7. William Eaton and the shores of Tripoli
The United States Marine Hymn tells of the Marines going “to the shores of Tripoli”. The song refers to an attack on the Tripolitan city of Derne in 1805, and the Marine complement which took part consisted of eight men. They along with two Navy midshipmen and a force of unknown size consisting of Arab tribesmen under Hamet Caramelli, brother to the Tripolitan Pasha, assaulted and captured the city during the First Barbary War on April 27, 1805. It was the first time the American flag was raised over a captured foreign territory (Americans had captured Canadian territory during the Revolution, but not under the Stars and Stripes). The American force was commanded by a diplomat, naval officer, and soldier named William Eaton. The victory made him a national hero, though by the end of his own lifetime he was a forgotten man.
Eaton’s victory was a significant factor in the treaty which ended the First Barbary War, which temporarily curtailed the activities of the Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. Eaton himself expressed dissatisfaction with the treaty, and after being called to testify in the treason trial of Aaron Burr he retired to Massachusetts an embittered man. Drinking and gambling led to indebtedness, and political differences with the Federalists led to reproach. His two sons were early graduates of the Military Academy at West Point, but Eaton found his reputation and legacy besmirched by drunken behavior and debt. He died in 1811, at the age of only 47, all but forgotten as the hero of America’s first foreign war. The small city of Eaton, Ohio was named in his memory.