page_title: Samuel Nicholas
section_title: Military service
hierarchical_section_title: Samuel Nicholas / Military service
caption_attribution_description: Samuel Nicholas, first Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, 28 Nov 1775 - Aug 1783.
context_page_description: Samuel Nicholas was the first officer commissioned in the United States Continental Marines and by tradition is considered to be the first Commandant of the Marine Corps.
context_section_description: On 28 November 1775, Nicholas was commissioned a "Captain of Marines" by the Second Continental Congress, which was the first commission issued in the Continental Naval Service. 18 days after the Continental Congress resolved on 10 November 1775, "That two battalions of Marines be raised consisting of one Colonel, two Lieutenant-Colonels, two Majors, and other officers, as usual in other regiments; that they consist of an equal number of Privates with other battalions; that particular care be taken that no persons be appointed to offices, or enlisted into said battalions, but such as are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve by sea when required; that they be enlisted and commissioned to serve for and during the present war with Great Britain and the Colonies, unless dismissed by order of Congress; that they be distinguished by the names of the First and Second Battalion of Marines."
  Captain Nicholas no sooner received official confirmation of his appointment to office than he established recruiting headquarters in Philadelphia. By January 1776, having recruited a sufficient number of Marines for the vessels that comprised the Continental Navy in the waters of Philadelphia, Capt. Nicholas assumed command of the Marine Detachment on board the Alfred. With Commodore Esek Hopkins in command, the Alfred set sail from Philadelphia on the morning of 4 January 1776. The following month witnessed the baptismal fire of the Marines.
caption: Historic Marine Corps portrait of Nicholas.
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