Phila. gravestone now honors father of Marine Corps
Commemoration Ceremony of First Commandant of Marines, Samuel Nicholas at Arch Street Quaker Meeting House. Buglers are playing National Anthem during the ceremony. June 1, 2013( AKIRA SUWA / Staff Photographer )
When he was commissioned as "Captain of Marines" during the American Revolution, Samuel Nicholas was read out of meeting by the pacifist Society of Friends in Philadelphia.But the Marine Corps' first commandant - received back into the Society of Friends after the war - was buried without a marker, the same as most others at the cemetery next to the Arch Street Meeting House.
On Saturday, Nicholas was honored during the dedication of a small, gray-marble marker, one of only a few allowed in the cemetery.
1744-1790
Marines and Quakers alike remembered him during an event that included a wreath-laying, a color guard without weapons, and the playing of the national anthem, the "Marines' Hymn," and Taps.
The grave has drawn Marines over the years, especially at dawn every Nov. 10, the date celebrated as the Marine Corps' birthday, when a wreath is laid there.
"The motto of the Marine Corps is 'Semper Fidelis,' 'always faithful,' " said Fred LeClair, commandant of the Chester County Detachment of the Marine Corps League, a veterans organization that promotes the traditions and interests of the Marines.
"Nothing could be more important than remembering our first commandant," he said. "It was unconscionable to bury him without a marker."
LeClair asked the Society of Friends for permission to install a marker and was granted approval for a modest block of marble measuring about 18 by nine inches. He then sought and received support from the National Marine Corps League.
The first commandant received his commission in writing on Nov. 28, 1775, 18 days after the Continental Congress agreed to raise two battalions of Marines.
Nicholas turned the Tun Tavern into recruiting headquarters and had gathered enough Marines by January 1776 to man the vessels of the Continental Navy in Philadelphia.
He went on to command a detachment on the Alfred, led the capture of Nassau, and battled the British with Washington at Princeton.
"One of our missions is to preserve the history and traditions of the Marines Corps," LeClair said. "I think this helps."
Contact Edward Colimore at 856-779-3833 or ecolimore@phillynews.com.
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