Battle of Derna

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First Barbary War
Tripoli Harbor - Derna

First Barbary War
Tripoli Harbor - Derna

The Battle of Derna was a decisive victory of a combined army of U.S. Marines and mercenaries over the forces of the Barbary coast nation of Tripoli during the First Barbary War.

Contents

1 Background
2 The Forces
3 The Desert Trek
4 The battle
5 Aftermath
6 Sources
7 Further reading

Background

The former Consul to Tunis, William Eaton returned to the Mediterranean with the title of 'Naval Agent to the Barbary States' in 1804. Eaton had been granted permission from the United States government to back the claim of Hamet Karamanli, the rightful heir to the throne of Tripoli, who had been deposed by his brother Yussif Karamanli. Upon his return Eaton sought out Hamet, who was in exile in Egypt, and made a proposal to reinstate him to the throne. Hamet agreed to Eaton's plan.

The Forces

Commodore Samuel Barron, the new Naval commander in the Mediterranean gave Eaton naval support from the Hero, Nautilus, Hornet and the Argus commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, which were to provide off shore bombardment support. A detachment of U.S. Marines was given to Eaton under the command of Lt. Presley O'Bannon. Eaton and Hull made their base of operations at Alexandria, Egypt, and there with the help of Hamet, recruited about 500 Arab, Greek and Turkish mercenaries. Eaton named himself General and Commander-in-Chief of the combined force.

The Desert Trek

General Eaton now led his army on 500 mile trek across the Libyan desert. Their objective was the port city of Derna, the capital of the province of Cyrenaica. Supplies and money were promised to the largely mercenary force when they reached the city. During the 50 day trek Eaton became concerned with the relationship between the Christians and the roughly 200 Muslim mercenaries in his force. On several occasions mutiny threatened the success of the expedition. The force finally reached the port city of Bomba in late April, up the coast from Derna, where the Argus, Nautilus and the Hornet along with Captain Hull were waiting. There Eaton and his force received supplies and money to pay the mercenaries.

The battle

On April 27, two days after arriving at Bomba Hull's ships opened fire and bombed the city's batteries for about an hour. General Eaton divided his army into two separate attacks. Hamet would lead the Arabs southwest to cut off the road to Tripoli while Eaton with the rest of the mecenaries and Marines attacked the harbor fortress. At 2:45pm the attack began with Lt. O'Bannon and the Marines in the lead. The harbor defenses had been reinforced and the attackers were momentarily halted. Eaton grabbed a rifle and shouting "charge!" led the force over the walls while being seriously wounded in the hand. The defenders fled in such haste that they left their cannon loaded and ready to fire. O'Bannon raised the U.S. flag over the works as Eaton turned the captured batteries on the city and opened fire. Hamet's force in the meantime had seized the Governor's Palace and secured the western part of the town. Many of the defenders of the harbor fortress continued retreating through the town and right into Hamet's force. By 4:00 the entire city had fallen. For the first time a U.S. flag was flown over a fortifications that side of the Atlantic.

Yusuf was aware of the attack on Derna and had sent reinforcements to the city. By the time this force arrived the city had fallen. Still they dug in and prepared to retake the city. Eaton immediately worked on fortifying his new position. Hamet had taken up residence in the Governor's Palace and his Arab forces patrolled the outlying areas of the city. The reinforcements dug in south of the city and waited. On May 13 they attacked the city and drove the Arabs back almost capturing the Governor's Palace. The Argus and Eaton's captured batteries pounded the attackers, who fled under continued bombardment. By nightfall both sides were back to their original positions. Skirmishing and several other minor attempts were made on the city in the following weeks but the city remained in American control. From Derna, Eaton now planned to march across the desert and attack Tripoli from the land. During his march he was informed of the treaty signed between Tobias Lear and Yusuf Karamanli. In the middle of his trek Eaton was ordered to return to Egypt with Hamet.

Aftermath

The Battle of Derna was the first recorded land battle of the United States on overseas soil. The battle was the decisive action of the First Barbary War, although Eaton was angered by what he called a 'sell-out' between Consul Lear and the bey. Hamet returned to Egypt and the mercenaries were never fully paid. William Eaton returned to the United States as a national hero. Lt. O'Bannon was awarded a sword of honor by his home state of Kentucky. The attack on the city was the inspiration for the lyrics to the Marine Hymn "to the shores of Tripoli".