The anniversary of the first American military overseas intervention takes place this week. Six months before the Battle of Trafalgar, the US Marine Corps launched a land attack on the important Ottoman port of Derna. This operation was planned because the crew of the captured frigate, USS Philadelphia had been held hostage in Tripoli for over a year.
The expedition was authorised by the President, Thomas Jefferson, who had been recently re-elected for his second term of office. The marines were commanded by 29 year-old Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon from Virginia, who had also recruited a multicultural force of Greeks and Arabs in Alexandria. Under the overall leadership of the envoy, William Eaton, who had persuaded the brother of the Tripoli Pasha, Hamet Qaramanli to accompany him, they marched 521 miles along the coast, passing the “pretty port of Toubrouk” on the way.
On 27 April, Eaton divided his force into two and co-ordinated fire support with Captain Isaac Hull from the frigate, USS Argus. Hamat Qaramanli approached the port with the Arab force from the west, while the marines attacked the fort from the east. Passing through a shower of musketry, the battle was soon over and the USA flag was raised over a captured city on foreign soil for the first time.
Soon afterwards, a diplomatic solution was agreed with the Pasha in Tripoli and the hostages were released. Meanwhile, the American troops returned home as national heroes and the phrase “To The Shores of Tripoli” was added to the flag of the US Marine Corps.
Rupert Wieloch 