As an historian, I spend a lot of time reading military history, particularly Marine Corps history. It’s fairly easy to find a lot of great books on the American Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and an amazing number of books on our current military. What’s hard to find is information on what happened between the end of the Civil War, when the Marines were basically a small constabulary, and World War I, when the Marines were an elite fighting force of 72,000 men.
Well, actually several things changed after the Civil War. The U.S. went from sail to steam meaning larger, faster ships which needed additional sailors—and Marines (often called “soldiers of the sea.”) Marines also received several new and improved weapons like the Maxim gun, precursor of the machine gun. After 1865, the country began growing at a massive rate, as did our foreign trade. And with that foreign trade went both the Navy and Marines. Even so, the Marines were different by the beginning of the Great War—and I recently read a book which, at least in part, explained why.
From left to right, Wendell Neville, John Lejeune, Littleton Waller and Smedley Butler circa 1914
Leaders of Men by Dr. A.C. Venzon discusses 10 Marine officers who overlapped the years 1861 to 1923 and explains how their natural leadership abilities gradually changed the attitudes, training, and morale of the Marine Corps. From Col. Robert Huntington, who joined the minuscule 3,000-man Marine Corps in June 1861 and started his career at First Manassas, to Col. Fritz Wise, who fought with his men at Belleau Woods in 1918, each of these men learned from their elders and, in turn, trained those who followed them.
A portrait of Marines at Belleau Woods, 1918
It’s a fascinating, eclectic group. In addition to Huntington and Wise, there’s the indomitable Smedley D. Butler. But Venzon includes other men who’s names have been shoved into dusty corners of libraries. These men, like Littleton W.T. Waller, Joseph (Uncle Joe) Pendleton, Wendell (Buck) Neville, “Hiking” Hiram Bears, John (Handsome Jack) Myers, and George Thorpe, fought in Egypt, Alaska, Panama, China, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, the Philippines, Mexico and Haiti. One was an absolute martinet. One or two drank too much. Some were wounded. Some dealt with malaria or dengue fever. One had a breakdown. All had their foibles. But well after they retired, the men they had trained and fought with would tell anyone who would listen that they had become better Marines, real Marines, because of these men.
The author has used extensive, little-known documents and rare photographs to reintroduce these men who had such an important part of the USMC in the 20th century and beyond. A relatively short book has given the reader a much better understanding of what actually made the Marine Corps what it is today.
Anne Cipriano Venzon. Leaders of Men: Ten Men Who Changed the Corps. Latham, MD: Roman & Littlefield, 2008.
This Sunday, November 10, is the 244th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. As a child, I learned about the men who joined the very first Marines at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia (November 10, 1775). About Presley O’Bannon and the Barbary Pirates. How BGen. Archibald Henderson left a note on his door “Have gone to Florida to fight Indians. Will be back when war is over.” How 50 Marines led by Capt. John T. Myers, with a small group of British, Russian, German and French soldiers held the Legations at Peking for 55 days. And of course there was Belleau Wood, where Sgt. Dan Daly—who already had received two Medals of Honor—is said to have hollered to his men, “come on you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?“
BGen. John T. Myers
I learned about places like Chapultepec, Sumatra, Addis Ababa, Tampico, Tientsin, Cavite, Chateau Thierry, Guam, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Chosin Reservoir. I heard names like Robert Huntington, Littleton W.T. Waller, Smedley Butler, Fritz Wise, Alexander A. Vandegrift, “Red Mike” Edson, and so many more. I was rearranging some books over the weekend to make room for two new ones. (My father used to say that I buy my books by the pound). One of them is about General Clifton Cates who, as 2d Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates told his battalion HQ “I will hold” during the carnage of Belleau Wood, on July 19, 1918.
Born in Tiptonville, Tennessee on August 31, 1893, Cates was graduated from the Missouri Military Academy in 1910. He later graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1916, and was admitted to the Bar that same year. While the Great War raged in Europe, the US only felt below-the-surface rumblings. But when the Germans announced they would begin Unrestricted Submarine Warfare on February 1, 1917, followed immediately by the Zimmerman Telegram which suggesting an alliance between Mexico and Germany, it became crystal clear that the Americans were going to war. (Congress declared war on April 6, 1917.) Cates, like so many of his friends, wanted to serve, and one young man told him that a group called Marines were looking for men. Cates asked him “what is a Marine?” It didn’t matter—he wanted to fight for his country, and after passing all the tests and physicals he was commissioned as a 2d Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve on June 13, 1917.
Naval Hospital, Parris Island c. 1919 (NH series NH1000000, NH100843)
He and his buddies ended up in Parris Island, near Beaufort, South Carolina. It wasn’t the Parris we know today, but the Parris Island that was little more than a swamp with a few ancient plantation houses. Not only did the men learn to be Marines—drills, the rifle range, more drills, more rifle range—but they also built everything from schools and barracks to latrines. From Parris Island his cohort moved north to Quantico in northern Virginia. More instruction, more drills, more rifle range, though now they could occasionally go into the town of Quantico for a good meal and enjoy the ladies at the dance hall.
