In the early afternoon of August 24th 1814, Marine Captain Samuel Miller knew it was going to be a bad day. Standing alongside Commodore Joshua Barney of the US Navy, Miller watched the soldiers and militiamen of General William Widner's army stream past, running away from the British forces advancing before them. Commodore Barney's force of 500 ( Read more... )

On the morning of Tuesday, November 20th 1934, retired Marine Commandant Smedley D. Butler appeared before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee of the US House of Representatives. Over the course of the next four days, Butler and several other supporting witnesses revealed a plot to overthrow the government of the United States ( Read more... )

Monday, October 18th 1859, began as a rainy day in Washington D.C. Lieutenant Israel Green was acting commander of the Marines stationed at the Marine Barracks when chief clerk Charles Walsh of the Navy department rode through the gate and called for the commander just after noon. Green walked out into the rain to answer Walsh's query ( Read more... )

On a sultry June morning in 1868, John António de Sousa brought his son John Philip to the Marine Barracks at 8th and I streets southeast in Washington DC. Young John Philip was 13 years old, and had been studying music and learning to play a number of instruments since he was six. Now his father, a trombone player in the Marine Band, sought to ( Read more... )

On the night of April 8th 1956, at Parris Island South Carolina, Marine Staff Sergeant Matthew McKeon took his platoon of recruits out for an unscheduled night march. McKeon's intent was to induce a bit of misery in his troops due to poor discipline in the platoon. Night marches were a fairly common practice at the time ( Read more... )

At 0330 on the morning of August 17th, 1942, Major James Roosevelt slid over the side of USS Argonaut into a black rubber boat off the shore of Makin island in the Gilbert Islands. Jimmy Roosevelt was the executive officer (second in command) of the 2nd Marine Raider battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson. USS Argonaut was a large ( Read more... )

On June 1st 1857, Colonel Archibald Henderson received a note from the mayor of Washington DC asking for help in keeping the polls open during that day's election. Henderson was the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, and at the time the only commander of troops garrisoned within Washington DC. A trainload of "pug-uglies" had been brought down ( Read more... )