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First Barbary War

The First Barbary War (1801–5), also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan

War, was the first of two wars fought between the United States and the North African Berber  

Muslim states known collectively as the Barbary States. These were the independent Sultanate of Morocco and Algiers and Tripoli, which were quasi-independent entities nominally belonging tothe Ottoman Empire.

Contents[hide]

• 1 Background and overview• 2 Declaration of war and naval 

blockade• 3 Battles• 4 Peace treaty and legacy• 5 Monument• 6 See also• 7 References• 8 Bibliography• 9 Further reading

• 10 External links

[edit] Background and overview

Pirate ships and crews from the North Africa's Berber states of Morocco, Tripoli, Tunis, andAlgiers (the Barbary Coast), the last three were nominally governed by the Ottoman Empire,were the scourge of the Mediterranean. Capturing merchant ships and enslaving or ransomingtheir crews provided the Muslim rulers of these nations with wealth and naval power. This had become enough of a problem that the Roman Catholic Trinitarian Order  or Order of "Mathurins"had operated from France for centuries with the special mission of collecting and disbursingfunds for the relief and ransom of prisoners of Mediterranean pirates.

The war stemmed from the Barbary pirates’ attacks upon American merchant shipping in anattempt to extort ransom for the lives of captured sailors, and ultimately tribute from the UnitedStates to avoid further attacks, much like their standard operating procedure with the various

European states.[1] Before the Treaty of Paris, which granted America’s independence from GreatBritain, American shipping was protected by France during the Revolutionary years under theTreaty of Alliance (1778–83). Although the treaty does not mention the Barbary States in name,it refers to common enemies between both the U.S. and France, which would include the BarbaryStates and pirates in general. As such, piracy against American shipping only began to occur after the end of the American Revolution, when the U.S. government lost its protection under theTreaty of Alliance.

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This lapse of protection by a European power led to the first American merchant shipping seizedafter the Treaty of Paris. On October 11, 1784, Moroccan pirates seized the brigantine Betsey.[2]

This first act of piracy against the U.S. ended in a positive light, as the Spanish governmentnegotiated the freedom of the captured ship and crew; however, Spain offered advice to theUnited States over how to deal with the Barbary States. The advice was to offer tribute to prevent

further attacks against merchant ships. The US Minister to France, Thomas Jefferson, decided tosend envoys to Morocco and Algeria to try to purchase treaties and the freedoms of the capturedsailors held by Algeria.[3] Morocco was the first Barbary Coast state to sign a treaty with the U.S.on June 23, 1786. This treaty formally ended all Moroccan piracy against American shippinginterests. Specifically, Article 6 of the treaty states that if any captured Americans, be it done byMoroccans or by other Barbary Coast states dock at a Moroccan city, said Americans would beset free and be under the protection of the Moroccan state.[4]

American diplomatic action with Algeria, the other major Barbary Coast state, was much lesssuccessful than with Morocco. Algeria began piracy against the U.S. on July 25, 1785 with thecapture of the schooner  Maria and the Dauphin a week later.[5] All four Barbary Coast states

demanded a sum of $660,000 compared to the limited allocated budget of $40,000 given to theenvoys to achieve peace.[6] Diplomatic talks to achieve a reasonable sum for tribute or for theransom of the captured sailors struggled to reach any headway. The crews of the Maria and Dauphin remained in captivity for over a decade, and soon were joined by other ships captured by the Barbary States.[7] In 1795, Algeria came to an agreement with the U.S. that resulted in therelease of 115 sailors they held, at the cost of over $1 million. This amount totaled about 1 ⁄ 6 of theentire U.S. budget,[8] and this amount was demanded as tribute by the Barbary States to preventfurther piracy. The continuing demand for tribute ultimately led to the formation of the UnitedStates Department of the Navy, founded in 1798[9] in order to prevent further piracy attacks uponAmerican shipping as well as to end the extremely large demand for tribute from the BarbaryStates.

