Marine's Hymn: An Appreciation for Greek Military Help

Few US Marines know and even fewer Greeks, that the Marine's Hymn celebrates the very first joint Greek and American military cooperation. It took place in 1805 and resulted in the release of 308 Americans held hostage for ransom by pirates. The reference to American Marines in action on "the shores of Tripoli” commemorates the attack on a stronghold of the Pasha of Tripoli (Libya), who along with the rulers of three other petty North African states, Morocco, Tunis and Algiers, practiced piracy against commercial shipping in the Mediterranean in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

Known as the Barbary pirates, these tribal autocrats sent their sailing ships known as corsairs to attack merchantmen for loot and to capture sailors and travelers whom they held for ransom. The Americans, who were commercially active in the  Mediterranean, suffered numerous humiliations at the hands of the pirates and were forced to pay substantial amounts of tribute money to them. At one time a man-of-war, the USS George Washington, was forced by the Bey of Algiers to haul down its flag, replace it with that of the Bey and carry the Bey's Ambassador to Constantinople carrying presents for the Sultan. When the American captain protested the Bey told him: "You pay me tribute, by which you become my slaves. I have therefore, the right to order you as I may think proper.”

Inevitably things came to a head and war broke out between the  US and the Pasha of Tripoli. However, one of the frigates, the Philadelphia, sent to block and bombard the port-town of  Tripoli, hit a reef and its captain and 307 men were taken prisoners by the Pasha.  A small contingent of U.S. sailors in a disguised USS Intrepid (which looked like a local vessel because she had been captured by the Navy when she left Tripoli three months earlier) and led by Lieutenant Stephen Decatur were able to invade the harbour of Tripoli and burn the Philadelphia, denying her use to the enemy. A subsequent naval attack against Tripoli resulted  in a series of inconclusive battles.  At this point the American Consul at Tunis William Eaton, a former army officer, decided to act. He persuaded President Thomas Jefferson that neither bombardment nor a blockade would yield results and that only a land attack on  Tripoli would force the Pasha's hand. Eaton's plan, accepted by Washington, called for an alliance with the pretender to the Tripolitan throne, who was in exile in Egypt, to aid him militarily to overthrow the Pasha of Tripoli.

The implementation of Eaton's plans are detailed in his papers and correspondence, which Professor Harry Psomiades, Director of the Centre of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Queen's College, made public in 1977. A detachment of nine Marines were sent to help Eaton under the command of Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon.  After reaching an agreement with the pretender, they proceeded to organize a small army comprised mostly of Arabs and a few Europeans. The most reliable contingent other than the Marines was a company of 40 Greeks, fully armed and led by two captains.

Eaton's army made an epic march across the Libyan desert from Egypt and stormed Tripoli's second most important city, Derne. Eaton then made preparations to attack the main port city of Tripoli. In his report Eaton cites the number of casualties his army suffered which included three marines. He adds that the rest were "chiefly Greeks, who in this little affair, well supported their ancient character.” He also notes that the Greeks had saved the whole operation, including his own life and that of the Marines, when prior to the attack the Arab recruits conspired to rebel, kill the Americans and steal the war chest they were carrying. Fortunately the Greeks got wind of the conspiracy and neutralized it.

The fall of Derne alarmed the Pasha of Tripoli who compromised with the Americans and released the prisoners. President Jefferson conducted secret negotiations without Eaton's knowledge and paid $60,000 for the release of the prisoners.Washington also signed a peace treaty with him.  In agreeing to pay a ransom of sixty thousand dollars for the American prisoners, the Jefferson administration drew a distinction between paying tribute and paying ransom. At the time, some argued that buying sailors out of slavery was a fair exchange to end the war. William Eaton, however, remained bitter for the rest of his life about the treaty, feeling that his efforts had been squandered by the State Department diplomat Tobias Lear. Eaton and others felt that the capture of Derna should have been used as a bargaining chip to obtain the release of all American prisoners without having to pay ransom. Furthermore, Eaton believed the honour of the United States had been compromised when it abandoned Hamet Karamanli after promising to restore him as leader of Tripoli.he accused Washington decision makers of "betrayal,” submitting to a "dishonorable peace” and for the "stabbing in the back” the American fighting men who had risked their lives.

Of the Greeks little else is said except that the Americans evacuated them to Sicily. According to Psomiades, the Greeks were members of organized military companies that offered their services to the British, French, Americans, Russians and even the Ottomans. He speculates that this particular group was probably from the Peloponnese and had fled to North Africa after the Russian-supported 1770 Greek revolt against the Ottomans failed. Professor Psomiades notes that they could just as easily have been Souliotes or Roumeliotes who fled Greece to escape Turkish tyranny and who fought for their living. They were probably guerrilla fighters known as "kleftes" or "armatoloi," who would soon lead the 1821 revolt against the Turks.

