The History of The Marines' Hymn:
The First Terrorist Attack
on US Citizens by Muslims
The colors of the Corps were inscribed with the word "to the shores of Tripoli" based on incidents that began prior to 1805 but were not resolved for several years. These incidents resolved around demands made by the Barbary States, which if not complied with led to piracy on ships moving through their area, including American ships. The American Consul to Tunis, William Eaton wrote to the US Secretary of State describing the character of the local Muslim population in 1799:
"Taught by revelation that war with the Christians will guarantee the salvation of their souls, and finding so great secular advantages in the observance of this religious duty [i.e. keeping captured cargoes] their inducements to desperate fighting are very powerful."
In 1805 Lieutenant P.N. O'Bannon & his small force of Marines for the first time captured a fortress of the Old World at Derne in an attempt to deal with the piracy of the Barbary pirates. During the next decade what with Napoleon on the offensive, America at war with Britain and other issues, the problem of the Barbary pirates was set aside. However, after the war of 1812, the United States once more found their ships coming under attack while voyaging in the area of the Mediterranean. To deal with this resurgence of the Barbary pirate problem, two naval squadrons, under the joint command of Commodores Decatur and Bainbridge were sent. Under threat of annihilation by heavy bombardment, "...the Bey of Algiers agreed to a new treaty which protected the US from future predation by Barbary corsairs." Freedom from piracy and the threat of piracy had been paid for with the volatile currency of the lives of American men.
Returning to the United States, Commodore Stephen Decatur made his famous toast:
"Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country right or wrong!"
Although the US had gained freedom from the threat of piracy, this did not extend to other nations. "In 1816 a combined British and Dutch offensive destroyed the Algerian fleet, and the Tunisian fleet was destroyed at the battle of Navarino in 1827 when the British, French and Russian alliance defeated the entire Ottoman navy. The final death knell was sounded when France began its conquest of Algeria in 1830." African History from About.com
After the Marines captured & occupied Mexico City and the Castle of Chapultepec aka The Halls of Montezuma, the Colors were changed to read "From the Shores of Tripoli to the Halls of Montezuma". According to tradition, an unknown marine penned the words to the first two verses at the close of the Mexican War. With each new campaign, a new verse is added to the Marine's Hymn although there is an official version. The music seems to have been derived from a Spanish folk melody that was incorporated by the French composer Offenbach into an aria from a very popular French comic opera, Genevieve de Brabant. This comic opera or opera bouffe opened in Paris in 1859. Copyright ownership of the Marine's Hymn is now in the public domain.
Marine Hymn Semper Fi.
Topic: Happy Birthday U.S.M.C. (Read 1614 times)