Various letters and testimonies by captured sailors described their captivity as a form of slavery,even though Barbary Coast imprisonment was different from slavery practiced by the U.S. andEuropean powers of the time.[10] Barbary Coast prisoners were able to obtain wealth and property, along with achieving status beyond that of a slave. One such example was JamesLeander Cathcart, who rose to the highest position a Christian slave could achieve in Algeria,ending up as an adviser to the Algerian Dey, or king.[11] Even so, most captives were pressed intohard labor in the service of the Barbary pirates, and struggled under extremely poor conditionsthat exposed them to vermin and disease. As word of the poor treatment reached back to theU.S., through freed captives' narratives or letters, American civilians were pushing for directaction by the government to stop the piracy against U.S. ships.

In March 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate with Tripoli'senvoy, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman (or Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring"concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them noinjury", the ambassador replied:

It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet weresinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every

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mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the manwho was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when theysprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in hismouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once. [12]

Jefferson reported the conversation to Secretary of Foreign Affairs John Jay, who submitted theAmbassador's comments and offer to Congress. Jefferson argued that paying tribute wouldencourage more attacks. Although John Adams agreed with Jefferson, he believed thatcircumstances forced the U.S. to pay tribute until an adequate navy could be built. The U.S. had just fought an exhausting war, which put the nation deep in debt. Federalist and Anti-Federalistforces argued over the needs of the country and the burden of taxation. Jefferson's ownDemocratic-Republicans and anti-navalists believed that the future of the country lay inwestward expansion, with Atlantic trade threatening to siphon money and energy away from thenew nation on useless wars in the Old World.[13] The U.S. paid Algiers the ransom, and continuedto pay up to $1 million per year over the next 15 years for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages. Payments in ransom and tribute to the privateering states

amounted to 20% of the U.S. government's annual revenues in 1800.

[citation needed ]

Jefferson continued to argue for cessation of the tribute, with rising support from GeorgeWashington and others. With the recommissioning of the American navy in 1794 and theresulting increased firepower on the seas, it became increasingly possible for America to refuse paying tribute, although by now the long-standing habit was hard to overturn.

[edit] Declaration of war and naval blockade

"Immediately prior to Jefferson's inauguration in 1801, Congress passed naval legislation that,among other things, provided for six frigates that 'shall be officered and manned as the President

of the United States may direct.' … In the event of a declaration of war on the United States bythe Barbary powers, these ships were to 'protect our commerce & chastise their insolence — bysinking, burning or destroying their ships & Vessels wherever you shall find them.'" [14] OnJefferson's inauguration as president in 1801, Yusuf Karamanli, the Pasha (or Bashaw) of Tripoli, demanded $225,000 from the new administration. (In 1800, Federal revenues totaled alittle over $10 million.) Putting his long-held beliefs into practice, Jefferson refused the demand.Consequently, on May 10, 1801, the Pasha declared war on the U.S., not through any formalwritten documents but in the customary Barbary manner of cutting down the flagstaff in front of the U.S. Consulate.[15] Algiers and Tunis did not follow their ally in Tripoli.

In response, “Jefferson sent a small force to the area to protect American ships and citizens

against potential aggression, but insisted that he was 'unauthorized by the Constitution, withoutthe sanction of Congress, to go beyond the line of defense.'” He told Congress: “I communicate[to you] all material information on this subject, that in the exercise of this important functionconfided by the Constitution to the Legislature exclusively their judgment may form itself on aknowledge and consideration of every circumstance of weight.”[14] Although Congress never voted on a formal declaration of war, they did authorize the President to instruct the commandersof armed American vessels to seize all vessels and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli "and also tocause to be done all such other acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war will justify."

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Enterprise capturing Tripoli

The schooner USS Enterprise  defeated the 14-gun Tripolitan corsair Tripoli after a fierce butone-sided battle on August 1, 1801.

