02017cam a2200289 4500 681607850 TxAuBib 041027s2005||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2004060635 9781401300036 1401300030 (OCoLC)16646 DLC DLC YDX BAKER IXA BUR VP@ TxAuBib Zacks, Richard. The pirate coast : Thomas Jefferson, the first marines, and the secret mission of 1805 / Richard Zacks. 1st ed. New York : Hyperion, 2005. viii, 432 p., [8] p. of plates : ill, maps, ports., facsims. ;HB ; 25 cm. Maps on endpapers. Includes bibliographical references (p. [417]-421) and index. In an attempt to stop the legendary Barbary Pirates of North Africa from hijacking American ships, William Eaton set out in 1805 on a secret mission to overthrow the government of Tripoli. The operation was sanctioned by President Thomas Jefferson, but at the last moment he grew wary of ""intermeddling"" in a foreign government, and Eaton set off without national support. Short on supplies, given very little money and only a few men, Eaton's mission seemed doomed from the start. But he improbably triumphed, recruiting a band of European mercenaries in Alexandria, along with some Arab cavalry and Bedouin fighters, and leading them on a march across the Libyan Desert. The success of the event is immortalized in the Marines' Hymn, but Jefferson never allowed Eaton the fame he craved.--From publisher description. Jefferson, Thomas 1743-1826. AD LIT. Pirates Africa, North History 19th century. AD LIT. United States History Tripolitan War, 1801-1805 Naval operations. AD LIT. United States History Tripolitan War, 1801-1805 Underground movements. AD LIT. United States History Tripolitan War, 1801-1805. AD LIT.