This first Greek-American military venture is now immortalized in the Marine's Hymn.  It is true that the Greeks were mercenaries who were paid for their services however, they could have just as easily sold out the Americans for more money by allowing the Arabs to kill Eaton, O'Bannon and their Marines. Greek "filotimo” did not allow betrayal, something the Marines, at least, appreciate.

Comments

[Scruffy]

Hi Stavro,

Good article. Next time I'm by the Greek-American Soldier Monument in the Katehaki military park, I'll salute the statue and hum a few bars.

[Stavros]

Hi Scruff,

Glad to hear from you. Here's something I wanted to share with you and others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6_3iR0cJZA

Semper Fi

[Margaret]

Stavros,

Thank you for the link. I wish we did things like that here - the smile on the woman's face says how much our troops would appreciate it if we did.

I guess most of the time the arrivals are invisible, at military bases, and the individual soldiers disperse and nobody notices the single uniform on a train. We live quite close to a garrison so get used to seeing young men in uniform on their way somewhere. I dont' think we often wonder where they are going.

[Stavros]

Margaret,
Do you remember the wild boisterous reception that the ships returning from the Falklands got from assembled civilians waiting at the docks?

Maybe their present apathy has something to do with the unpopularity of the Iraq War. I think if people are upset about policies they should direct their discontent to the policymakers not the troops who are merely instruments of the national will.

The war is not popular in the US however, it seems some Americans learned something from their previous shabby treatment of Vietnam veterans.

[Margaret]

I wrote something (22/9 and 23/9) but having thought about it more, it is partly to do with how the troops return home too, not that we don't care. It is much easier to welcome an aircraft carrier saiing into dock than a plane arriving at a remote RAF base. I think the army could do a lot more to improve the reception, raise the profile. At least (until after Christmas) parcels to troops are free of postage ... a small step, but it took a dedicated mother to shame the Post Office into doing it. Even then, it's not the government that is footing the bill, but it does show that one passionate person can make a big difference to lots of people's lives.

[Stavros]

Margaret,

"one passionate person can make a big difference to lots of people's lives."

It never ceases to amaze me how true this particular statement happens to be.

[victor]

hi. interesting article about the 1805 marine assault on the barbery pirates. just curious, if i remember reading correctly, the 40 europeans were albanian refugees from italy. these men had previously fled from their ottoman ruled homeland albania. these men were chosen by the marines for their physical ability, bravery and, more important,for their loyalty. any thoughts?

victor

[Stavros]

Victor,

Thanks for setting me straight. I should have known that these guys were Albanians. I think Christopher Columbus was Albanian too and Alexander the Great was a Macedonian.

It is quite possible that these guys were Souliotes, as Professor Pomiades points out, who can be mistaken for Arvanites or Orthodox Albanians. The Arvanites fought valiantly, by the way, for Greek Independence while Muslim Albanians were the Ottoman Sultan's most accomplished hit men.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souliotes

William Eaton himself refers to them as Greeks. Maybe he is wrong and you and other historical revisionists are right.

[victor]

hello again. i sense that my doubts to your claim that these men were greeks has caused some sarcasm. if there is doubt, there cannot be fact, only "mythology"... christopher columbus?(which i admire by the way) not albanian. maybe jewish, heck, probably even greek. not albanian.... alexander the great of macedon? great, yes, albanian? no...wheather he was greek by blood or by naturalization is irrelevent also. he was greek because he said so.
i agree with professor pomiades. souliotes could be mistaken for albanians. i must also add that albanians could and have been known to be mistaken for greeks. as greeks have been mistaken for albanians.
so do you agree with me that there is a possibility of a mistake here.
you also mentioned the arvanites (albanians)fighting valiantly for greek independence. i commend them for that. so choose one thing...call them albanian or arvanites....because if you call them arvanites then you should call the muslim albanian hitmen muslim arvanites hitmen.

with honest and friendly debate,

victor

[Stavros]

Victor,

All the historical evidence points in one direction, that this group of fighters were ethnic Greeks. The only question is where they were from.

If you read the link I gave you carefully it provides ample evidence that Souliotes were considered ethnic Greeks, even by their enemies.

Arvanites, many of whom settled in Greece, were Orthodox Christians who spoke Albanian. Here's another helpful link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvanites

Muslim Albanians are not Arvanites. Unlike the Arvanites, Muslim Albanians were active participants in the Ottoman Army.

