Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates
A Brian Kilmeade book review chronicling America’s first regime change war
Brian Kilmeade’s Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates takes us through America’s original regime change war in this docu-novel following the presidency of Thomas Jefferson and America’s tumultuous start to becoming a military superpower.
In 1801 the US was a new country, and desperately needed to utilize Atlantic trade routes in order to grow economically. Several countries in North Africa, Tripoli, Algiers, and Tunisia. Collectively part of the Ottoman Empire known as the the Barbary States. These locations had their own leaders and operated like different countries. They developed a loose alliance and started a trade blockade in the Atlantic Ocean. Their naval forces operated like pirates on the open seas. The only countries that were safe, were those willing to pay a bounty. But even then, the pirates were ruthless, often increasing prices and taking prisoners then demanding hefty ransoms.
President John Adams believed peace could be purchased and shied away from any sort of military intervention. The pirates continued to raise rates and kidnapped over 100 Americans, holding them captive in deplorable conditions and demanding an outrageous ransom.
When Thomas Jefferson was elected, he took a more forceful approach — commissioning a fleet of navy ships and ordering them to the Mediterranean Sea to confront the hostile Barbarians. But Jefferson’s military was in its infantile stage, and despite being well equipped, they suffered several embarrassing losses to the pirates.
In 1803, the USS Philadelphia and its crew was captured when the boat ran aground on a reef a few miles offshore. The captain, William Bainbridge, voluntarily surrendered to the Tripolians, thinking hope was lost — only to realize the tide would have risen in just a few short hours, un-mooring the ship from the reef. The embarrassing loss not only gave the Tripolians over 100 American hostages, it also gave them an enormous amount of armaments. The USS Philadelphia was anchored in the Tripolian harbor and used as a gun battery.
In another ill-fated move, the Americans decided to use a decoy ship, a newly captured enemy vessel christened the USS Intrepid to float into the Tipolian harbor. The plan was to dock the boat, set fire to ship which was loaded with gun powder, and row back to their main ship out at sea. They hoped they could set off a large enough explosion to damage and possibly sink the entire Tripolian fleet. The doomed plan ended when the Tripolians, realizing the ship wasn’t friendly, fired on the USS Intrepid, killing entire American crew.
The Americans realized they couldn’t afford to suffer any more humiliations. They began to formulate a new approach. Instead of trying to beat the pirates on a full military front, the Americans would go directly for the leader of Tripoli. They would assassinate the Bashaw, and prop up his brother, who was sympathetic to America, as the new leader.
In a remarkable foreshadowing of what would be to come, the fledgling American military began a regime change campaign in Tripoli. In a show of courage and tactical brilliance, the young American military led by William Eaton orchestrated a coalition of Greeks, Arabs, and Berbers in a march on Derna, capturing the city, and declaring Hamet ruler of Tripoli.
The American military couldn’t stop their embarrassing missteps. Through a string of miscommunications, they actually managed to back stab themselves. Despite winning America’s first military land battle as an official nation and raising the US flag on the city of Derna — they managed to twist the victory into a lose/lose situation for the brave Eaton.
Learning of the victory at Derna, the American diplomat in charge of brokering a peace treaty with the Barbary States, Tobias Lear, decided to use the impending overthrow of the Bashaw in support of his brother, Hamet as leverage. Lear convinced President Jefferson to pay the Barbarians $60,000 in ransom for the release of all American troops in Tripoli, and they signed a peace treaty with the Bashaw, officially ending the war.
In Derna, William Eaton was ordered to flee the city with his American troops in the dead of night, abandoning those who fought with them against the savage barbarians.
The war was officially over, but the victory was tainted. Missteps, double crossings, and broken promises cast a wary shadow over the American victory in the Barbary Wars. Although able to claim triumph in Barbary, the US brokered peace didn’t last long and soon, Algiers was back to piracy — kidnapping Americans, and looting their ships on the open seas.
Finally, in 1815, the US was forced back to war with the Barbary States. Under President James Madison, another war was fought to finally bring the piracy in the Barbary region to an end.
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The blunders and missteps of the American government and military during the First Barbary War is a stunning foreshadowing of America’s current proclivity for regime change in the Middle East.
Jefferson’s fumble with the Barbarians cost American lives, respect, money, and stature. Although the fledgling country was able to claim victory and establish themselves as a serious military power; the conquest was all but truly successful.
Brian Kilmeade is undeniably one of the best at writing nonfiction in a way that makes any reader an excited historian on his given topic. Try George Washington and the Secret Six, Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans, or Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers for more great works of historic drama from the Fox News and radio host.
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Secret Coran-Stacy is an author, entrepreneur, artist, and philanthropist living the dream as a middle class suburbanite in Central Arkansas. Find out more by visiting www.secretstacy.com
