Washington’s Marines: The origins and early operations of America’s first Marines

For a zoom link, please email arrt.nj@gmail.com no later than 5pm on January 8th.

Washington’s Marines: The origins and early operations of America’s first Marines

The unexpected crisis created by the events at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, forced the newly formed Continental Congress to first focus its efforts on establishing a national army from the varied militia groups holding the British under siege at Boston.  Yet, the United States was a maritime nation, and the nascent country quickly realized it would need men who could fight on the seas and land if it had any hope of gaining its independence from the mother country.  This presentation will describe the events that led to the forming of America’s first naval forces and share insights into the Marines’ early operations including America’s first amphibious operation at New Providence, Bahamas, the war at sea, and the Marines’ heroic efforts fighting ashore in support of General George Washington, achieving victories at the Battles of Trenton, Assunpink Creek, and Princeton during the “Ten Crucial Days” of Dec 76-Jan 77.

Major General Jason Q. Bohm is a Marine with more than 30 years of service. An infantryman by trade, he has commanded at every level from platoon commander to commanding general in peacetime and war. Bohm also served in several key staff positions, including as a strategic planner with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of the Marine Corps Expeditionary Warfare School, House Director, Marine Corps Office of Legislative Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, and Chief of Staff of U.S. Naval Striking and Support Forces, NATO. Bohm has a bachelor’s degree in marketing, a master’s degree in military studies, and a master’s degree in national security studies. He has written several articles for the Marine Corps Gazette and won various writing awards from the Marine Corps Association. He is the author of From the Cold War to ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant): One Marine’s Journey (Naval Institute Press, 2019), and Washington’s Marines: The Origins of the Corps and the American Revolution, 1775-1777 (Savas Beatie, 2023).