Page 30 - NS-2 Textbook

THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN SEA POWER 23

ATIACK ON TRIPOLI 27 April this force, under the leadership of Eaton and
O'Bannon, attacked and captured the port city of Derna
During the summer of 1804, Preble tried to convince the across the Gulf of Sidra from Tripoli with the help of two
pasha of Tripoli to release the crewmen of the Philadel~ brigs and a schooner from the naval squadron. After the
phia, but he refused. Preble decided he would have to use capture O'Bam10n raised the Stars and Stripes over the
force. He obtained half a dozen glmboats plus some city's harbor fortress, marking the first time the Ameri-
other craft from the king of Naples and attacked Tripoli can flag ,vas raised over captured foreign soil. Later l tra-
on 3 August. Nine Tripolitan gunboats came out to attack dition has it that Hamet presented his Mameluke sword
them. The Tripolitans were ready to board and fight to O'Bannon in recognition of his bravery in capturing
hand to hand, but the Americans surprised them by leap- the city and defending against cOlmterattacks over the
ing into the lead Tripolitan vessels and fighting wildly. next several weeks. This action ,vas later memorialized
Decatur and his men captured the first enemy gun- by the phrase "to the shores of Tripoli" in the Marine
boat while the squadron kept the others away. During Corps hymn, and a commemorative Mameluke sword
the battle, Decatur broke off the blade of his cutlass and is still presented to each new u.s. Marine officer upon
would have been killed if a seaman named Reuben commissioning.
James had not thrust his own head lmder a sword meant Unforh.mately Eaton's triumph was short-lived. In
for Decatur. Jlme came word that the United States had signed a
As Decatur was towing his prize out of the harbor, he treaty with the pasha at Tripoli, ending the war. In return
learned that his younger brother James had been shot as for $60,000 in ransom and a promise that the United
he stepped on board to take conh'ol of another enemy States would no longer support his brother, the pasha
gunboat that had surrendered. That gunboat was trying agreed to release the captive Philadelphia crewmembers
to escape when Stephen Decatur overtook hel; boarded and end all further demands for tribute payments. Eaton
her, and killed her captain in a hand-to-hand fight. was ordered to take Hamet and evacuate Del'lla, which
By the time Preble called an end to the battle, the he reluctantly did, abandoning most of his army. The
Americans had captured three enemy gunboats. Follow- vengeful pasha subsequently executed most of those that
ing this attack, the pasha of Tripoli offered to return the were left behind, a chain of events that left a legacy of
U.S. crewmen for $150,000 in ransom money and to de- Arab-American distrust that lingers still today.
mand no more tribute. Preble rejected the offer and or- Some Americans were pleased by the treaty with
dered his forces to bombard Tripoli. The Americans con- Tripoli. They believed the ransom was reasonable and
tinued the bombardment during the next few weeks, but should be paid to free the captives, who had suffered for
the enemy gunboats never again came out to fight the a year and a half. TIley also welcomed the end of tribute
U.S. vessels. paying. TI,e Americans who did not like the treaty
President Jefferson and the U.S. public were spurred thought that more attacks on Tripoli would have forced
to action by Preble's feats. They hoped that a final victory it and the other Barbary states to accept treaties that were
would end the war with Tripoli and make all of the Bar- more favorable to the United States. As it turned out, the
bary states stop demanding tribute. Jefferson sent a pow- Americans who opposed the treaty were correct.
erful u.s. naval force to the Mediterranean, and he or-
dered Captain Samuel Barron to replace Preble. TI,e
TRIPOLI'S lESSONS
United States gave Preble a hero's ,velcome when he re-
turned to Washington. Between 1803 and 1805 the only vessels built for the U.S.
TI,e U.s. naval forces kept Tripoli blockaded through Navy were small gunboats. President Jefferson did not
the early part of 1805, and plans were made for a better favor building large seagoing ships because he believed
blockade and more attacks on the city in the SLUnmer, the Navy should protect the U.s. coastline, not carry out
when more gunboats were to arrive from AInerica. attacks on the high seas.
In the meantime, however, William Eaton, a bold Other nations immediately saw this" gunboat diplo-
U.S. naval agent to the Barbary states, devised a scheme macy" as a weakness. The dey of Algiers again began cap-
to topple the pasha from his throne. He convinced the h.ll'ing U.s. ships and making slaves of their crews and
pasha's dethroned older brother, Hamet, then in exile passengers. The British began impressing U.S. seamen to
with the Mamelukes in Egypt, to join a ragtag army of serve in the Royal Navy in England's war with France.
about 400 Muslim and European mercenaries he had put Impressments and other British actions against the
together to attack Tripoli and restore the throne to Hamet. United States led to the War of 1812. DlU'ing that war the
Eaton's army, which included a small contingent of forces of the United States were too busy to take steps
U.S. marines led by Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon, against Algiers. But on 2 March 1815, less than two
marched some 600 miles westward from Egypt through weeks after the peace h'eaty ending the War of 1812 went
the North African desert in March and April 1805. On into effect, Congress declared war on the Barbary states.