Combat· First Barbary War
Eaton's March from Alexandria to Derne
One of the most storied land operations in Marine Corps history.
Starting on 8 March 1805, William Eaton led a mixed force out of Egypt on a march of about six hundred miles across the Libyan desert toward Derne. The column included Hamet Karamanli, the pretender to the Tripolitan throne, a company of cannoniers, a company of Greeks, Arab cavalry and camp followers, and a small detachment of Marines under First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon, moving with 107 camels and a few asses. The route ran through wild, desolate country where heat, thirst, robbery, and assassination were constant dangers. Mutinies broke out repeatedly among the camel drivers and footmen, and again and again it was O'Bannon's steadiness that held the expedition together; Eaton credited the lieutenant's "firm and decided conduct" with deterring the violence around them. The march ended at Derne, where the assault would follow.
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Record no. 201