In 1802, in response to Jefferson's request for authority to deal with the pirates, Congress passed"An act for the Protection of Commerce and seamen of the United States against the Tripolitan

cruisers", authorizing the President to "…employ such of the armed vessels of the United Statesas may be judged requisite… for protecting effectually the commerce and seamen thereof on theAtlantic ocean, the Mediterranean and adjoining seas."[16] "The statute authorized American shipsto seize vessels belonging to the Bey of Tripoli, with the captured property distributed to thosewho brought the vessels into port."[14]

The U.S Navy went unchallenged on the sea, but still the question remained undecided. Jefferson pressed the issue the following year, with an increase in military force and deployment of manyof the Navy's best ships to the region throughout 1802. The USS Argus , Chesapeake,Constellation, Constitution, Enterprise, Intrepid ,  Philadelphia and Syren all saw service duringthe war under the overall command of Commodore Edward Preble. Throughout 1803, Preble set

up and maintained a blockade of the Barbary ports and executed a campaign of raids and attacksagainst the cities' fleets.

[edit] BattlesMain articles: Battle of Tripoli Harbor and Battle of Derne

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Philadelphia aground off Tripoli, in 1803.

In October 1803, Tripoli's fleet was able to capture USS Philadelphia intact after the frigate ranaground while patrolling Tripoli harbor. Efforts by the Americans to float the ship while under fire from shore batteries and Tripolitan naval units failed. The ship, its captain, William

Bainbridge, and all officers and crew were taken ashore and held as hostages. Philadelphia wasturned against the Americans and anchored in the harbor as a gun battery.

On the night of February 16, 1804, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur  led a small contingent of theU.S.'s first Marines in the captured Tripolitan ketch rechristened USS Intrepid , to deceive theguards on board Philadelphia and float close enough to board the captured ship. Decatur's menstormed the vessel and overpowered the Tripolitan sailors standing guard. With support fromAmerican ships, the Marines set fire to Philadelphia, denying her use to the enemy. The braveryin action of Lieutenant Stephen Decatur made him one of the first American military heroessince the Revolutionary War . The British Admiral Horatio Nelson, himself known as a man of action and bravery, is said to have called this "the most bold and daring act of the age.[17]"

Preble attacked Tripoli outright on July 14, 1804, in a series of inconclusive battles, including acourageous but unsuccessful attack by the fire ship USS Intrepid under Captain Richard Somers. Intrepid , packed with explosives, was to enter Tripoli harbor and destroy itself and the enemyfleet; it was destroyed, perhaps by enemy guns, before achieving that goal, killing Somers andhis crew.[citation needed ]

The turning point in the war came with the Battle of Derna (April–May 1805). Ex-consulWilliam Eaton, who went by the rank of general, and US Marine First Lieutenant PresleyO'Bannon led a mixed force of eight United States Marines [18] and 500 Greek , Arab, and Berber  mercenaries on a march across the desert from Alexandria, Egypt to assault and to capture the

Tripolitan city of Derna. This was the first time in history that the United States flag was raisedin victory on foreign soil. This action was memorialized in a line from the Marines' Hymn —"theshores of Tripoli." [19]

[edit] Peace treaty and legacy

Wearied of the blockade and raids, and now under threat of a continued advance on Tripoli proper and a scheme to restore his deposed older brother Hamet Karamanli as ruler, Yussif Karamanli signed a treaty ending hostilities on June 10, 1805. Article 2 of the Treaty reads:

The Bashaw of Tripoli shall deliver up to the American Squadron now off Tripoli, all the

Americans in his possession; and all the Subjects of the Bashaw of Tripoli now in the power of the United States of America shall be delivered up to him; and as the number of Americans in possession of the Bashaw of Tripoli amounts to Three Hundred Persons, more or less; and thenumber of Tripolino Subjects in the power of the Amelicans [ sic] to about, One Hundred more or less; The Bashaw of Tripoli shall receive from the United States of America, the sum of SixtyThousand Dollars, as a payment for the difference between the Prisoners herein mentioned.[20]

