The Marblehead Regiment started as a group supporting the presidential run of former Senator Fred Thompson. Rick Moran at Right Wing Nut House wrote a post titled BLOGBURST FOR FRED: JOIN THE MARBLEHEADERS that included this on the Marblehead Regiment:

Better known to us as “The Marblehead Regiment,” these were the hard cases of the American army – a group of swaggering, swearing, spitting fishermen and common seamen led by a remarkable Brigadier by the name of John Glover. Under the guns of the British on Long Island, they ferried 10,000 men and horses across the East River in one night and part of a morning (aided by a heavy fog that obscured the retreat from prying British eyes).

[…]

But that Christmas night in 1776, they truly earned their spurs as they tirelessly rowed time and again across the river and back again, making their way through the ice choked waters in the worst conditions imaginable. Rain mixed with sleet and ice later turning to snow, the waves on the Delaware crashing over the bow covering the rowers with a sheet of clinging ice, the gunwales sometimes perilously close to tipping into the water and capsizing the boats – a certain death in a matter of minutes given the temperature of the water. The fate of American independence rested with those 400 hardy souls who manned the oars that blustery night.

| 15.05.2006 | Read more | Print |