Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade

 

This was a book sale find that sat on my to read shelf for some time.  Finally started it in December and finished in January, first  published in 2015 and this paperback edition in 2016; 221 pages including the Afterword and Acknowledgements Sections and pages of source notes follow.  Well written and might not have been a subject of initial interest to me, about the early days of US Navy and Marines as they established their significance thru this seldom mentioned war.  But I am more informed having read it and appreciate the research. I am a history buff but it has been ages since I read anything about this era and in particular the military issues of those days back to 1801 when the US was a fledgling nation. Reading this once again validated a view I've long had that knowledge of history gives a great perspective.  Many issues from then remain relevant today. 

The book opens July 1785 when the Barbary pirates attack and take prisoner the captain and sailors of the US Dauphin off the coast of Portugal.  America was at peace, or so it thought.  Pg 2., "Mercilessly, the pirates stripped O'Brien and his men of shoes, hats and handkerchiefs, leaving them unprotected from the burning sun during the  12 day voyage back to the North African coast.  On arrival in Algiers, the American captives were paraded through the streets as spectators jeered."  It is almost frightening to consider some of  these, such as the peril the Muslim renegades placed upon the world and its endurance today.  Pages 9-17 include the conversations, meetings, and correspondence between two old friends,  Thomas Jefferson who is serving as American minister to France and goes to London in March 1786 to meet with John Adams,  America's minister to Britain.  

Pg. 16 " He told Adams that justice, honor and the respect of Europe for the United States would be served by establishing a fleet in constant cruise in Barbary waters, policing and confronting ships  of the outlaw states as necessary...."   "Adams disagreed.  He believed that war against the Islamic  nations would be costly and possibly unwinnable......We out not to fight them at all unless We determine to fight them forever."  Prophetic.  

Pg 23, "The dismantling of the navy had suited President Washington perfectly.  Over and over again he said he favored a policy of strict neutrality in international affairs, a position he made explicit in his Neutrality Proclamation of 1795.  ...Washington wished to fight no more wars.  He desired neither a standing army nor a navy."  

The pirates would continue to plague American ships, take captives and their treacherous rulers beys, etc would demand ever escalating prices for the captives.  

Finally America under the presidency of Jefferson realizes it cannot continue to  pay and rely on the graces of the Islamic nations.  Communication is exceedingly slow across the oceans.  Pg 151 "More than four months passed before anyone in Washington knew anything about the fate of the USS Philadelphia.  Since the previous autumn of 1803, mail had accumulated in Malta, letters home from sailors, dispatches from Preble and consular correspondence remained unsent.  Only when Commander Preble stumbled upon a cache of mail in the charge of a former consul to the bashaw who spoke no English did four great stacks of long delayed correspondence begin their transatlantic journey in early February.   That meant President Jefferson learned of the grounding of the USS Philadelphia -- but not of its sacrificial fire --  on March 19, 1804.  It also meant that for the third winter in a row, despite Preble's good efforts, only ill tidings reached Washington from the Barbary Coast."  

Pgs 202-3 .     Describe Adams and Jefferson's "passing within hours of each other on the 50th birthday of the country to whose service the had dedicated their lives..."  "When it unfolded the Barbary War was no more than a ripple in the much larger waters of world politics.  ....Today the war's military legacy cannot be ignored.  It saw the emergence of the US Navy as a force to be reckoned with in foreign wars.  It saw the first fight in which US Navy gunfire worked in concert with United States land forces.  So great was the significance for the Marines that their hym refers "to the shores of Tripoli"....Most important here in the twenty first century the broader story--the great confrontation between the United Stats and militant Islamic states--has a new significance."  

A good solid 4 **** rating for this work.