Commandants
of the Marine Corps:
(excerpt from Warrior
Culture of the U.S. Marines, copyright 2001 Marion F. Sturkey)
Since its birth in 1775, the Marine Corps has been led by 34 different
men. The first of these
Marine leaders, Samuel Nicholas, technically never held the title of
Commandant. His
commission, signed by John Hancock, begins as follows:
| IN
CONGRESS. The Delegates
of the United Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay,
Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the
Counties of New-Castle, Kent, and Suffex on Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, to Samuel
Nicholas Esquire. We,
reposing especial Trust and Confidence in your Patriotism, Valour,
Conduct and Fidelity, Do by these Presents, constitute and appoint you
to be Captain of Marines in the service of the Thirteen United
Colonies of North-America, fitted out for the defense of American
Liberty . . . .
|
The
term "Commandant" did not come into use for over a
quarter-century. Notwithstanding
technicalities, Samuel Nicholas is considered the first of the
lineage, the first Commandant. These
34 United States Marine Corps leaders are listed below:
1
Samuel Nicholas 1775-1781
2 William W. Burrows
1798-1804
3 Franklin Wharton
1804-1818
4 Anthony Gale
1819-1820
5 Archibald Henderson
1820-1859
6
John Harris
1859-1864
7
Jacob Zeilin
1864-1876
8
Charles G. McCawley
1876-1891
9
Charles Heywood
1891-1903
10
George F. Elliott
1903-1910
11
William P. Biddle
1911-1914
12
George Barnett 1914-1920
13
John A. Lejeune 1920-1929
14
Wendell C.
Neville 1929-1930
15
Ben H.
Fuller 1930-1934
16
John H. Russell, Jr.
1934-1936
17
Thomas Holcomb 1936-1943
18
Alexander A. Vandegrift
1944-1947
19
Clifton B. Cates 1948-1951
20
Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr.
1952-1955
21
Randolph M. Pate 1956-1959
22
David M. Shoup 1960-1963
23
Wallace M. Greene, Jr.
1964-1967
24
Leonard F. Chapman, Jr.
1968-1971
25
Robert E. Cushman, Jr.
1972-1975
26
Louis H. Wilson, Jr.
1975-1979
27
Robert H. Barrow 1979-1983
28
Paul X. "PX" Kelley
1983-1987
29
Alfred M. Gray, Jr.
1987-1991
30
Carl E. Mundy, Jr.
1991-1995
31
Charles C. Krulak
1995-1999
32
James L. Jones, Jr.
1999--2003
33 Michael W. Hagee 2003--2006
34 James T. Conway 2006-- |
Note:
On 16 March 1861, The Congress of the Confederate States of
America established the Confederate
States Marine Corps. On
23 May 1861, Col. Lloyd J. Beall (a West Point graduate who resigned
his U.S. Army commission to "go south") was appointed as the
Colonel-Commandant.
Col. Beall served as Colonel-Commandant of the C.S. Marine
Corps until the end of the American Civil War in 1865.
|
