William Eaton (23 February 1764Prentiss, p. 10 – 1 June 1811)Macleod, Julia H., Wright, Louise B. William Eaton's Relationship with Aaron Burr. The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 31, No. 4. 1945 was a United States Army officer and the diplomatic officer Consul General to Tunis (1797–1803). He played an important diplomatic and military role in the First Barbary War between the United States and Tripoli (1801–1805). He led the first foreign United States military victory at the Battle of Derne by capturing the Tripoli subject city of Derne in support of the restoration of the pasha (local monarch), Hamet Karamanli.Adams, p. 430 He also gave testimony at the treason trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr.Wheelan, Joseph. Jefferson's Vendetta: The Pursuit of Burr and the Judiciary. Carroll and Graf. 2005 Eaton served one term in the General Court of Massachusetts, which is the state legislature both during and after the colonial era. