Philadelphia is the birthplace of the U.S. Marine Corps. On November 10, 1775, the first marines were recruited for naval service at the Tun Tavern on the corner of Water Street, near Spruce. (The Tun Tavern was also the birthplace of the Grand Lodge of the Masonic Temple.) Since that time, Philadelphia has enjoyed a close relationship with the U.S. Marine Corps. During the Civil War, there was an active recruiting service for U.S. Marines in the city, and hundreds of marines were enlisted and trained here. A recruiting station was operated at 311 South Front Street by Captain William Stokes Boyd of the USMC.
The best-known marine officer of the Civil War was Philadelphia-born Jacob Zeilin. He attended West Point but did not graduate. He entered the U.S. Marine Corps as a second lieutenant in October 1831 and began a distinguished career in that service. Zeilin served onboard ships and ashore at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He served onboard the USS Congress as commander of the marine detachment in the Mexican War and was involved in the capture of Los Angeles and California under Commodore Robert F. Stockton in 1846–1847.
In June 1852, while stationed at the New York Navy Yard, he was selected to accompany Commodore Perry as fleet marine officer in the famous expedition to Japan and served with the marine detachment on the USS Mississippi, in which he cruised to Japan with Commodore Perry’s expedition. In fact, Zeilin was the second American to set foot on Japanese soil on July 14, 1853.
Brigadier General Jacob Zeilin was commandant of the Marine Corps in the Civil War and its first general. Zeilin was a Philadelphian and is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery. Laurel Hill Cemetery Collection.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Zeilin was in command of the Washington Marine Barracks with the rank of major. On July 21, 1861, Zeilin commanded a small battalion of marines at the First Battle of Bull Run and was slightly wounded. On June 10, 1864, he was promoted to commandant of the marine corps with the rank of colonel. In 1874, Zeilin was named the first marine corps general officer when he was promoted brigadier general.
After the war, Zeilin was instrumental in saving the marine corps from elimination by Congress when he testified to its effectiveness and necessity. As commandant of the marine corps, he officially approved of the design of the “Eagle, Globe and Anchor” as its emblem.
Brigadier General Zeilin retired from the Marine Corps on November 1, 1876, after serving over forty-five years as a marine officer. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1880, perhaps of a broken heart due to the tragic, accidental death of his beloved son, an officer in the marines. Both the Zeilins are buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery. Every November 10, the anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps, appropriate honor ceremonies are held at General Zeilin’s grave by marines who honor the Philadelphian who saved the Corps.318
The following ships were constructed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and were outfitted by city war manufacturers. Most saw active service with the fleets and on blockading service. They included the sloops of war Tuscarora, Juniata, Swatara, Yantic, Monongahela and Shenandoah; the double-ender gunboat Miami; gunboat Kansas; steam frigate Neshaminy; steamer Tacony; ironclad double turret monitor Tonawanda; and many others.319
A number of warships were also constructed at private shipyards along the Delaware River under contract to the navy. By far the most important vessel built at Philadelphia for war service and the most formidable ship of the navy was the New Ironsides, the contract for which was awarded to William Cramp & Sons. This fighting monster was launched, armed and in service eleven months after the work was commenced. It was of a distinctly new type, having a displacement of 5,080 tons, ship-rigged, 1,800 horsepower engines and carrying sixteen 2,200-pounder Dahlgren guns and two Parrott rifled guns on pivots. The broadside weight was 1,100 pounds. Its wooden framing was the heaviest ever placed in a ship. It was sheathed with four-inch iron plates backed with fourteen inches of oak. The plating covered the ship from the spar deck to a line four feet below the water level. Its length was 232 feet; beam, 57 feet, 6 inches; and draught, 15 feet. The New Ironsides was intended for coastal service when it was “bark” rigged with fewer sails. The plates for the ship were made by Bailey, Brown & Co., of Pittsburgh and at the Bristol, Pennsylvania Iron Works. The engines were built by S.V. Merrick & Sons of Philadelphia. This new type of warship was launched on May 10, 1862, and christened by the venerable Commodore Charles Stewart. Soon afterward, it became the flagship of Admiral S.F. Du Pont.
In the course of the war, the New Ironsides participated in twenty battles, including that of Fort Fisher, where it engaged the heavy Confederate batteries at short range and through it all sustained only slight damage. While in dock at League Island in 1866, it was destroyed by fire.
In other private shipyards, hundreds of skilled mechanics were busy on government ship construction and repair throughout the war. At the Neafie & Levy works, many of the engines were built for naval use. This firm built the boilers for the revolutionary submarine USS Alligator, which was constructed at Bordentown, New Jersey, by E.A. Stevens. A gunboat was also launched at Bordentown on March 15, 1862, that is said to have been the first warship ever built in New Jersey. In the summer of 1862, two monitors, the Sangamon and Lehigh, were completed at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the firm of Reaney, Son & Archbold.320
The Naval Home and Hospital, later called the Naval Asylum, was maintained in Philadelphia by the United States government at Gray’s Ferry Avenue and Bainbridge Street. It was established in 1826. It occupied ground that was once the homestead of a noted Tory of the Revolution, James Pemberton. For seven years, dating from 1838, the United States Naval Academy was located at the Naval Home in Philadelphia before it was relocated to Annapolis. The Naval Home was financed by an assessment of twenty cents per capita upon all the sailors of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The beautiful grounds included twenty-five acres. The main building, Biddle Hall, was constructed in 1832 and designed by the noted architect William Strickland. It is of marble, three stories high and 380 feet long. It was formerly flanked by the governor’s and surgeon’s residences and a number of lesser structures. This attractive “snug harbor” was crowded throughout the Civil War with wounded, sick and retired officers and sailors from the war fleets of the navy.
Even fifty years after the Civil War, naval veterans who fought under Farragut, Porter, Du Pont and other great admirals of that period were still living at the Naval Home. The Naval Asylum at Philadelphia was closed in 1976 and removed to Gulfport, Mississippi. Today, the Naval Home has been converted into a condominium complex, called Naval Square. But at least the main building and the grounds have been preserved for posterity to admire.321