The USS Philadelphia was set ablaze on February 16, 1804.
In March 1786, a little more than two years after the Revolutionary War was formally ended by the Treaty of Paris, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson met with an ambassador representing the Sultan of Tripoli named Abdrahaman. For close to 300 years, the Muslim Barbary states of Tripoli, Algiers, Tunis, and Morocco demanded tribute from countries to avoid having their ships attacked in the Mediterranean Sea. The state-sponsored Muslim pirates, known as corsairs, would use fast ships to board other vessels, overwhelm their crews, take them captive, and demand ransom from their home countries for the crew’s release.
While part of Great Britain, United States shipping was protected. However, as an independent nation, the U.S. was vulnerable to attack. In July 1785, twenty-one American sailors were taken prisoner and forced into slave labor. These men were ultimately held captive for over ten years and several men died as prisoners in the inhumane conditions of their captivity.
Abdrahaman told Adams and Jefferson they needed to pay a tribute. When Jefferson asked why the act of attacking defenseless ships and enslaving their crews was justified he recorded Abdrahaman’s answer as this: “The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of the prophet, that is was written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their Islam’s authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in battle was sure to got to Paradise.”
Neither Adams nor Jefferson were happy about the situation. The choices America had at this time included paying the tribute or going to war with the Barbary states. For a time, the United States was not in a position to choose either option. The United States did not possess a navy capable of waging a war of this magnitude. Nor was the United States able to pay tribute after the Revolutionary War left the new country in financial chaos.
By 1801, the United States was operating under the Constitution and its finances were in better order than they had been 15 years earlier. The United States had negotiated treaties with the various Barbary states, paying a modest tribute to each in exchange for the safety of American shipping. However, the pasha of Tripoli believed the arrangement did not pay enough, so in March of 1801, he demanded more.
Thomas Jefferson was now president, having just been inaugurated for his first term. He had been upset since his experience years earlier with John Adams, having to pay these Barbary states with nothing more than a bribe for “protection.” These tribute payments comprised as much as ten percent of the entire federal budget.
Jefferson also sought a better understanding of who he was dealing with. He did not understand how these representatives of the Barbary states thought, as the United States had committed no acts of ill will towards them. During this time, it is widely believed Jefferson began to read the Quran, the Islamic holy book, to gain insights into their thinking.
Thomas Jefferson changed U.S. policy towards the Barbary states. He believed that building a navy and putting it to use was a better alternative than making payments, because those payments were always subject to the whims of the Barbary sultans. Jefferson sent three frigates and a sloop of war out to the region as a “squadron of observation” to protect American ships.
For the better part of three years, the United States Navy had a presence in the Mediterranean, rotating naval vessels to protect American shipping. There were direct engagements with the pirates and instances of American merchant ship crews being held for ransom, but the American presence decreased pirate attacks.
The situation changed in October 1803. The USS Philadelphia ran aground near the entrance to Tripoli Harbor and the ship and its crew surrendered to the Tripolitans. Commodore Edward Preble, in charge of American forces, decided that the Philadelphia could not fall into enemy hands. About 70 volunteers led by Lieutenant Stephen Decatur disguised themselves as a Tripolitan crew and sailed into Tripoli Harbor to destroy the Philadelphia. They were discovered, but after a short, violent hand-to-hand struggle, the Americans were able to retake the ship and set it ablaze. Decatur was appointed the youngest captain in the Navy at age 25 for his heroics. The renowned British admiral Horatio Nelson called the raid “the most bold and daring act of the age.”
By 1805, the United States continued to resist the acts of the Barbary pirates. A blockade of Tripoli Harbor was imposed, and the U.S. Navy continued to engage pirates. A plan was enacted to secure peace by overthrowing the pasha of Tripoli, Yusuf Karamanli, and replacing him with his exiled older brother. A force of a few hundred men made up of Arab and Greek mercenaries and supported by U.S. Marines from the American ship Argus marched 500 miles through the Libyan Desert. On April 27, 1805, this force, supplied by the Argus and two additional warships, captured the town of Derne, east of Benghazi.
This victory opened the way to Tripoli and the potential overthrow of the pasha. Fearing his overthrow, the pasha of Tripoli negotiated peace. The terms included a U.S. payment of $60,000 for the release of all Americans, including the crew of the Philadelphia, but required no more future tribute payments. In 1815, after a second war with Algiers, the United States made no further payments to any Barbary state.
Many historians consider the First Barbary War to be America’s first war on terror in the Middle East. However it is thought of, President Jefferson made an important statement that the United States would stand up for itself on the world stage.
The Battle of Derne is referenced in the Marines’ Hymn through the line, “To the Shores of Tripoli.” In fact, Marine officers still wear Mameluke swords shaped like Arab scimitars. The opening line references another nineteenth-century conflict, the Mexican-American War and the Battle of Chapultepec.
The opening lines to the Marines’ Hymn:
From the Halls of Montezuma,
To the Shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country’s battles
In the air, on land, and sea;
Note: In 2005, Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota became the first United States member of Congress to be sworn in using a Quran, not a Bible. Ellison, a Christian convert to Islam, used Thomas Jefferson’s Quran, located in the Library of Congress.