Combat· First Barbary War
Defense of Derne, 10 June 1805
On June 10, 1805, the Tripolitan army, reinforced with Arabs, appeared in great numbers on the heights above Derne.
A larger enemy detachment came down the pass to cut off a post of Hamet Bashaw's cavalry and was repelled. The brig Argus fired on them from near the fort until half past four, and the sloop Hornet engaged close to the beach. Captain Isaac Hull judged five thousand men were on the field, and in four hours Hamet's troops lost no ground. The enemy at last fled to the pass, leaving many horses, and by five o'clock Hamet held the field. Hamet lost fifty to sixty killed and wounded; Arab women put the Beys' loss at forty to fifty killed and over seventy wounded. Lieutenant Presley N. O'Bannon was eager to lead his U.S. Marines and Greeks, about thirty men, into the fight, but William Eaton kept them at the post, which he would not leave defenseless, and doubted the peace measures still allowed him to act offensively.
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Record no. 898