To the Walls of Derne begins where Intrepid
Sailors (2012) ends in the U. S. Navy’s war
with Tripoli. The conflict came about because of
this Barbary State’s pirates’ frequent incursions
on American merchantmen and the bashaw’s demand
for payment of tribute, which President Thomas
Jefferson and others likened to extortion, to stop
such raids. When this book opens, the USS Philadelphia
has already been captured and destroyed and her
crew imprisoned and forced to endure slave labor,
poor rations, and abusive treatment at the hands
of the Tripolitans.
Into this tense
situation steps an American soldier, diplomat, and
would-be adventurer named William Eaton. Popular,
arrogant, intelligent, direct, and overly
courageous, he has long dreamed of being a hero.
His audacious plan to replace the current bashaw
with his older brother, with the assistance of the
United States, offers him that opportunity if he
can convince the president to sanction and fund
the expedition. For this plan to succeed, Eaton
must first find Hamet Karamanli and then convince
him to take up arms against his brother.
Hamet Karamanli is
the middle son of Tripoli’s ruling family.
Although intelligent, conversant in many
languages, and a combatant fighter, he never
wanted or expected to rule his country. His
primary desire is to take care of his wife and
children, while living a life of ease. But his
younger brother holds Hamet’s family hostage while
Hamet lives in exile somewhere in Egypt.
Astute and ruthless,
Yusuf Karamanli is a very ambitious man. As a
child, he yearns to rule Tripoli, but is the third
and youngest son. To accomplish this goal, he
kills his oldest brother and usurps the throne
from Hamet. Bashaw Yusuf’s dream is to make
Tripoli the equal of any European or Near Eastern
country and to fund this desire, his pirates
capture ships of other nations to gain slave labor
and force a peace that includes hefty payments to
insure the safety of seamen and free trade in the
Mediterranean. Yet the Americans prove to be
irritating thorns. They destroyed their captured
frigate. They blockade his harbor, which prevents
much-needed grain shipments from arriving. The
loss of tribute and the lack of food mean his
people are starving and questioning whether he
should be ruler. Then there are the whispers from
spies who tell him that Hamet may lead an army to
unseat Yusuf.
But these three men
are not the only players on the stage in this
daring scheme. President Jefferson wavers on what
is the best option for securing peace. He
ultimately decides a three-pronged strategy will
be the most effective in curtailing this costly
and seemingly endless war. He authorizes Eaton’s
plan, but fails to provide Eaton with full control
over the expedition. That privilege goes to an
ailing Commodore Samuel Barron, who assumes
command of the U. S. Navy squadron currently
blockading Tripoli. Jefferson’s third maneuver is
to send Tobias Lear, who opposes Eaton’s plan, to
the Mediterranean with the authority to negotiate
peace.
Thus, in April 1805,
the stage is set for what becomes a dangerous and
bold, 500-mile trek across the desert with a
polyglot army. Seven marines and a self-styled
general in hostile lands, at times pitted against
their own followers, achieve the impossible only
to have petty jealousies, diplomatic machinations,
and service rivalries prevent them from achieving
the ultimate goal. This story – immortalized in a
line in the U. S. Marine Corps’ “Marines’ Hymn” –
unfolds within the pages of To the Walls
of Derne. The book includes maps, notes, a
bibliography, and an index, as well as an epilogue
in which Reid shares what happened to the
principal participants once the expedition ends.
This may not be the
most riveting account I’ve read of this episode in
American history, but what makes this book an
important contribution to studies of our relations
with the Barbary States and Barbary piracy, as
well as the formative years of our fledging
nation, is that Reid doesn’t color his recounting
with modern-day concepts of terrorism and radical
Islam. He delved beyond the usual sources to
examine material about the Karamanlis that are
rarely consulted by Western historians. While this
four-year conflict failed to solve the problem of
paying tribute – that would come later – he also
demonstrates how the seven marines who bravely
fought in this war prevented the American
government from doing away with the U. S. Marine
Corps. To
the Walls of Derne skillfully shows the
price our freedom costs and the depth to which our
armed forces are willing to go to defend our
country.
Review Copyrighted ©2017 Cindy
Vallar
Pirates
and Privateers
