In their service on battleships and cruisers, the marines form a part of
the ship's complement for battle, manning the 6-inch, 5-inch, 3-inch,
and 6-pounder guns of the intermediate and secondary batteries. They are
trained and fully equipped for instant service as landing-parties for
duty on shore.
Great mobility and facilities for quick action are required of the
marines, and they must be kept in readiness to move at a moment's notice
and be prepared for service in any climate. They have seen service in
Egypt, Algiers, Tripoli, Mexico, China, Japan, Korea, Cuba, Porto Rico,
Panama, Nicaragua, Santo Domingo, Formosa, Sumatra, Hawaii, Samoa, Guam,
Alaska, and the Philippine Islands.
Lieutenant P. N. O'Bannon, of the Marine Corps, hoisted the first
American flag ever flown over a fortress of the Old World when Derne, a
Tripolitan stronghold, was taken by assault on April 27, 1805. The first
regulars who entered the fortress of Chapultepec, in Mexico City, when
it was taken by storm on September 13, 1847, were marines, under command
of Major Levi Twigg. Under command of Robert E. Lee, later commanding
the Confederate Army, marines captured John Brown at Harper's Ferry, in
1859. A battalion of marines under Captain John L. Broome, occupied New
Orleans upon its surrender, and hoisted the American flag on the custom
house, April 29, 1862. A battalion of marines, 646 officers and men,
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel R. W. Huntington, was the first American
force that landed in Cuba in 1898, when it established a base for
Admiral Sampson's fleet at Guantanamo, holding their position against
Spanish regulars who were said to number 7,000.
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