The Shores of Tripoli

In the spring of 1805, on a dusty strip of Libyan coastline, a small band of Americans, mercenaries, and one exiled prince marched into the pages of history. Their objective was a fortified town called Derna, perched between the Mediterranean Sea and the desert, ruled by a Bashaw named Yusuf Karamanli. What happened there gave the United States its first military victory on foreign soil and immortalized the phrase “to the shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Corps Hymn.