For over 300 years, Barbary pirates enslaved 1 million Europeans and Americans.
They raided ships, burned villages, and sold captives into brutal servitude.
Until 8 U.S. Marines took on a pirate empire and ended the white slave trade forever.
Here's the untold story:
From the 16th to 19th centuries, the Barbary corsairs operated from the North African coast, targeting European and American ships.
These pirates, hailing from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, plundered cargo and enslaved crews.
Coastal towns from Ireland to Iceland weren’t safe either.
The corsairs raided villages, kidnapping women, children, and the elderly to sell in bustling slave markets in Algiers and Tripoli.
In 1631, corsairs abducted nearly the entire population of Baltimore, Ireland.
White captives were forced into grueling labor, sold as concubines, or converted into soldiers within the Ottoman military.
The Barbary States demanded tribute from nations to spare their ships.
By the late 18th century, even the newly independent United States was paying these ransoms.
But one U.S. president refused to accept this extortion.
In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson, an ardent opponent of paying tribute, took office.
The Barbary States, led by Tripoli’s Pasha Yusuf Qaramanli, demanded more payments and declared war when Jefferson refused.
The U.S., under Jefferson’s command, sent its fledgling Navy and Marines into action—the first overseas military deployment in American history.
In 1805, a daring plan emerged to strike the heart of the Barbary States.
William Eaton, a former U.S. consul, and Lt. Presley O’Bannon, along with just eight U.S. Marines and 500 mercenaries, marched 600 miles across the Libyan desert to capture the coastal city of Derna.
On April 27, 1805, Eaton and O’Bannon launched their assault.
The Marines and mercenaries, despite being outnumbered 4:1, stormed the city under heavy fire.
O’Bannon personally led the charge, inspiring his men to secure the fort and raise the first American flag on foreign soil.
The battle freed American hostages and crushed the Barbary pirates’ operations.
This victory forced Yusuf Qaramanli to negotiate peace.
The treaty signed aboard the USS Constitution guaranteed:
1. Free passage for American ships in the Mediterranean.
2. An end to tribute payments.
3. The cessation of active white slavery in the Barbary States.
This marked a turning point in the fight against piracy, as European powers also began bolstering their navies and rejecting tribute demands.
Lt. O’Bannon’s bravery earned him a ceremonial Mameluke sword, now a symbol of Marine Corps tradition.
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