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

227 pp. "The bizarre expedition which the New England soldier and former consul at Tunis, William Eaton, led across the desert to capture the Tirpolitan city of Derna in 1805... From original documets they have reconstructed Eaton's attempt to set up in Tripoli a puppuet government favorable to the United States. Under great difficulties he led a rabble army from Egypt agains Derna--a campaign stiffened only by the presence of Lieutenant O'bannon and his seven marines... throws new light on the background of the war with Tripoli, on Jefferson's effort to fight a naval war more than 3,000 miles away--handicapped by a disarmament program inherited from a previous administration and by the refusal of isolationists in Congress to support a war in which they had no interest; and it shows the contribution Eaton made to end forever the menace of the Barbary pirates."