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Court Review: Volume 38, Issue 1-Chief Justice John Marshall University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association American Judges Association April 2001 Court Review: Volume 38, Issue 1 - Chief Justice John Marshall: Soldier of the Revolution Stephen J. McEwen Jr. President Judge of the Pennsylvania Superior Court Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ajacourtreview Part of the Jurisprudence Commons McEwen, Stephen J. Jr., "Court Review: Volume 38, Issue 1 - Chief Justice John Marshall: Soldier of the Revolution" (2001). Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association. 200. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ajacourtreview/200 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the American Judges Association at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. C ESSAY Chief Justice John Marshall: Soldier of the Revolution Stephen J. McEwen, Jr. ope for the future is an intrinsic beyond epochal, while the legend of main British force, which was stationed in part of the reflection that has Chief Justice John Marshall is ageless. All New York. Haccompanied the beginning of a of which has obscured John Marshall the * * * new century. Quite surely, our hope for Soldier. BATTLE OF IRON HILL, the future relies upon a trust that By the time that a full decade of British COOCH’S BRIDGE, DELAWARE, 1777: Providence will provide individuals of oppression had escalated to the April The New York British command had tar- strength and character and integrity and 1775 battles at Lexington and Concord, geted Philadelphia, the capital and largest wisdom to lead us in this new century and had inspired the bold, stirring decla- city of the fledging Republic, and opted and new millennium, just as such indi- mation of Patrick Henry to “Give me lib- for the strategy of sailing south from New viduals were present to found and then erty, or give me death,” John Marshall was York to the Chesapeake and then march- shape our United States of America. As a already second in command of training ing northward to Philadelphia. result, thoughts at this time inescapably and drilling a militia company of Washington selected the area, along the move to that time and to those individu- Virginia’s Fauquier County. Marshall had Pennsylvania/Delaware border, as the bat- als—and, for me, to a particular man, learned the rudiments of military drill tleground, and, with the counsel of the John Marshall. from his father, Thomas Marshall, who Marquis de Lafayette, dispatched a light George Washington will forever be was himself a versatile and powerful man, infantry force of 600 marksmen to harass remembered as the father of our country. and the partner of George Washington in the British advance. Marshall was one of Thomas Jefferson will live through the the surveys of Virginia and Kentucky. six lieutenants assigned to this corps, ages as the designer and author of our That military training in the spring of which so valiantly carried out its mission Declaration of Independence. More than 1775 would serve John Marshall in the of swift movement and sudden strikes at a few colonial patriots could be nomi- next few months and over the next sev- the British perimeter that the enemy com- nated to complete a trinity of our eral years as he became a combat soldier mander reported that half the Americans founders, but surely the unanimous in such fierce battles of the Revolutionary “had shot themselves out of ammunition choice of those who have embraced the War as: and carried on the fight with sword and profession of the law must be John bayonet.” It was at this Battle of Iron Hill, Marshall, the patriot so aptly designated THE BATTLE AT GREAT BRIDGE, 1775: a prelude skirmish of the Battle at by acclaimed author Jean Edward Smith John Marshall first engaged in combat Brandywine, that the Stars and Stripes as “the definer of a nation.” against the British grenadiers at Great was first flown in battle, the Congress Every American school child since Bridge, in the summer of 1775, as a first having adopted it as the American flag on 1776 has learned of the historic role lieutenant in the Fauquier Rifles of the June 14, 1777, just days prior to the bat- played by the Liberty Bell in the founding Culpeper Minutemen battalion. The tle. How fitting that John Marshall, a of our country. Every school child since Culpeper Minutemen badly defeated the great nationalist Chief Justice, enjoys the 1835 has been told that the crack in the British, after several days of a battle later distinction of participating in the first Liberty Bell appeared as that historic sym- described as a second Bunker Hill. When battle in which our Stars and Stripes were bol of freedom tolled the death of Chief the smoke