Nov. 10, 1775, may be the commonly celebrated birthday of the Marine Corps, but it wasn't actually established as its own branch until about 23 years later.

On July 11, 1798, U.S. President John Adams signed "An Act for Establishing and Organizing a Marine Corps," effectively creating a new branch of the military. "The act further stipulated that when at sea the Marines would be under the command of the Navy, and on shore, the Army," wrote military historian Chester Hearn in an email to Camp Pendleton Patch. "This peculiar compromise plagued the Corps for years to come."

Hearn has written some 37 military and government history books, almost half of them about the Navy or Marine Corps. The end of the American Revolution was marked by the signing of the Treaty of Paris on April 11, 1783. With that, the Continental Congress dissolved the Marines and Continental Navy.

"The government auctioned off warships, and the Continental Marines ceased to exist," Hearn wrote. "Major Samuel Nicholas, the first Marine officer, returned to his former occupation as owner of Tun Tavern in Philadelphia." In 1794, the first Continental Congress began to address the issue of pirate attacks on American merchant ships sailing near the North African coast. With no Navy or Marines to protect them, and a Congress unable to pay pirate ransoms, the merchants were at the mercy of the pirates.

"Congress reactivated the navy and authorized the construction of five ships, each to carry a compliment of Marines," Hearn wrote. "For four years a legislative battle ensued over the organization of the Marines Corps."