Nov 10: The Continental Marines Are Founded, the Edmund Fitzgerald Sinks

Host 1 Good morning. Welcome to On This Day in American History, today is Tuesday, Tuesday, November 10th, 2026. Today we're looking at a tavern that birthed a military branch, a stolen city, the government completely ignored, and a massive ship that vanished in total silence.

Host 2 It really is a fascinating cross section of our past. Because if you look closely at these sources today's deep dive is fundamentally about American structures being tested. You know.

Host 1 Yeah, absolutely.

Host 2 We're exploring the birth of a structural institution, a really tragic breakdown of our democratic structures and then finally the ultimate structural failure against the forces of nature.

Host 1 Right. So let's start with that institution being born, right at the nation's founding in 1775, John Adams drafted a resolution to create the Continental Marines, and Congress tapped Samuel Nicholas to be captain, and he actually starts recruiting at his friend's place,

Host 2 at a tavern, right?

Host 1 Yeah, Tun Tavern, right on the Philadelphia waterfront, which is funny because today that site is literally under Interstate 95.

Host 1 Oh, 95.

Host 2 Oh, wow. Really?

Host 1 But it's exactly like a scrappy modern startup, you know, launching out of a local coffee shop. They didn't have Pentagon offices or heavy military infrastructure yet.

Host 2 No, not at all.

Host 1 They were just talent scouting out of a local watering hole, based on a very specific skill set. Like, can you shoot, and can you survive on a boat?

Host 2 Exactly. And they weren't just looking for anyone willing to hold a musket either. The specific requirement was that recruits had to be, quote, good seamen.

Host 1 Right. So they need guys who could fight, but more importantly, fight at sea.

Host 2 Yeah. A true startup phase. And like many startups, that first iteration actually didn't survive.

Host 1 Wait, they didn't?

Host 2 No. After the Revolutionary War, War, those original Continental Marines were disbanded. But what matters is how the legacy endured. In 1921, November 10th was officially made the Marine Corps birthday.

Host 2 And building on that legacy, it's also the exact day in 1954 when President Eisenhower dedicated the Iwo Jima statue.

Host 1 Wow. Okay, so we go from building democratic structures to a horrific breakdown of them. let's fast forward to 1898 in Wilmington, North Carolina

Host 2 Right. So at the time, Wilmington was the state's largest city. and black residents held elected office and skilled jobs.

Host 1 Yeah, a really thriving community.

Host 2 It was. But a coalition of white supremacists carefully orchestrated a campaign to dismantle that structure. They violently forced out those elected officials and literally burned down the city's black newspaper, the Record.

Host 1 And this wasn't just like a spontaneous mob either. White businessmen actually bought a machine gun before the election and mounted it on a horse drawn wagon to patrol the streets.

Host 3 It's just horrifying to picture.

Host 1 It really is. And to state the facts plainly, the exact death toll is still disputed today. Estimates say anywhere between 14 and 60 men were murdered. But you know, here's what I get stuck on.

Host 3 What's that?

Host 1 Well, as a modern listener, you'd expect federal troops to roll in during an armed overthrow on American soil. Like, how did state and federal authorities completely ignore this? They must have had so much power to insulate themselves from consequence.

Host 2 Well, that's exactly the mechanism at play. Because the orchestrators were the businessmen and the elite, officials did absolutely nothing. The federal investigation closed two years later with zero indictments.

Host 1 That's unbelievable.

And

Host 2 And that inaction had a profound systemic impact. I mean, it paved the way directly for North Carolina to pass its first Jim Crow law it's also why history books mislabeled this a race riot for decades before rightfully correcting it to what it actually was, a coup.

Host 1 A literal coup.

Host 2 Yeah.

Host 1 Well transitioning from a man-made failure to a structural failure against nature, let's jump to 1975, the massive cargo ship the Edmund Fitzgerald is out on Lake Superior.

Host 2 Right. Facing 58 knot winds and 25 foot seas. I mean, Lake Superior in a November storm is as violent as any ocean.

Host 1 Oh, absolutely.

Host 2 The timeline here is what's truly haunting though. Captain Cooper on a trailing ship was in radio contact. And Captain McSorley's last words from the Fitzgerald were, we are holding our own.

Host 1 Right. Right before it happened.

Host 2 Yeah. Shortly after, Cooper watched two enormous waves roll toward the Fitzgerald's position.

Host 1 Which brings up a mechanical question for me, me

Host 1 Which brings up a mechanical question for me, because you usually if a 729 foot ship is going down, there's at least time for a distress call, right?

Host 2 You would think so. Yeah.

Host 1 Right. So for it to vanish silently on a lake, the failure had to be instantaneous, like catastrophic structural failure where it breaks apart or gets swallowed whole before anyone could even reach a radio.

Host 2 Spot on. All 29 men aboard died without a single call for help. And because it happened so fast, the exact cause remains a total mystery.

Host 1 Was it, it, you know, unsecured hatches taking on water or did those rogue waves just snap the hull?

Host 2 We just don't know. But the event is immortalized today by Gordon Lightfoot's famous folk song and you know the ships recovered bell now serves as a physical memorial.

Host 1 Wow. Well before we go some quick extras also happening on this day in 1951 the first Coast to Coast direct dial phone call was made in 1969 Sesame Street premiered and in 1983 Microsoft Windows was announced

Host 3 All pivotal moments in their own right for sure and leaves us with an interesting question about how we as a society memorialize history for you the listener

Host 1 yeah that's a really good point

Host 3 we build bronze statues for the Marines we finally correct historical terminology for Wilmington and we write folk songs for the Fitzgerald it makes you wonder what everyday event happening right now might be sung about or set in stone 50 years from today

Host 1 Thanks for tuning in. See you back here tomorrow.