Posted on 08/04/2023 11:57:03 AM PDT by Borges
Short and informative.
There is always more to be said, of course.
After they invented the Marine Corps, we need something to do with our free time.
OUTSTANDING video! Pretty much all major points condensed into 3 minutes.
Bottom line was that the Barbary Pirates met their match in trying their luck against the US (and then Europe joined the fun). Prior to that, if you lived in a small town on the Italian Coast, you could EASILY wake up one morning and find your children were gone, taken to North Africa, to be slaves.
In fact the colonies in North Africa only existed to prevent this crap from happening (oil discovery was 100+ years away).
Europe paid their tributes and sought appeasement. Jefferson read the Quran and saw that they were practicing their religion. No amount of negotiation or politicking was going to stop that. The only true recourse was to fight back.
“Captain Bainbridge remarked, his resolve firm, “I hope I shall never again be sent to Algiers with tribute, unless I am authorized to deliver it from the mouth of our cannon.”
― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History
Stephen Decatur, Edward Preble, on and on, early military heroes.
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Stephen Decatur is best known for the 16 February 1804 action in Tripoli when, as a lieutenant, he and 75 Sailors set the captured frigate Philadelphia on fire during a daring raid on Tripoli harbor.
Philadelphia had been surrendered to the enemy by her commanding officer, Captain Bainbridge, when she ran aground on a reef off Tripoli harbor. The Tripolitans took the captain and crew captive, and then floated and towed Philadelphia into Tripoli harbor for plundering.
Lieutenant Decatur and his crew, aboard Intrepid, entered Tripoli harbor disguised as a merchant ship flying British colors, with the mission of destroying the Tripolitan’s prize. Under the ruse of losing their anchors in a storm, the cloaked Intrepid was given permission to moor alongside Philadelphia until morning.
A Tripolitan guard’s warning that the ship’s occupants were American came too late as Intrepid’’s crew boarded Philadelphia, overcame the Tripolitans, and set the captured frigate ablaze. Decatur and his crew were later praised for their “performance of the dangerous service assigned them.”
Born in Sinnepuxet, Maryland, on 5 January 1779, Stephen Decatur was appointed a midshipman in the U.S. Navy on 30 April 1798 and served on United States during the Quasi-war with France. He recaptured and destroyed Philadelphia as a lieutenant. He flew the pennant of a commodore during the War of 1812, and captured HMS Macedonian on 25 October 1812. In January 1815, while in command of President, he surrendered his ship to the British after a severe naval engagement and was taken prisoner. Decatur was released after peace was declared with Great Britain, after which he commanded the U.S. Navy Mediterranean squadron and secured the final treaty of peace with the Barbary Powers.
Decatur served as Navy Commissioner from 1816−1820. He was the recipient of congressional recognition and was presented with a sword for his service in Tripoli, and was awarded a gold medal for his distinguished service in the War of 1812. Decatur died in a duel with Commodore Barron on 22 March 1820, in Washington, D.C. He was initially buried in Washington, but was later reinterred in St. Peter’s Churchyard in Philadelphia.
Enlightening.
Back when proper respect for military heroes was given from a grateful American people.
The reason Hussein Obama sworn in on the Jefferson Quran…to fight back against the USA.
We weren’t. We dealt with the after we lost the protection of the English Navy
That happened to Baltimore, Ireland.
“That happened to Baltimore, Ireland.”
Damn, they went EVERYWHERE. Similar to today’s Somali Pirates - you cannot go ‘around them’, you have to DEAL WITH THEM.
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