The Shores of Tripoli

On this day in 1805, U.S. forces attacked the city of Derne on the Barbary Coast – constituting the first act of war by American soldiers on foreign soil. The First Barbary War, as it was later called, began in response to demands of monetary tribute from U.S. ships in the Mediterranean by various rulers and their pirate emissaries in the Ottoman empire.

In 1803, the U.S. had initiated a somewhat symbolic one-ship blockade of the Tripolitan harbor when said ship, the U.S.S. Philadelphia, ran aground on a reef while chasing a pirate vessel into port.
The ship’s captain, William Bainbridge, chose not to solicit the opinions of his more seasoned officers, leftenant David Porter among them, on how best to extricate the Philadelphia from its grounding. Instead, he ordered full sail, resulting in the ship running up further onto the reef to a seemingly hopeless position.

Bainbridge was infamous for his arrogance and aloofness – so much so that a crewman’s journal noted that he stood a better chance of an audience with then president Thomas Jefferson than of receiving a simple greeting from his captain. Not only did Bainbridge hold the dubious honor of having been the first United States Navy captain to surrender a ship, the Retaliation during the quasi-war with France, but his panicked response to the grounding of the Philadelphia would result in him becoming the second as well.

Fearing that he and his men would be cut to pieces like sitting ducks, Bainbridge immediately struck the ship’s colors and ordered the crew to abandon ship. That evening, now prisoners of the Pashah Yussif Karamanli, they watched their ship float easily free of the reef as the tide came in. Had the only held their position aboard the Philadelphia, with its vastly superior firepower, they would have sailed to safety a few short hours later. They would remained imprisoned in Tripoli for the next 2 years.

Stephen Decatur (lower left), a brash young naval officer in command of the U.S.S. Enterprise swore an oath that the captured Philadelphia should never fire a shot at an American ship and devised a plan to destroy it. Disguised as pirates from nearby Malta, Decatur and his crew sailed stealthily into the port at Tripoli. Once alongside the Philadelphia, they silently overtook its pirate captors – slitting throats, slashing & skewering with sabers – and set the ship on fire. The Philadelphia was immediately engulfed in flames - a floating inferno wreaking havoc and setting ablaze many pirate vessels anchored throughout the crowded harbor. Decatur and his small squadron of sabateurs escaped without losing a single man. British Admiral Horatio Nelson referred to Decatur’s seemingly suicidal mission to destroy the Philadelphia as “the most bold and daring act of the Age”.

General William Eaton (upper left), cut from the same cloth as Decatur, proposed that the U.S. seize the nearby and more poorly defended city of Derne in order to create a base from which they could wage a land-based assault on Tripoli - thereby winning the freedom of the American hostages.

He enlisted the aid of Yussif's exiled brother Hamet, who commanded a significant force of muslim rebels, and together they successfully captured Derne. Eaton demonstrated extraordinary leadership and bravery - personally leading the charge that resulted in the capture of the fortress. Shortly thereafter, the American flag was raised in victory for the first time on foreign soil. 14 U.S. Marines participated in the battle, insipiring the line "to the shores of Tripoli" in the Marines' Hymn. Eaton was injured during the battle, taking a musketball through his wrist. He field-dressed the wound and soldiered on, driving the enemy from the city by reversing the cannons of the fort and bombarding the town with their own artillery.

When Derne was secured, Eaton and his men began their march on Tripoli. Before they had reached the halfway point, they received word that the U.S. consul to the Barbary States had negotiated an accord securing the prisoners' release. The consul's name was Tobias Lear (see Colonel Tobias Lear).

It is believed that Lear received this appointment in exchange for destroying correspondence between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson that would have severely damaged Jefferson's chances of gaining the presidency. Jefferson's motto regarding the Barbary conflicts and the demands of pirate Pashahs was "Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute". Nonetheless, Lear had secretly paid a sum of $60,000 to Yusif for the release of the Philadelphia's crew, as well as making a number of unapproved concessions & compromises that would have never flown had they become public knowledge. Among these was allowing Pashah Yusif to delay the return of his brother Hamet's wife and children, already held hostage for half a decade, for up to another five years.

When Eaton later heard of Lear's unscrupulous activities, he spent the remainder of his life petitioning for the immediate removal of Tobias Lear from any position of authority as well as the return of Hamet's family. While the latter was eventually accomplished, Lear was never taken to task for his dubious dealings. However, Eaton seems to have succeeded in tarnishing Lear's reputation and calling his honor into question to such a great degree that Lear finally committed suicide October 11th, 1816.

Stephen Decatur, equally opinionated, became an extremely vocal critic of James Barron. Decatur had served under Barron on the U.S.S. Norfolk in the quasi-war with France and fought alongside him in the Barbary conflict. When Barron's apparent lack of readiness resulted in the capture of the Chesapeake by the H.M.S. Leopard (resulting in the War of 1812), Decatur served on the court of naval inquiry concerning the incident. While Barron was cleared of charges, Decatur persisted in expressing his negative opinions of the man until he was eventually challenged to a duel.

William Bainbridge, known to have harbored tremendous jealousy and festering resentment toward Decatur, was nonetheless selected by Decatur as his second. Bainbridge not only urged the comsumation of the duel when the men began discussed reconciliation, but went so far as to suggest that Barron be allowed to stand closer due to his poor eyesight. Many, including Decatur's widow who referred to Bainbridge as "one of my husband's murderers", believed that it was this unfair advantage that decided the duel, resulting in Decatur's death.

Most of what I know on this subject I learned from Richard Zacks' excellent and comprehensive book The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805.