had cleared and the wounded unfurled. Justice John Marshall—and, thereby, the were under care, the Americans, upon the * * * adjournment of his 35-year term as the initiative of Lieutenant John Marshall, BATTLE OF THE BRANDYWINE RIVER, fourth Chief Justice of the United States, buried the British grenadiers, with full SEPTEMBER 11, 1777: a tenure of historical proportion in itself, military honors, so as to salute the dig- When the British commenced to cross the for it spanned the terms of five presi- nity of brave men who had died in battle Brandywine River in the dawn light of dents: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, in the service of their country. September 11, 1777, Marshall’s unit was James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and * * * assigned to delay and harass them at Andrew Jackson. NEW JERSEY/NEW YORK, 1777: Kennett. The British and Hessian troops John Marshall was an individual of Lieutenant John Marshall and his eventually swept the main American many gifts, versatility, character, and Fauquier unit of sharpshooters joined force from the field, except for one flare- accomplishment. A superb advocate, he Washington’s Army in April 1777; they up—the light infantry of Marshall’s unit, served his country as an American were dispatched through New York into composing an ambush rear guard, held Commissioner in Paris, Congressman, the Hudson Valley, their mission to reflect the grenadiers at bay until finally obliged Secretary of War, and Secretary of State. the presence of a well-armed, mobile to retreat under cover of darkness. The Thus, the life of John Marshall goes force and thereby serve as a feint to the Continental Army of Washington was 4 Court Review - Spring 2001 defeated at the Battle of Brandywine, but hour, was fought in Monmouth County, The five years that he had spent at war the bravery of portions of the patriot New Jersey, Marshall and his men were and in bloody combat as a light infantry force, including the Virginia regiments, not directly engaged because they were officer certainly toughened John enabled defeat without devastation. assigned to the flanks so as to prevent a Marshall, and while he was too modest to * * * British retreat to the west. It was during talk about his accomplishments, he so GERMANTOWN, OCTOBER 1777: this battle that Marshall was promoted to considered America as his country and Washington, in an effort to dislodge the the rank of captain. Congress as his government that, in his British from Philadelphia, attacked the * * * words, “they constituted a part of my main British camp on the outskirts of STONY BROOK POINT, being.” Philadelphia in Germantown. The most NEW YORK, SPRING 1779: The classic movie, Saving Private Ryan, fierce skirmish of that battle occurred in The fortification sites afforded by the recently stirred the American soul. As I the fields around the huge stone house of Hudson River had given great advantage viewed the film, I sensed that the suffer- Tory Pennsylvania Chief Justice Benjamin to the British, but in the spring of 1779, ing and horror and death experienced by Chew, a battle in which 53 Americans Marshall and his regiment captured a the soldiers of the two armies, the were killed and John Marshall suffered most important Hudson River fortifica- Continental Army of George Washington wounds. tion, that of Stony Brook Point. and the GIs of General Dwight * * * Thereafter, Marshall’s men served in the Eisenhower, were equally horrible and VALLEY FORGE, WINTER 1777-1778: force of Light-Horse Harry Lee, which dreadful—just as the valor and bravery The capture of Philadelphia by the British seized the British fortification of Paulus and courage exhibited by those GIs was a forced Washington to move his winter Hook, a short distance from the clear and certain reflection of the valor quarters to Valley Forge where the Continental Army camp at West Point. and bravery and courage displayed by absence of food and clothing and shoes, * * * Captain John Marshall and the light and the presence of small pox, typhus, When the winter of 1779 arrived, infantry minutemen of Fauquier County. dysentery, and scurvy, caused 3,000 Marshall was dispatched to Virginia to American patriots to perish. John thwart a suspected British plan to invade Marshall realized that, as a commander, the Carolinas. The invasion never came. Judge Stephen J. he was obliged to set an example for his Marshall remained in Virginia until his McEwen, Jr., is President troops, and a splendid example he was, commission expired in February 1781; Judge of the Pennsylvania for he has been described as a man “idol- thus, the 1779 New Jersey battles were Superior Court, the inter- ized by his soldiers and brother officers, his final combat engagements.
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