The First Americans in North Africa: William Eaton's Struggle for a Vigorous Policy Against the Barbary Pirates, 1799-1805

247 Pages·1945·5.379 MB·English

by  Louis B. Wright, Julia H. MacLeod

THE FIRST AMERICANS
IN NORTH AFRICA

THE FIRST AMERICANS
IN NORTH AFRICA
WILLIAM EATON’S STRUGGLE
FOR A VIGOROUS POLICY AGAINST THE
BARBARY PIRATES, 1799-1805
BY LOUIS B. WRIGHT AND
JULIA H. MACLEOD
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS ■ PRINCETON
1945
COPYRIGHT. >945, BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY FRESS
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BY PRINCETON
UNIVERSITY PRESS, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
LONDON, HUMPHREY MILFORD: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
PREFACE
The first adventure of American forces on North African
soil occurred in 1805. The expedition was led by William
Eaton, a brilliant and erratic New Englander, who con­
ceived the idea of removing the menace of the Barbary
pirates by setting up a puppet government in Tripoli favor­
able to the United States. Eaton had been United States
consul at Tunis and was wise in the ways of the corsairs
who from time immemorial had preyed on Mediterranean
commerce and exacted tribute from all nations. His inde­
pendent spirit rebelled at the notion of buying off the sea­
going gangsters in accordance with European practice, If
he had his way, the United States would set an example to
the rest of the world and establish its prestige in the Medi­
terranean. To that end Eaton directed his energies.
The American navy had been waging a desultory war
with the Tripolitan corsairs since 1801 when Eaton, in
1803, persuaded President Jefferson to let him lead an
overland expedition against Tripoli. His object was to
place Hamet Karamanli on the throne of Tripoli from
which he had been removed by a usurping brother. In
spite of almost insuperable difficulties, Eaton organized a
rabble army in Egypt, marched across the desert along the
route later followed by Montgomery, and captured Dema.
The heroic action of Lieutenant Presley N. O’Bannon and
his seven Marines—the only organized group of Americans
in Eaton’s “army”—made possible this victory and gave
the United States Marine Corps the phrase, “to the shores
of Tripoli,” in their official song. So frightened was the
ruling Pasha of Tripoli that he hastily negotiated a treaty
very favorable to the United States before Eaton could
carry out his original plan.
Although Eaton did not succeed in setting up his puppet
ruler, this expedition had an important influence in estab­
lishing American prestige in Barbary, and the fall of Derna
marks a turning point in American relations with all of
the Barbary States. Within ten years, the menace of the
Barbary pirates was forever ended.
v
PREFACE
An extraordinary collection of manuscripts describing
with infinite detail American relations with Barbary in the
first years of the nineteenth century is preserved in the
Huntington Library. The documents consist of records
kept by William Eaton while consul at Tunis and later as
naval agent in the Mediterranean. Because the consul gen­
eral at Algiers, Richard O’Brien, and the consul at Tripoli,
James Leander Cathcart, were bitter enemies, Eaton was
the intermediary through whom much of the official busi­
ness in Barbary was transacted. He kept minute records,
made copies of all letters sent and received, and wrote down
his personal views in a journal. These manuscripts are the
basis of the present book. Not since Charles Prentiss pre­
pared a biography immediately after Eaton’s death in 1811
has anyone made any significant use of these documents.
The authors have tried to give a succinct account of
American relations with the pirate rulers of North Africa
as seen through the eyes of one of the most active partici­
pants. Eaton often speaks with the disdain which Amer­
icans of his age sometimes felt toward other races and
nations. Where his prejudices or lack of information re­
sult in a distorted picture of conditions, we have tried to
correct the description in the light of other documentary
sources.
One noteworthy fact, not strictly concerned with Eaton’s
career, emerges from the study of the records, and that is
the garbled and erroneous account that has been often
given of Jefferson’s attitude toward the navy and his al­
leged timidity in waging the war against Tripoli. Actually
Jefferson did the best he could with the pitiful navy that
Congress allowed him. Previous writers on the Barbary
wars have too often forgotten that President John Adams
signed into law on his last day in office a bill which prac­
tically annihilated the navy, and that Congress during Jef­
ferson’s administrations was loath to reverse its earlier
action. Upon the Congressional policy of “too little and
too late” in dealing with the Barbary pirates, these manu­
scripts throw new light.
We are indebted to the Trustees of the Huntington
vi
PREFACE
Library for the opportunity to make this study. Various
members of the Huntington Library staff have been help­
ful, particularly Mr. Herbert C. Schulz, curator of manu­
scripts. For criticism and suggestions, we are grateful to
Dr. Dixon Wecter, a colleague on the permanent research
staff of the Huntington Library. To Captain Dudley W.
Knox, U.S.N., and the Office of Naval Records and Library
we are under obligation for permission to reproduce maps
and other material, as well as for help from the invaluable
Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with
the Barbary Powers now being published. For photographic
reproductions of material in their custody we wish to thank
the authorities of the Library of Congress, the National
Archives, the New York Public Library, Boston Public
Library, the American Antiquarian Society, the Massachu­
setts Historical Society, and the Library of Dartmouth Col­
lege. Mr. Datus C. Smith, Jr. and the staff of the Princeton
University Press have been particularly helpful. For aid
in the preparation of the manuscript, we have Mrs. Sadie
Hales Whittemore to thank.
L.B.W.
J.H.M.
The Huntington Library
March 20,1945
vii

CONTENTS
PREFACE V
THE BACKGROUND 1
I. AN OBSERVANT CONSUL AT TUNIS 16
IL REPORTS FROM BARBARY, 1799 38
III. GATHERING WAR CLOUDS, 1800 61
IV. OUTBREAK OF WAR WITH TRIPOLI, 1801 76
V. ERA OF FRUSTRATION, 1802-1803 104
VI. ACTION AT HOME AND AT SEA, 1803-1804 132
VII. DESERT MARCH TO VICTORY AT DERNA 151
VIII. THE BITTER DREGS OF DISAPPOINTMENT 176
IX. FINALE 199
NOTES 207
INDEX 215