The Shores of Tripoli

In the spring of 1805, on a dusty strip of Libyan coastline, a small band of Americans, mercenaries, and one exiled prince marched into the pages of history. Their objective was a fortified town called Derna, perched between the Mediterranean Sea and the desert, ruled by a Bashaw named Yusuf Karamanli. What happened there gave the United States its first military victory on foreign soil and immortalized the phrase “to the shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Corps Hymn.

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 At the heart of this story is a man named William Eaton, a former Army officer and the United States consul to Tunis. He had a bold plan and a grudge. The Barbary States—Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco—had made their wealth for centuries by demanding tribute from nations that wanted safe passage through Mediterranean waters. Those who refused to pay had their ships seized and their crews sold into slavery. By the end of the 18th century, the European powers had chosen to pay up. The new United States, however, had other ideas. President Thomas Jefferson, stung by years of paying off petty tyrants, resolved to take a different approach.

Tripoli, under Yusuf Karamanli, declared war on the United States in 1801 after Jefferson refused to continue paying tribute. The conflict that followed became known as the First Barbary War. While American warships blockaded Tripoli, Eaton cooked up something unexpected: he would march across the desert, raise an army, and overthrow Yusuf in favor of his exiled brother Hamet Karamanli.

This was the very definition of ambitious. Hamet had been driven out years earlier and was eking out a survival in Egypt. Eaton found him there and made him an offer: help lead an expedition against Tripoli, and in return, he would be restored to power and the United States would gain a stable ally. It was a gamble, both politically and logistically. But Eaton convinced the Navy to support him, and on March 8, 1805, a ragtag force of about 400 set out from Alexandria toward Derna.

It was a force composed of eight United States Marines under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon, a few Navy midshipmen, about ninety fighters loyal to Hamet, some Arab cavalry, and an odd mix of European and Greek mercenaries. It also included 190 camels and their drivers. The desert trek was grueling. There were mutinies, hunger, water shortages, and the ever-present threat of betrayal. Eaton kept the expedition moving with promises, diplomacy, threats, and raw willpower. By late April, the force stood before Derna.

Derna was no sleepy outpost. It was defended by nearly 2,200 troops under Governor Mustapha Bey. Eaton, with fewer than 500 men, had the audacity to demand surrender. He was, predictably, laughed off. But Eaton had something the defenders did not: American naval firepower. The brig Argus, sloop Hornet, and schooner Nautilus took up positions offshore.

On the morning of April 27, the assault began. The plan was simple but dangerous. Hamet and his Arab cavalry would attack from the south while Eaton, O’Bannon, and the Marines pushed in from the west. Naval gunfire raked the enemy positions. Amid musket fire, sword clashes, and shouted orders in a cacophony of languages, the Americans and their allies fought their way through the defenses. Eaton was wounded in the wrist but kept going. Midshipman George Mann fought alongside O’Bannon, who led the charge into Derna’s fortress.

By the end of the day, the American flag flew over the captured fort. It was the first time the Stars and Stripes had been raised in victory on foreign soil. The victory at Derna stunned Yusuf Karamanli and gave the United States a powerful bargaining chip. But the story was not quite over. Eaton held Derna, but his small force was soon besieged by a larger Tripolitan force attempting to retake the city.

For weeks, Eaton held out, waiting for reinforcements or further orders. Then came the news: the war was over. Yusuf Karamanli, facing pressure from multiple fronts and realizing that continued resistance would only weaken his grip on power, had agreed to negotiate. A treaty was signed on June 4, 1805. It was not quite the triumphant end Eaton had envisioned. The deal did not restore Hamet to power. Instead, the United States agreed to stop hostilities in exchange for the release of American prisoners. Eaton, O’Bannon, and the Marines were ordered to abandon Derna. They boarded the frigate Constellation and sailed away, leaving Hamet and his followers behind.

Though the political outcome was murky, the legacy of the battle was clear. Lieutenant O’Bannon became a Marine Corps legend. The Mameluke sword he was gifted by a grateful Hamet became the model for the ceremonial sword worn by Marine officers to this day. And the phrase “to the shores of Tripoli” earned its permanent place in the Marine Hymn.

The battle also shaped the future of the Corps. It showcased the expeditionary nature of the Marines, who would go on to fight in dozens of far-flung engagements over the next two centuries. From the halls of Montezuma to the sands of Iwo Jima, the same fighting spirit that had carried O’Bannon through the breach at Derna would echo across Marine history.

Beyond the battlefield, the campaign revealed something fundamental about American resolve. The United States was young, untested, and far from the dominant power it would become. But in Derna, it had proven that it would not bow to extortion or tolerate the enslavement of its citizens. The Marines, the Navy, and the diplomats all played their part in showing that America, though small in numbers, carried a heavy punch.

The town of Derna itself would go on to have a complex and often turbulent history. Once a part of the ancient Greek Pentapolis, later a Roman and Islamic settlement, Derna has long been a place where cultures met and clashed. Even in modern times, Derna has been at the center of conflict, from the Islamic State occupation in 2014 to the devastating floods of 2023. But for the United States, it remains forever etched in memory as the site of a daring gamble that paid off in grit and glory.

The Battle of Derna may not have changed the world in a geopolitical sense, but it helped shape the identity of a Corps and a country. It reminded Americans then, and reminds us now, that strength does not always come from numbers. Sometimes, it comes from belief. Belief in the mission. Belief in each other. And belief in the idea that liberty is worth fighting for—even if it means marching across a desert with a handful of Marines and a sword at your side.