We can choose to continue this "friendly" debate indefinitely. It seems that you have an underlying agenda, why not just come out and say what you really mean. Albanians have some history of their own, no need to try to hijack the history of others.

[victor]

good morning. well that goes with out saying. of course albanians have some history of their own, they did'nt just come down from heaven, although some albanians would have you believe that.
i dont recall any albanian hijacking anything. thats some interesting trivia, i would love to know who was the first group to start bombing, hijacking and terrorizing people for political purposes?
i do support you when you mention those albanian fanatics who actively aided in the ottoman oppression for hundreds of years; along with those ottoman albanians were those ottoman greeks and slavs and so on and so on... just curious, does anybody have any numbers on the greece and turkey christian-muslim exchange back in the day.
sorry for taking up your time with all this writing, but lets get back to the question at hand. so you say that it is 100% fact that those men were ethnic greeks?

good day, no hidden agenda, victor

[anton]

nothing to say about. hehe

[Devrim]

Greece in 1805 didn't exist as a country but they were still subjects of the Ottoman Empire. The incident written here was a result of an agreement between the Us and the Ottoman Empire and is the only agreement that the US has signed in a foreign language since the Sultan of Turkey rejected to sign any agreement that is not written in Turkish.

Regards...

[Stavros]

Devrim,

Perhaps you have confused the Greek state with the Greek people. The Greek people occupied what became the Ottoman Empire including its capital, Constantinople, long before the nomadic tribes that established it.

The Greeks who fought besides the American Marines did so as free men exercising their free will, despite the fact that they may have been unwilling subjects of the Ottomans.

Actually the language of the treaty was Arabic. The Barbary states although nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, were independent Muslim states since the 17th century.

Warm regards to you as well.

[Mark]

"Perhaps you have confused the Greek state with the Greek people."

You mean Greek people, people or Orthodox Greeks, meaning Orthodox Bulgarians, Romanians and Albanians, until the national churches were formed? You see, before nationalism you only had Turks (all Muslims) Greeks (all Orthodox) and Latins (all Catholics). So a Bulgar Orthodox was not called a Bulgar, but a Greek in Turkish times. The same for Arvanites.

As for the 'Arvanites,' do you call Greek Romans or just Greeks? See, 'Greeks' only existed as Orthodox, otherwise you were called Romans before modern Greece was formed. You only saw yourself as Christians in the Ottoman empire. I know it sucks that your heroes are Albanians (whether they or you admit it or not) but it's a little too late to change history. Yeah, they are Greeks that just so happened to hold on to the Albanian language and custom for 1200 years! Ha!

P.S. Most Orthodox Greeks helped the Turks, in fact only a few thousands joined the fight against the Turks. Your church leaves that out and their 400 year collaboration with the Turks.

[Mark]

"Arvanites, many of whom settled in Greece, were Orthodox Christians who spoke Albanian."

Spoke or were Albanians??? Hahahaha the gymnastics you go through not to admit the truth.

"Muslim Albanians are not Arvanites. Unlike the Arvanites, Muslim Albanians were active participants in the Ottoman Army."

First, Arvanite now means medieval Albanian, a name for Albanians in Greece. Turks called us Arnaut, others were called Arbereshe. The same exact thing, and not related to religion.

Second, Arvanites and Sulitoes were at least in Ali Pasha's service way more than once--and against him more than once at times. Your view is clouded by the stupid and revisionist Greek and church propaganda: Good vs Bad and Greeks always on the good side and always planning as Hellenes to be free. 99% of 'Greeks' had no clue about Pericles and Sparta, they were just a mixture of Orthodox Vlach, Albanians and Slavs trying to make ends meet. Google this sentence and see what they thought of 'Greeks' pre-hellenism indoctrination:

""..The love for Greece has been brilliantly characterized by Woodhouse (British servant during Greek independence war): "They loved the Greece of their dreams: the land, the language, the antiquities, but not the people. If only, they thought, the people could be more like the British scholars and gentlemen; or failing that, as too much to be hoped, if only they were more like their own ancestors; or better still, if only they were not there at all""

Do you know that even the Hydra Albanian Arvanites helped the Turks at times for money, despite being with the Greeks during the revolution? Not to mention that the Greek Church in exchange for a fee, helped keep the Greeks in place and collect the Turkish taxes for 400 years. Priests were robbed by the Armatoloi all the time. So wake up, stop reading nonsense and open your yes. Odds are that you have 10 more times Albanian, Vlachs or Turkish blood than that of ancient Greeks.