Combat· African Squadron Operations
Battle of Little Berribee
The sharpest action of Perry's African cruise, and the most significant Marine combat off West Africa in the period.
Investigating the plunder of American vessels and the murder of their crews, Commodore Perry landed about two hundred Marines and sailors near Little Berribee on the Ivory Coast and went up to a conference with the local ruler, King Ben Crack-O. The parley turned to treachery: when the king attacked Perry, a Marine shot him dead on the spot, and a sharp fight broke out between the landing party and the town's warriors. The Americans drove the natives off and burned Little Berribee to the ground, and the next day the squadron destroyed seven more villages in the surrounding country. The surviving chronology accounts record no American or Marine casualties from the affair, though they do not give a full accounting. The action stood as a blunt demonstration of American resolve on the African coast.
Record no. 322