1805: Battle of Derna

To the Shores of Tripoli

When pirates had been raiding American merchant ships off the Barbary Coast, President Thomas Jefferson sent in an expeditionary force of Marines to fight back.

During this time, Marines received the nickname ‘Leathernecks’, after the high collar they wore as protection against pirates’ saber cuts.

Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon and his Marines marched across 600 miles of the Libyan Desert to storm the Tripolitan city of Derna and rescue the kidnapped crew of the USS Philadelphia.

The Marines' victory helped protect U.S. ships and secure our trading in the area. As a gesture of respect and praise for the Marines’ action at the Battle of Derna, First Lieutenant O’Bannon was presented a Mameluke sword by the Ottoman Empire vicery, Prince Hamet, which is now the oldest ceremonial weapon still in use by United States armed forces today.

The Battle of Derna was the Marines' first ground battle on foreign soil and is notably recalled in the Marines' Hymn: "From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea."