Samuel Nicholas Samuel Nicholas ( 1744 – 27 August 1790 ) was the first officer commissioned in the United States Continental Marines ( now the United States Marine Corps ) and by tradition is considered to be the first Commandant of the Marine Corps . Early life . Nicholas was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania in 1744 to Andrew and Mary Schute Nicholas . His father was a blacksmith and his uncle was Attwood Schute , the Mayor of Philadelphia ( 1756 – 1758 ) . Nicholas was educated at the College of Philadelphia ( now the University of Pennsylvania ) . Nicholas was a Freemason of a Masonic Lodge that met at Tun Tavern . Military service . On 5 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 . His commission was confirmed in writing on 28 November , 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 at Tun Tavern , Philadelphia . By January 1776 , having recruited a sufficient number of Marines to man 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 , " Alfred " set sail from Philadelphia on the morning of 4 January 1776 . The following month witnessed the baptismal fire of the Marines . Battle of Nassau . Lord Dunmore , with the British force under his command , had collected a store of arms and provisions at New Providence , in the Bahamas , and had done a great deal of injury along the Colonial coast , particularly the shore of Virginia . Commodore Hopkins had been ordered to proceed to Abaco in the Bahamas , and from there to operate against the force of Lord Dunmore . Here the Commodore decided to make an attack on New Providence , capture the enemy ' s stores and cripple his supplies . Capt Nicholas was placed in command of the landing party , which consisted of 234 Marines . This , the first successful landing engaged in by Continental Marines , led to the capture of Nassau on 3 March 1776 without a fight . On 6 April 1776 , the Marines participated in the first naval battle between an American squadron and the British , when His Majesty ' s Ship " Glasgow " came across the path of the squadron . Promoted to Major . On 25 June 1776 , Congress placed Nicholas " at the head of the Marines with the rank of Major . " Accordingly , Commodore Hopkins was advised to send Major Nicholas to Philadelphia , with dispatches for the Continental Congress . With notification of his promotion he was ordered to report to the Marine Committee . The Committee detached him from " Alfred " and ordered him to remain in the city , " to discipline four companies of Marines and prepare them for service as Marine guards for the frigates on the stocks . " Having recruited and thoroughly organised four companies , he requested arms and equipment for them . 1776 – 1779 . In December 1776 , he wrote Congress , " The enemy having overrun the Jerseys , and our army being greatly reduced , I was ordered to march with three of the companies to be under the command of His Excellency , the Commander - in - Chief . " This was the first example of a battalion of Marines about to serve as an actual fighting unit under the direct command of Army authority . The Marines did not , however , engage in the attack on Trenton , on 26 December 1776 which followed General George Washington ' s crossing of the Delaware River . They were attached to General John Cadwalader ' s division , which was ordered to cross the Delaware to Burlington , New Jersey , south of Trenton , in concert with Washington ' s crossing to the north on the night of 25 December 1776 , but was turned back due to ice floes on the river . After the first Battle of Trenton , the battalion of Marines under the command of Maj . Nicholas participated in battle with a detachment of Cornwallis ' s main army at Princeton , New Jersey . During the ensuing months Nicholas ' s battalion served both as infantry and artillery , participating in several skirmishes . Following the British evacuation of Philadelphia in June 1778 , Marine Barracks were reestablished and recruiting resumed . From then until the close of the war , Nicholas ' s duties at Philadelphia were somewhat similar to those of later Commandants . Moreover , he was actively in charge of recruiting , and at times acted as Muster Master of the Navy . On 20 November 1779 , he wrote Congress requesting that he be put in charge of the Marine Detachment aboard " America " , then in process of construction , but Congress was firm in its intention that Nicholas remain in Philadelphia . Return to civilian life . After the disbandment of the Continental Marines and Navy following the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 , Nicholas returned to civilian life and became an original member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati . He died 27 August 1790 , in Philadelphia during an epidemic of yellow fever and is buried in the Friends Graveyard at Arch Street Friends Meeting House . Legacy . Three ships in the United States Navy have been named USS " Nicholas " in his honor . On 10 November of each year , the date celebrated as the Marine Corps ' birthday , Nicholas ' grave in the Arch Street Friends Meeting graveyard in Philadelphia is marked with a wreath at dawn by a group of Marines .