Grand Old Man of the Marine Corps
As every recruit knows, Archibald Henderson was the Grand Old Man
Fifty-three years in the Corps and 38 years as Commandant earned him the nickname, and he is a Marine Corps legend.
The Grand Old Man of the Marine Corps.
Archibald Henderson served in the Marine Corps from 1806 until his death in 1859 just before the Civil War. He served on the U.S.S Constitution during the war of 1812. The young Virginian was twice decorated for acts of bravery performed during ship to ship engagements against the British. He was a real Leatherneck, having served back in the days when a leather collar was part of standard issue gear for a Marine.
He became Commandant of the Marine Corps as a Lt. Colonel at age 37 in 1820, and served in that capacity until his death. All in all, he served 53 years in the Corps, and 38 years as Commandant, winning the rank of Brevet Brigadier General for service in the Indian Wars in the late 1830s. He is credited with having persuaded Congress not to merge the Marine Corps with the Army. For all of these reasons, and many more, he became a Marine Corps legend under the nickname “the Grand Old Man.”
Marines fought in Mexico in the later years that he was Commandant, and at the end of the war he was presented with a sword engraved with the words “From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli.” Words every young American boy for generations to come would learn as the first words of The Marines Hymn.
A Navy Ship, the U.S.S. Henderson was named for him, as well as Henderson Hall Barracks in Arlington, Virginia which houses Marines for Marine Headquarters Battalion. There are many stories about The Grand Old Man. The most popular of which is probably the one about him putting himself in charge of a single regiment of Marines going to help the Army fight the Creeks and Seminoles in Georgia and Florida, and pinning a note to the door of the Commandant’s Office which said, “Gone to fight the Indians. Will be back when the war is over.”
Like so many other Americans of the time this Virginian who had served the United States for his entire life surely knew that secession was coming. What side he would have chosen in the Civil War remains unknown since he died suddenly in January of 1859 just a few weeks before what would have been his 76th birthday, but his legend lived on. Today, every Marine recruit has to know who the Grand Old Man of the Marine Corps was, or be ready to spend a lot of time doing push-ups on the quarterdeck. It's all part of learning to be a Devil Dog.
