The Tripolines declared war on the United States on May 14, 1801. President Thomas Jefferson only reluctantly sent a squadron to the Mediterranean to protect American commerce, but gave it orders that rendered it all but impotent. A second squadron in 1802 had somewhat greater freedom of action but a largely inert commander. It was only with the dispatch of a third squadron in the summer of 1803, under Commodore Edward Preble, that the U.S. ‘got serious.’ Unfortunately, an impetuous captain, William Bainbridge, soon ran his frigate, Philadelphia, hard aground just off Tripoli, and was forced to surrender the ship and over 300 sailors to the Tripolines.
In February 1804, Lieutenant Commandant Charles Stewart was ordered to attempt a raid on Tripoli with the objective of destroying the frigate. As things turned out, it was his next senior officer, Stephen Decatur, who actually boarded Philadelphia with a team of volunteers and shortly set her afire. Escaping without casualties, the Americans lay offshore and watched the ship burn to the waterline. Decatur was promoted to the rank of Captain and awarded a sword; the rest of the raiders received two months’ pay as bonus.
The real siege of Tripoli began late in July 1804 when Preble began a series of actions against the port. While it took until June 1805 to bring Bashaw to sign a treaty, it was Preble’s effort in August and September 1804 as the underlying cause of his compliance.
Two other names appear in the broadside: Barron and Talbot. The former refers either to Samuel, who succeeded Preble in command of the squadron in September 1804, or to his younger brother, James, who commanded one of the ships in the squadron, but probably the former. His activity was limited, however, by an illness that eventually led him, prior to the peace, to turn over control of the squadron to Captain John Rodgers, who is mentioned not at all. Similarly, ‘Talbot’ is Commodore Silas Talbot—who took no part at all in the war! Over the years, Decatur’s name has been carried by five USN ships; Commodore Preble’s by six” (Guttridge and Smith; McKee; Tucker).
Popular at the time, the text was printed in at least twenty-three songsters between 1805 and 1818 (R. Keller).
