Existing comment:
The Barbary Wars Again:
Shortly after the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent in February 1815, President Madison asked Congress to declare war on the Algerians. While the United States was at war with Britain, the Algerians had again seized American ships.
Three 74-gun ships of the line, Washington, Franklin, Independence, as well as the heavy frigates, Guerriere and Java, had recently been commissioned. Stephen Decatur took Guerriere as his flagship and immediately led a squadron to the Mediterranean. Less than a month later, the squadron defeated the flagship of the Algerian fleet, Mashouda, and sailed into Algiers to present the dey with the terms of peace. The United States was granted most-favored nation status, payments of tribute were ended, and all American prisoners were freed.
The American squadron next visited Tripoli where it was joined by William Bainbridge in Independence with his squadron. Impressed with the growing naval power of the United States, the Barbary rulers readily agreed to the peace treaty. The two squadrons cruised the Mediterranean independently, showing the American flag at various ports until October 1815 when they sailed for home.
Decatur, who had little faith in the good intentions of the Barbary rulers, wrote to James Monroe that "the only secure guarantee of the peace just concluded with those people is the presence in the Mediterranean of a respectable naval force." For this reason, several ships were left behind to protect American commerce. |