Marines have been around a very long time. In his book “The Peloponnesian War”, Thucydides mentions Marines on Athenian ships.
I read a book about the siege of the European legations in Peking. One of the German soldiers was quoted as saying that when a U.S. Marine fired, a Chinese Boxer would die.
The Marines were using the 6MM Lee Navy rifle. The Germans were using the brand new 98 Mauser. They held out for 55 days before a combined European and Japanese relief column relieved the siege.