Samuel Nicholas (1744 - 1790)

Born Feb 1744 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Descendants

Died 27 Aug 1790 at age 46 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

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Biography

Samuel was a Friend (Quaker)

Major Samuel Nicholas served with Continental Marines during the American Revolution.

Samuel was a Quaker, and was disowned because they were pacifists. The Philadelphia Friends' Minute reads the reason being he was “associating to learn the art of war.”^[1]

Samuel was the first officer commissioned in the United States Continental Marines (predecessor to the United States Marine Corps) and by tradition is considered to be the first Commandant of the Marine Corps - served 11/28/1775 to 8/27/1783.

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.

Mary Jenkins married 5 March 1778, the dashing young Captain Samuel Nicholas, first commandant of the U.S. Marines, who was buried in Friends graveyard, Philadelphia, 27 August 1790, age 46. Nicholas died intestate. ^[2]

Gravestone installed for first leader of Marines, Samuel Nicholas

The Philadelpia-area Smedley Butler chapter of the Marine Corps League had raised funds to buy a modest headstone for Maj. Samuel Nicholas, first leader of the Continental Marines. Nicholas, who was sworn in as the first commissioned officer in the Marine Corps on Nov. 5, 1775, is considered by some to be the de facto first commandant, although he never officially held the title. After he succumbed to yellow fever in 1790, he was buried in Philadelphia, but his grave was left unmarked according to the Quaker tradition, which he observed. Only recently did the Quaker proprietors of the site approve the installation of a modest Colonial-style marker with Nicholas’s name on it, so that Marines and history buffs could find the site more easily. The marker was officially installed in a June 1, 2013 ceremony with other Marine Corps League detachments and active and reserve Marines in attendance.

Daughters of the American Revolution information:

• NICHOLS, SAMUEL
• Ancestor #: A083357
• Service: PENNSYLVANIA
• Rank(s): MAJOR
• Birth: ANTE 1750 PHILADELPHIA PHILADELPHIA CO PENNSYLVANIA
• Death: CIRCA 1790 PHILADELPHIA PHILADELPHIA CO PENNSYLVANIA
• Service Source: JOURNALS OF THE CONT CONG, VOL 21, P 1028
• Service Description: (1) ALSO CAPT WITH COMMODORE HOPKINS, AS MAJ UNDER GEORGE WASHINGTON; (2) BY TRADITION FIRST MARINE, FIRST MARINE RECRUITER, FIRST MARINE COMMANDANT
• Spouse: MARY JENKINS; Created: 2002-03-27 23:17:13.16, Updated: 2002-03-27 23:17:13.16, By: Conversion 1)
• Child son: SAMUEL NICHOLS, [Spouse #] Spouse: [1] MARIA REDMAN

Marines at the Battle of Princeton The Corps' first land combat

At the Battle of Princeton, the United States Marine Corps met the enemy on land for the first time. The Marines were in the thick of the fighting, participating in Washington's decisive counter attack.

The Colonial Marines, predecessor to the United States Marine Corps, was founded on November 10, 1775 under the Continental Marine Act of 1775. Their primary duty was to serve as the Navy’s infantry arm, providing security, making amphibious assaults, repelling boarders, and sweeping enemy decks with musket fire. Marines allowed the fledgling Colonial Navy to raid targets of opportunity and capture British merchant shipping.

On November 28, 1775, Congress commissioned Samuel Nicholas as Captain of Marines, and tasked him with raising two battalions. Nicholas set to work in his native Philadelphia, a town with a rich naval tradition and plenty of available sailors. Legend holds that he used Tun Tavern as his recruiting office, although some historians name the Nicholas’ family's own tavern, Conestoga Waggon [sic], as the recruitment site. By December, Nicholas had raised one battalion, 300 men; among them were the Corps’ first African Americans enlistees: Isaac Walker and a man known only as “Orange.” In early January, the Marines went to sea under Commodore Esek Hopkins.

The Marines spent the early part of 1776 at sea, raiding British shipping and territory in the Caribbean. During this time, the Corps participated in its first amphibious landing: the First Battle of Nassau, in the Bahamas. At Nassau the Marines splashed ashore unopposed and quickly occupied Fort Montagu, taking the town of Nassau the next day without firing a shot. On the return voyage, the small fleet captured a number of merchant vessels and encountered HMS Glasgow, resulting in the first naval engagement between the Royal and Continental Navies. HMS Glasgow, a heavily armed sixth-rate frigate, managed to escape despite heavy damage. During the cruise, the Marines suffered their first combat losses: seven killed and four wounded. Upon his return, Nicholas was promoted to Major on June 6.

Throughout the fall of 1776, Nicholas and his Marines were recruiting in Philadelphia and waiting for their next assignment. The land war, however, was beginning to turn against Washington and his Continental Army with the defeats at Long Island, White Plains, Fort Washington, and Fort Lee. By December of 1776, Washington was retreating through New Jersey and in desperate need of veteran soldiers. Nicholas and the Marines were ordered to attach themselves to Washington’s army.

