Big Voice

We at Massif would like to wish a happy 384th birthday to the United States National Guard and thank all active and former service members of this force that serves their communities and the entire country. On December 13, 1636, the Massachusetts General Court in Salem created a militia to protect the Massachusetts bay, which was the force that grew to what we now call the National Guard. That initial militia came from a proud history of militias that started with the Plymouth and Jamestown Colonies.

On November 10, 1775, Samuel Nicholas, the first commissioned officer of the First Continental Marines, enlisted the proprietor of Philadelphia, PA’s Tun Tavern; Robert Mullan became the first Marines Recruiter. The Tun Tavern was a popular bar on the waterfront and served as a perfect meeting place to raise two battalions of troops fighting both at sea and onshore—a new type of soldier in the Continental Army. Those first Marines immediately proved remarkably fierce and capable. In 1776, only a few weeks after they were officially formed as a fighting force, they dominated their first amphibious raid on a British gunpowder supply in Fort Nassau, Bahamas. . Two hundred and thirty-four Marines forced the surrender of British troops within minutes of landing on the island, taking control of key stores of gunpowder as well as cannons.