Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DERNE
DERNE
WILLIAM EATON, THE TRIPOLI COUP
AND THE END OF THE FIRST BARBARY WAR
ts CHIPP REID st
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First printing
Preface - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ix
1 Shores of Tripoli- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -1
2 The General - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7
3 Brotherly Love - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 20
4 To Chastise the Bashaw - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 38
5 Dungeons and Diplomacy - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 51
6 Gathering Storm- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 67
7 Planning Stage - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 84
8 Washington Insider - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 96
9 Backroom Politics - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 109
10 Plans in Motion- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 122
11 Into Egypt- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 134
12 Waiting Game - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 148
13 Fears of the Unknown - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 161
14 A Few Good Men - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 175
15 An Army Grows in the Desert- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 189
16 The Road to Derne - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 202
17 Marches, Mutinies, and U.S. Marines- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 215
18 Battles for Derne- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 231
19 Duplicity and Deals - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 246
20 A Sad Truth - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 262
Epilogue- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 275
Notes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 287
Bibliography - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 325
Index - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 335
g vii h
The U.S. brig of war ARGUS looked tiny compared to the other
warships tied up in Alexandria harbor. There was a massive Turkish ship of
the line, four Turkish frigates, a French frigate, and a Spanish frigate. The
Turkish vessels had all rendered the correct honors to Master Comman-
dant Isaac Hull when the Argus entered the harbor on November 26,
although the French and Spanish ships had not. Hull didnt care. A pilot
who worked for the British consul had helped guide the Argus through the
tricky waters that led to the anchorage, and now Hull was waiting for word
as to when he would see the officials whom Malta governor Alexander Ball
had arranged for him and Eaton to meet.1
William Eaton keenly observed the Argus crew at work. He noted in
his journal the salutes the Argus rendered and received (he counted eigh-
teen guns from the Turks, not seventeen as Hull reported) and also noted
the slow going in the harbor.2 What he didnt record were his thoughts
as the American brig of war carried him closer to realizing his goal. Hull
soon welcomed Samuel Briggs on board. Briggs was the British consul in
Alexandria, and he offered to set up meetings with the Turkish officials in
the city.
Briggs was a polite, upright merchant engaged in what was then a new
venture, Egyptian cotton. When he read the letter of introduction from
g 134 h
Alexander Ball, Briggs was only too happy to aid the Americans. The con-
sul, however, had no idea of Eatons mission and sent Hull that evening
a note suggesting that Eaton come ashore at Admirals Wharf the next
morning. He promised to do what he could to help: I beg my compliments
to Mr. Eaton, and renew my assurances to both, that it will give me much
pleasure in my public, as well as private capacity to render you any service
in my power.3
Briggs was at the wharf at 9:30 a.m. the next day. He met Eaton, who
wore civilian clothes, and Hull, who was in full-dress uniform. He accom-
panied them to the home of the Turkish governor of the city, who was with
the Turkish squadron commander, an admiral. The Turks treated the Amer-
icans to an elaborate and long ceremony, aimed mostly at Hull, who was
the first American naval officer to pay an official visit to Alexandria. For
Eaton, perpetually in a rush, the ceremony was a necessary evil. He noted
in his diary merely that the Turks most hospitably received them.4 The
niceties over, Eaton quickly got down to business, steering the conversation
to Hamet. He asked if anyone knew the whereabouts of the deposed
bashaw of Tripoli. The Turks said nothing. Briggs told Eaton he had heard
that Hamet was somewhere well south of Cairo, where he had allegedly
joined a band of rebelling Mamelukes. Eaton thanked Briggs and the Turk-
ish officials for their hospitality and began making plans to go to Cairo.
He saw in Briggs an ally, and he wanted his country to benefit from the
Englishmans abilities. Eaton and Hull asked Briggs to become the U.S.
Navy agent in Alexandria. Briggs accepted, and Eaton duly notified Sec-
retary Smith of the offer, urging him to accept Briggs into U.S. service.5
The gateway to Cairo was the small port of Rosetta, where the Nile
emptied into the Mediterranean, and that was Eatons next destination.
He arranged with Hull to take with him several officers from the Argus
Lieutenant Joshua Blake, Midshipmen George Mann and Eli Danielson
(Eatons stepson), and First Lieutenant Presley OBannon, commander of
the brigs Marines. Eaton also brought Richard Farquhar, a Janissary inter-
preter named Selim, a servant named Ali, and six bodyguards. They
embarked for Rosetta on a small sloop on the twenty-eighth, but contrary
winds kept them in Alexandria. The next day the weather cleared, and Eaton
and his party set out. They stopped at Aboukir Bay at 4 p.m. The layover
allowed Eaton and his party to go ashore to visit the sites where the French
had fought two large land battles against the Turks and Mamelukes and
a massive naval battle against Horatio Nelsons British fleet. Everywhere
Eaton, OBannon, and the others walked, they found the ground covered
with human skeletons, ghastly monuments of the savage influence of ava-
rice and ambition on the human mind.6
Eatons party departed Aboukir the next day and arrived in Rosetta
on December 1, 1804. They raised an American flag over their craft and
waited. At two-thirty that afternoon, a barge appeared flying a large Brit-
ish flag. On board was the dragoman, or fixer, for Major Edward Missett,
the British resident in Cairo, who had lately taken refuge in Rosetta. Eaton
and Blake boarded the British barge and went ashore, where Eaton was
reunited with Dr. Francesco Mendrici, an old friend from Tunis who was
now the personal physician to the Turkish pasha in Egypt. The doctor was
sent out of [Tunis] about a year before me . . . for possessing dispositions
congenial to the interest of the Beys wife, Eaton explained to Smith.7 In
Missett Eaton seemed to find a kindred soul and he took an instant liking
to the Englishman.8 You will find in Major Missett all that can be com-
prised in the term a gentleman, with the frankness of an old soldier, we
certainly are very happy in our introductions from Governor Ball.9
Missett conducted Eatons party to his home, where he offered to help
Eaton as much as he could. He warned the Americans that travel to Cairo
might be perilous and offered to send his own secretary, a Captain Vincents,
and four armed bodyguards with them. The offer was more than Eaton
could have wished for, and in a typically rash moment he unreservedly
opened to him the object of my voyage.10 Eaton had previously covered
the real reason for his presence in Egypt by saying he and the officers were
simply sightseeing, taking in the grandeur of the ancient country. Missett
likely had advance warning of Eatons real mission from Ball, but whatever
he knew he kept to himself. As for his offers of aid, Eaton readily accepted.
He wrote Hull, I find my party increasing, and am very desirous of seeing
you here, that I may have the benefit of your advice in some measures I am
meditating, you will find the tour agreeable and I have no doubt useful.11