fire with Confederate Marines on the ironclad ram Tennessee. Eight US Marine non-commissioned officers received the Medal of Honor in this Union victory.
27. MCMCW_130210_198.JPG: Amphibious Artillery: "My men suffer from the musketry fire and the bricks, hand grenades and fireballs thrown from the parapet." -- Lieutenant Robert L. Meade, USMC, describing the night attack on Fort Sumter, September 1863 The Marines assaults Forts Sumter and Fischer with rifles and bayonets, inadequate weapons against fortifications. Fleet bombardment at Fort Fisher helped the landing force get ashore but had to cease as the troops neared the fort, leaving the attackers terribly exposed. The Marines hoped the Navy's small "boat howitzers" could solve future firepower gaps, but wrestling the wheeled weapons ashore from beached boats proved hazardous in high surf or enemy fire.
28. MCMCW_130210_203.JPG: Marines and sailors advanced through heavy Confederate fire to the palisade at Fort Fisher. As they rounded the fenced fortification, a heavy volley of musket fire slammed into the Union troops.
29. MCMCW_130210_207.JPG: 1775-1865: We, The Marines: First Post of the Marines: On 31 March 1801, Lieutenant Colonel Commandant William Burrows and President Thomas Jefferson spent "all... morning... looking for a proper place to fix the Marine Barracks on>" The chosen site, at the corner of 8th and I Streets in southeast Washington DC is today the oldest continuously occupied military post in the country. Enlisted Pay: Marines mustered as privates in 1775 and received $6.67 per month for their service. In 1798, a private's monthly pay sank to $6, remaining so for many decades. Corporals received $8 in 1798; sergeants were paid $9; and the major commandant earned $50. In 1843, with privates still drawing $6, the sergeant major of the Corps received $17 per month. Officers and Enlisted: 1775-1865: Modest strengths through the first 90 years scarcely forecast the large forces to come. Continental Marines numbers about 2,000 during the Revolution, but only 368 Marines stood to the colors in 1803. Thereafter, Corps strength fluctuated within a narrow range: 1812 -- 1,331 1820 -- 922 1836 -- 1,144 1965 -- 3,255
30. MCMCW_130210_220.JPG: "I am still alive, what little is left of me, and that is not much." -- Sgt. Richard Binder, USMC, Medal of Honor, Fort Fisher, 1864
31. MCMCW_130210_234.JPG: With Lincoln at Gettysburg: "In [Lincoln's] simple wisdom and eloquence, something had been said which would live forever." -- First Lieutenant Henry Clay Cochrane, USMC No Marines fought in the cataclysmic July 1863 battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but Lieutenant Henry Clay Cochrane, USMC, accompanied Abraham Lincoln to the site in November, as a member of the official party when they President delivered his renowned Gettysburg Address. Cochrane rode with Lincoln in the presidential railcar from Washington DC, to Gettysburg and sat near the podium as Lincoln delivered his remarks. The Marine Band, under Francis M. Scala, played aboard the President's train, in the procession that marched through town on 19 November, and during the ceremony to the cemetery.
32. MCMCW_130210_240.JPG: "I am still alive, what little is left of me, and that is not much." -- Sgt. Richard Binder, USMC, Medal of Honor, Fort Fisher, 1864
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