Photos courtesy of Wikipedia 

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 Desert to storm the Tripolitan city of Derna and rescue the kidnapped crew of the USS Philadelphia, this was the first land battle on foreign  soil.

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.

This battle is commemorated in the Marines’ hymn with the phrase “to the shores of Tripoli”.