Expeditionary· Late 19th Century Foreign Interventions
Alexandria, Egypt landing
A protective landing amid the chaos of the Anglo-Egyptian war, and the first significant American Marine presence in the Mediterranean since the Barbary days.
In the summer of 1882, when a nationalist rising in Egypt and the subsequent British naval bombardment left Alexandria burning and lawless, the American warships off the port landed a Marine detachment, under Captain Cochrane, to protect American and other foreign lives and property in the stricken city. The Marines were reported among the first foreign troops ashore after the bombardment, holding their charge until a large British force arrived to take over, whereupon they returned to their ships. No casualties resulted. The deployment was a notable extension of American protective operations into the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, a region the Corps had not touched since the war with Tripoli, and a sign of how widely American naval power was now being called upon to safeguard American interests.
Record no. 474