By December 25, 1776, the Marines found themselves not at sea, but on a river. Washington, recognizing the need for sailors for his planned crossing of the Delaware, assigned the Marines to General John Cadwalader’s Brigade crossing at Burlington. The ice-choked river and deteriorating weather, however, prevented Cadwalader from landing more than a few men on the New Jersey riverbank, and prevented the Marines from participating in Washington’s stunning victory over the Hessians at Trenton.

The Marines would not have to wait long, however, for their first taste of land combat. Still attached to Cadwalader’s Brigade, they marched from Crosswicks, New Jersey, and joined Washington outside Princeton on the night of January 2, 1777. Cadwalader’s Brigade was then attached to Greene’s Division. When the sun rose on January 3, 1777, the Marines arrived on the outskirts of Princeton. Placed in reserve initially, it seemed as if they were likely to miss the action yet again.

The British had other plans, and their sudden appearance on the King’s Highway began the engagement. The British shattered the first line of American troops. Cadwalader’s Brigade, and the Marines, would have heard the exchange of volleys and thunder of cannon from their position on the Sawmill Road near Thomas Clarke’s house. They would have seen their comrades come running out of William Clarke’s farmyard, pursued by British Redcoats, with no sign of General Hugh Mercer or his second in command, Colonel John Haslet, among them.

At this point, the battle was at its critical moment. Cadwalader ordered his inexperienced men into action, with the Marines advancing on the right flank. This advance would have placed the Marines near the fence between William and Thomas Clarke’s farms, close to the present day boundary between Princeton Battlefield State Park and the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). These troops managed to slow the British, but the intense musketry, artillery, and the flight of Mercer’s men through their ranks unnerved them. Cadwalader’s men began to break.

Thanks to quick thinking by Capt. Joseph Moulder and his battery of Pennsylvania Artillery, and accurate grapeshot and canister salvos, the British advance was halted. Washington arrived on the field, riding among Cadwalader’s men shouting “parade with me my brave fellows, we will have them soon!” At great personal risk, Washington rallied Cadwalader’s and some of Mercer’s men. With reinforcements from Sullivan’s Division--Col. Daniel Hitchcock’s Brigade supported by Col. Edward Hand’s riflemen and two batteries of artillery--the Marines and Cadwalader’s men renewed the attack and drove the British from the field.

For the first time in the Revolution, Washington and his men saw the fleeing backs of British Redcoats. Of the estimated 130 Marines engaged at Princeton, no known casualty list exists. The entire army suffered eight officers and about thirty men killed. In Cadwalader’s Brigade three casualties are known, Ensign Anthony Morris, Lt. Morgan, and a Pennsylvania Marine, Capt. William Shippin. The Pennsylvania Marines were from the Brig Hancock, a privateer where Shippin was Captain of Marines. These state Marines fought with the Philadelphia Militia in Cadwalader’s center and left flank.

Given the losses in Cadwalader’s Brigade, the Continental Marines likely suffered in equal numbers. It is possible that some of the unknown Marine casualties still lie buried in the mass grave within Princeton Battlefield State Park. The Battle of Princeton was the first in a long line of battles where the Continental Marines were called to action far from their ships.

Sources

1. ↑ Encyclopedia of American Quaker genealogy, Ann Arbor, Michigan : Edwards Brothers, 1936-1950. Vol. 2, Pg 607.
2. ↑ Price, Norma Adams. From Meetinghouse to Statehouse 1683-1783 with Descendants of George Gray Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly by Mary Stanley Field Liddell. Wallingford, PA: Historic Delaware County Inc., 1976. Page 64.

• Military December 1775 "United States Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGLS-G4KM : 1 March 2021), Samuel Nicholas, Dec 1775; citing Military Service, United States, Citing various published state rosters, United States; FHL microfilm 103140773.
• 1776 "United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2DG-473P : 20 February 2021), Samuel Nichols, 1776; citing 1776, United States, citing NARA microfilm publication M246. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Services, 1980. FHL microfilm 830,280.
• https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A083357
• https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/marines-battle-princeton
• http://battlerattle.marinecorpstimes.com/2013/08/27/gravestone-installed-for-first-leader-of-marines-samuel-nicholas/
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LYQ4-GNY
• Wikipedia:Samuel_Nicholas
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8319772/samuel-nicholas : accessed 21 February 2022), memorial page for Samuel Nicholas (Feb 1744–27 Aug 1790), Find a Grave Memorial ID 8319772, citing Friends Arch Street Meeting House Burial Ground, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA ; Maintained by Find a Grave .
• see also: MAJOR LOUIS ESTELL FAGAN, 2D, U.S.M.C. Samuel Nicholas First Officer of American Marines from THE MARINE CORPS GAZETTE

Vol. XVIII, NOVEMBER, 1933, No. 3