1801- Yusuf Karamanli, pasha of Tripoli, opened the Tripolitan War (1801-1805) by the symbolic act of ordering his soldiers to cut down the flagpole at the U.S. consulate. The action followed U.S. refusal to satisfy Tripolitan demands for more tribute to guarantee protection from piracy against American ships.

1803- In the Tripolitan War (1801-1805), Commodore Edward Preble was commissioned as commander of a U.S. Navy squadron to be sent against Tripoli.

1804- Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, commanding the Intrepid, burned the captured U.S. frigate Philadelphia while it was docked in Tripoli harbor. The American ship had been captured by Tripolitan gunboats in the previous October when it ran onto a reef.

1805- In the Tripolitan War, the U.S. achieved its major victory when William Eton, a special U.S. naval agent, led a small force of Marines and Arab mercenaries in capturing the Tripolitan port city of Derna. Eaton's force, a squad of U.S. Marines under Lieutenant Preston N. O'Bannon and about 100 Arab mercenaies, had marched 500 miles from Egypt to Derna and were assisted by a coordinated bombardment of Derna by U.S. naval vessels. Eaton's ultimate mission, approved by President Thomas Jefferson, was to replace the ruling pasha of Tripoli with the rightful ruler. However, the coming of peace in early June aborted the plan. The phrase "to the shores of Tripoli" in the official song of the U.S. Marine Corps refers to the Derna campaign, which was the first engagement of U.S. land forces in North Africa. The campaign marked the first time that the U.S. flag was raised over the Old World fort.