A Blast From America's Past

Fire of Liberty

People seem to forget where the US Marines got the line "To the shores of Tripoli" in their famous hymn. Thanks to this wonderful article by Robert McHenry over at Tech Central Station we are reminded that we fought the Barbary Pirates some 200 years ago and defeated them in Tripoli. Here's a look at McHenry's piece:

In November of that same year the former U.S. consul in Tunis, William Eaton, landed in Egypt with a tiny detachment of Marines under the command of Lieutenant Presley N. O'Bannon. Gathering irregular troops from the countryside as they went, they trekked some 500 miles across the Libyan Desert in March-April 1805 and on April 27 stormed and occupied the Tripolitan stronghold of Derna. The Marines on that day raised the U.S. flag - then featuring 15 stars and 15 stripes - for the first time over foreign soil. Tripoli signed a treaty of peace on June 4, and other Barbary states quickly followed suit. State-sponsored piracy in the Mediterranean was ended.

The Tripolitan War may well be counted the first instance of America's stepping forth to solve a problem on Europe's doorstep, a line that runs down to the Balkans and the Middle East and Central Asia today. More significantly, it first thrust the United States into the unsought role of enforcer of international law against rogue states in league with terrorists.

Maybe a little bunting after all. It's never too late, or the wrong date, to remember, and perhaps to think.

Thanks to Robert McHenry for reminding us of the Tripolitan War and the America tradition of defeating tyranny wherever it raises its ugly head. For further reading on this war, check out Max Boot's wonderful book The Savage Wars of Peace.