Derne Street - Boston, MA - Massachusetts Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

In Boston, on the rear wall of the Massachusetts State Capitol is a sign about the origin of the name, Derne Street.

The sign states the following:

"Derne Street

Named to honor William Eaton and the heroic Battle of Derna.

In 1801, Consul Eaton led a handful of U.S. Marines and a small army of Egyptians across 500 miles of the Libyan Desert to attack the port city of Derna from the land. The city fell and the grip of the Barbary Pirates on Mediterranean shipping was weakened.

In 1807 Eaton represented the Town of Brimfield in the Massachusetts House of Representatives."

William Eaton was born on February 24, 1764 in Woodstock, CT, and died on June 1, 1811 in Brimfield, MA. He enlisted in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and attained the rank of Sergeant. He went to Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, and he served as a clerk in the Vermont legislature. He became a commissioned Captain in the Legion of the United States. In 1797, he became Consul to Tunis, with the purpose of negotiating peace and treaties with that country. In general, the U.S. government was paying tribute to several states of the Ottoman Empire in northern Africa to prevent those countries from taking U.S. merchant ships and holding the crew for ransom or selling them to slavery. Derne was a port along the coast, within the rule of Tripoli. While the U.S. Navy fleet arrived in Tripoli, Eaton organized an army of 'ten Americans, three hundred Arab horsemen, seventy Christian mercenaries, and one thousand camels.' Among the Americans were 8 marines and 2 Navy shipmen. The forces marched along the coast for 600 miles, as stated in Wikipedia, and nearly starved along the way until a ship met them. They took the city of Tripoli, the first U.S. conquest of a foreign city. Some sources credit this move as the pivital moment to forcing Tripoli to negotiate a peace settlement. Eaton returned home as a hero, but was never officially honored by the U.S. government for his efforts. He served one term as a Massachusetts State House Representative.

For more information, see source below.

Agency Responsible for Placement: Unknown Year Placed: Not known County: Suffolk City/Town Name: Boston Relevant Web Site: [Web Link] Agency Responsible for Placement (if not in list above): Not listed

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