US Horse Marines
USMC Mounted Marines and their use in the 20th Century
The US Marine Corps used horses often over the course of their service. The golden age of these Horse Marines was 1909-1938.
The United States Marine Corps often used mounted leathernecks in their service overseas. A small group of seven marines led by Lt Presley O'Bannon crossed the deserts of North Africa on camels to lead a group of mercenaries in an assault on the Tripolitan city of Derna during the Barbary Wars in 1805. This is immortalized in the Marine Corps Anthem’s "...to the shores of Tripoli" line and garnered the model for the Mameluke Sword carried by marines to this day. Close to this time period the British Royal Marines briefly established a horse mounted section.
Other mounted marines continued to pop up over the next century. Unconfirmed cases of mounted marines assigned ashore during the American Civil war persist. In 1903 a group of marines accompanied a US legation of Robert P. Skinner to Ethiopia on horseback to establish relations with the Abyssinians Emperor Menelek II. US Marines landed in Haiti August 1915 were quickly mounted at the insistence of US Navy Rear Admiral Caperton. Other marines saw duty off and on as mounted troops due to the nature of the jungle terrain in the marines 'Banana Wars" in Honduras, Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Panama during the 1920s and 30s.
However the best known of the Horse Marines was in China. The men formed the Legation Guards at the American Embassy in Peking (Beijing) as well as the guards for the International Settlement in Shanghai, China from 1909 onward. These forces numbered up to 1500 men, mainly of the 4th Marines, spread out from Peking to Shanghai to Tientsin (Tianjin). The nature of these detachments spread out across the Chinese countryside made use of short local Mongolian ponies the natural answer to mobility issues. The last mounted unit of these "China Marines" was retired in March 1938 when the detachment, numbering one officer and thirty marines, was reviewed for the last time at Peking’s Breckenridge Field March 1938 before being disbanded. These China Marines included many Marine Corps legends. Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller, a man who embodies the esprit of the entire corps, and Major General William Henry Rupertus, author of the Rifleman’s Creed were both China marines during their service. General Harry B. Liversedge, a former enlisted Marine and a shot-putter in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics served as a horse marine and was known throughout his World War two service, where he commanded the First Marine Raider Regiment, as "Harry the Horse"
Today the only mounted unit in the US Marine is the Marine Corps Mounted Color Guard formed in 1967. They ride palominos from the BLM's wild horse program
Sources
Our Horse marines to Police Haiti NYT August 28, 1915
The Last Review, Time magazine Monday, Mar. 07, 1938
Boot, Max The Savage Wars of Peace - Small Wars and the Rise of American Power. Basic Books. (2002).
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