Finally they were ready to go “Over There” aboard the USS Henderson. Part of a convoy for four transports and a battleship, they arrived at St. Nazaire, France, on February 5, 1918, and after some time learning about trench warfare from the French, ended up along the Paris-Metz highway on June 1, 1918, as part of the 96th Company, 6th Regiment. Over the coming weeks, they took massive casualties at Bouresches and Belleau Wood. He and a few men ended up in an abandoned French trench where he scrippled a quick note and send a runner to the Battalion HQ. It’s worth reading:
“I have only two men out of my company and 20 of other companies. We need support, but it is almost suicidal to try to get it here as we are swept by machine-gun fire and a constant artillery barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and very few on my right. I WILL HOLD.”
He did. And those words continue to inspire Marines to this day. Later that afternoon some men from a French battalion pushed forward and hooked up with the beleaguered Marines. Cates and his men were part of the troops to win the campaigns of Soisson, Blanc Mont Ridge, the St. Mihiel Salient and the Meuse-Argonne. By the end of World War I, Cates had received the Navy Cross, Distinuished Service Cross with oak leaf cluster, the Purple Heart, Silver Star and the French Croix de Guerre.
Among the survivors of the 2d Battalion, 6th Regiment were Maj. Thomas Holcomb, 1st Lt. Clifton Cates, and 1st Lt. Graves Erskine (Naval History and Heritage Command)
After a year of occupation duty in Germany, Cates returned to the States. He expected to spend the rest of his live as a lawyer in Tennessee. While waiting for his discharge order he ran into Commandant George Barnett who suggested that maybe Cates would like to serve as the Commandant’s Aide-de-Camp. He said yes, and never looked back. After working for Barnett, Cates had sea duty on the USS California, served in Shanghai twice, worked at the War Plan’s section at Headquarters, Marine Corps, and as war clouds loomed again, became Director of the Marine Corps Basic School at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
On August 4, 1942, Cates, now a colonel in charge of the 1st Marine Regiment, used everything he’d learned during the 1st World War—better training, security, tactics and weapons—and spent the next five months retaking Guadalcanal. Then it was back to the States to command the Marine Corps School at Quantico. In June 1944, General Cates returned to the Pacific in command of the 4th Marine Division. Retaking Tinian Island was tough, but fast. The 4th Division quickly headed back to Maui for R+R and then serious training because they, along with the 3d and 5th Marine Divisions, would face General Kuribayashi and 22,000 Japanese soldiers on the black volcanic sand of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. It took another 37 days to secure the island—one of the toughest in Marine Corps history.
After the war and a number of short assignments, he again commanded the Marine Barracks at Quantico. On January 1, 1948, Cates arrived at the pinnacle of his career, becoming the 19th Commandant of the Marine Corps. In the middle of his term as Commandant, the North Korean army flooded across the 38th Parallel, starting the Korean War, and again the Marines were in the thick of it. He made several tours of the Korean front, and after his friend General Lemuel Shepherd became the 20th Commandant in 1952, Cates went back to his Marines at Quantico until he retired on June 24, 1954. Cates died at the US Naval Hospital at Annapolis on June 4, 1970 and was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on June 8.
Marine Commandant Clifton B. Cates
General Cates (sometimes known as Lucky Cliff) would agree with me in saying that there are many truly amazing men and women Marines. And there are some great books about the Marines I’ve mentioned—and many more. (And none of them weigh much at all🙄) You can use an actual book, a Kindle, even Audible books, but try reading one—though I bet you’ll find that they’re like potato chips—you can’t stop with just one. I’ve listed just a few of those books below, but if you’re looking for something else, just let me know—I’m happy to help.
James Nelson, I Will Hold
Dirk Ballendorf, Pete Ellis
Roger Willock, Unaccustomed to Fear: A biography of the Late General Roy Geiger
David Ulbrich, Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomp
Victor Krulak, First to Fight: Lt.Gen. Victor H. Krulak
John Lejeune, The Reminiscences of a Marine
Jon Hoffman, Chesty
Holland Smith, Coral and Brass
Jon Hoffman, Once a Legend: “Red Mike” Edson and the Marine Raiders
Hans Schmidt, Maverick Marine: General Smedley D. Butler
Merrill Twining, No Bended Knee
A.A. Vandegrift, Once a Marine
Frederic Wise, A Marine Tells it to You
Bernard Cole, Gunboats and Marines
Allan Millett, In Many a Strife: General Gerald C. Thomas
Albertus Catlin, “With the Help of God and a Few Marines”
Historical Lense 