Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates

Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger’s Thomas Jefferson and the Pirates of Tripoli: The Forgotten War That Changed American History (2015) reveals a number of illuminating facts about a period of American conflict that is as fascinating as more well-known foreign conflicts throughout history.

The conflict at the center of the book, the Barbary Wars, took place between 1801 and 1815. Under President Thomas Jefferson, America allied itself with Sweden against a collective of North African states along the Barbary Coast. These included Tripoli, Algiers, Tunis, and the independent Sultanate of Morocco. These countries were essentially pirate nations, making their money by attacking ships from other countries and using extortion to collect what was, essentially, protection money in the form of tributes to ensure a country's ships would not be attacked. After years of paying these tributes, Thomas Jefferson refused to pay because they were bankrupting the young country after it had already spent most of its money winning the Revolutionary War.

The book outlines the history of these wars, relating a number of fascinating facts about the conflict. With the nation essentially broke after defeating the British, the United States had to build a new navy practically from scratch. It had dismantled its navy after the Revolutionary War because it could no longer afford to support it in times of peace. So Jefferson pleaded with Congress to let him build up the navy again so it could fight the Barbary Pirates. Congress finally agreed, but Jefferson's early efforts were largely a bust. The man he selected to lead the naval forces, Captain Richard Valentine Morris, was lazy and largely incompetent. So severe was his dereliction of duty that he was, eventually, relieved of his post and court-martialed.



More disasters followed. For example, one of the first ships to attempt a blockade against the pirates was the U.S.S. Philadelphia. However, after chasing after one of the enemy's ships, the Philadelphia ran aground and was captured, along with everyone onboard. The pirates remodeled and fixed up the boat so they could use it against the United States in what was a source of great shame for the naval forces.

To prevent this from happening and to keep morale high, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a small band of soldiers armed only with knives to set fire to the captured Philadelphia before it could set sail against the United States. While this was a victory for the U.S., it is ironic that the first major victory of the war involved the navy setting fire to one of its own ships.

The book also goes into detail about the march to capture Tripoli, which was the basis for the “Marines Hymn” song that is still sung today. Despite the book’s title, the narrative focuses much of its attention on the troops on the ground as opposed to Jefferson himself.



Though full of fascinating stories the reader might not be familiar with, the book's title may overstate its case that the Barbary Wars changed American history. Some commentators have criticized the book for its orientalist approach and Islamaphobic undertones, which are serious and warranted concerns. Nevertheless, there is a lot of forgotten history to learn in this book.