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In agreeing to pay a ransom of $60,000 for the American prisoners, the Jefferson administrationdrew a distinction between paying tribute and paying ransom. At the time, some argued that buying sailors out of slavery was a fair exchange to end the war. William Eaton, however,remained bitter for the rest of his life about the treaty, feeling that his efforts had beensquandered by the State Department diplomat Tobias Lear . Eaton and others felt that the capture

of Derna should have been used as a bargaining chip to obtain the release of all American prisoners without having to pay ransom. Furthermore, Eaton believed the honor of the UnitedStates had been compromised when it abandoned Hamet Karamanli after promising to restorehim as leader of Tripoli. Eaton's complaints generally fell on deaf ears, especially as attentionturned to the strained international relations which would ultimately lead to the War of 1812.[citation needed ]

The First Barbary War was beneficial to the military reputation of the U.S. America's militarycommand and war mechanism had been up to that time relatively untested. The First BarbaryWar showed that America could execute a war far from home, and that American forces had thecohesion to fight together as Americans rather than separately as Georgians or New Yorkers. The

United States Navy and Marines became a permanent part of the American government andAmerican history, and Decatur returned to the U.S. as its first post-Revolutionary war hero.[citation

needed ]

However, the more immediate problem of Barbary piracy was not fully settled. By 1807, Algiershad gone back to taking American ships and seamen hostage. Distracted by the preludes to theWar of 1812, the U.S. was unable to respond to the provocation until 1815, with the SecondBarbary War , in which naval victories by Commodores William Bainbridge and Stephen Decatur led to treaties ending all tribute payments by the U.S.[21]

[edit] Monument

The Tripoli Monument ,[22] the oldest military monument in the U.S., honors the heroes of theFirst Barbary War: Captain Richard Somers, Lieutenant James Caldwell, James Decatur (brother of Stephen Decatur ), Henry Wadsworth, Joseph Israel and John Dorsey. Originally known as the Naval Monument , it was carved of Carrara marble in Italy in 1806 and brought to the U.S. as ballast on board the USS Constitution  ("Old Ironsides"). From its original location in theWashington Navy Yard it was moved to the west terrace of the national Capitol and finally, in1860, to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

[edit] See also

• Barbary pirates• Barbary treaties• Second Barbary War• Military history of the United States• Barbary Corsairs• Barbary Slave Trade• Barbary States• Slavery and Islam

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• Arab slave trade

[edit] References

1. ^ Rojas, Martha Elena. ""Insults Unpunished" Barbary Captives,

American Slaves, and the Negotiation of Liberty." Early American Studies: AnInterdisciplinary Journal. 1.2 (2003): 159–86.2. ^ Battistini, Robert. "Glimpses of the Other before Orientalism: TheMuslim World in Early American Periodicals, 1785–1800." Early AmericanStudies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 8.2 (2010): 446–74.3. ^ Parton, James. "Jefferson, American Minister in France." AtlanticMonthly. 30.180 (1872): 405–24.4. ^ Miller, Hunter. United States. Barbary Treaties 1786–1816: Treatywith Morocco June 28 and July 15, 1786. The Avalon Project, Yale Law School.5. ^ Battistini, 4506. ^ Parton, 4137. ^ Rojas, 176

8. ^ Rojas, 165.9. ^ Blum, Hester. "Pirated Tars, Piratical Texts Barbary Captivity andAmerican Sea Narratives." Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 1.2 (2003): 133–58.10. ^ Rojas, 168–9.11. ^ Rojas, 16312. ^ "American Peace Commissioners to John Jay," March 28, 1786,"Thomas Jefferson Papers," Series 1. General Correspondence. 1651-1827,Library of Congress. LoC: March 28, 1786 (handwritten).^ Making of America Project; Philip Gengembre Hubert (1872). The Atlanticmonthly. Atlantic Monthly Co.. p. 413 (typeset).13. ^ London 2005, pp. 40,41.

14. ^a

 b

 c

 Woods, Thomas (2005-07-07) Presidential War Powers,LewRockwell.com15. ^ Miller, Nathan (1997-09-01). The U.S. Navy: a history . Naval InstitutePress. p. 46. ISBN 9781557505958. Retrieved 9 May 2011.16. ^ Keynes 2004, p. 191 (note 31)17. ^ Tucker, Spencer. Stephen Decatur: a life most bold and daring. NavalInstitute Press; 2005. ISBN 9781557509994. p. xi.18. ^ Eaton had requested 100 marines, but had been limited to eight byCommodore Barron, who wished to budget his forces differently. Whipple2001, pp. 17, 225,331 (note 6)19. ^ Battle of Derna20. ^ "Treaty of Peace and Amity, Signed at Tripoli June 4, 1805". The

Avalon project, Yale Law School..21. ^ Gerard W. Gawalt, America and the Barbary Pirates: An InternationalBattle Against an Unconventional Foe, U.S. Library of Congress.22. ^ Giovanni C Micali, Tripoli Monument at the U.S. Naval Academy in

 Annapolis, Maryland, dcmemorials.com

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[edit] Bibliography

• Keynes, Edward (2004), Undeclared War , Penn State Press,ISBN 9780271026077

• London, Joshua E. (2005), Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the

Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 0-471-44415-4• Whipple, A. B. C. (1991), To the Shores of Tripoli: The Birth of the U.S. Navy 

and Marines, Bluejacket Books, ISBN 1-55750-966-2

[edit] Further reading

• Adams, Henry Brooks (1986), History of the United States of America Duringthe Administrations of Thomas Jefferson (Library of America ed.) (published1891)

• Boot, Max (2002), The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of  American Power , New York: Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-00720-1

• De Kay, James Tertius (2004), A Rage for Glory: The Life of CommodoreStephen Decatur, USN, Free Press

• Lambert, Frank (2005), The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World, New York: Hill and Wang, ISBN 978-0-8090-9533-9

• Oren, Michael B.  (2007), Power, Faith, and Fantasy: The United States in theMiddle East, 1776 to 2006, New York: W.W. Norton & Co, ISBN 978-0393330304

• Smethurst, David (2006), Tripoli: The United States' First War on Terror , New York: Presidio Press

•  Toll, Ian W. (2006), Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S.Navy , W. W. Norton, ISBN 978-0393058475

• Wheelan, Joseph (2003), Jefferson's War: America's First War on Terror,1801–1805, New York: Carroll & Graf 

• Zacks, Richard (2005), The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines,and the Secret Mission of 1805, New York: Hyperion

[edit] External links

•  Treaties with The Barbary Powers :• Eric Scigliano, Our original Libyan misadventure, Salon.com• Paul Fallon (October 17, 2002), America's First War On Terror [unreliable source?]

•  Joshua E. London, How America's war with the Barbary Pirates Establishedthe U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation, victoryintripoli.com

•  Joshua E. London (May 4, 2006), Victory in Tripoli: Lessons for the War onTerrorism, Heritage Foundation (Heritage Lecture #940)

• First American-Barbary War

[show]v · d · eMajor armed conflicts involving theUnited States Armed Forces

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Categories: Barbary Wars | Wars involving Morocco | Wars involving the Ottoman

Empire | Wars involving Sweden | Wars involving the United States | 1800s conflicts 

| Presidency of Thomas Jefferson | United States Marine Corps in the 18th and 19th

centuries

First Barbary War

The burning frigate Philadelphia in the harbor of 

Tripoli, February 16, 1804, by Edward Moran,

painted 1897.

Date 1801–5

Location Northwest African andMediterranean coasts

ResultAmerican victory, peacetreaty

Belligerents

 United States

 Sweden (until 1802)

Kingdom of theTwo Sicilies

 Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders

Richard DaleWilliam EatonEdward Preble

Rudolf Cederström

 Yusuf Karamanli

Strength

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United States

7 Ships8 U.S. Marines incommand of approx500 Greek and ArabMercenaries

Sweden3 Frigates

4,000

Casualties and losses

United States: 35killed, 64 woundedGreek/ArabMercenaries: killedand woundedunknown

estimated 800 dead,1,200 wounded atDerne plus ships andcrew lost in navaldefeats

[show]v · d · e 

First Barbary War

[show]v · d · e 

19th century Atlantic/Mediterranean conflicts involving the United States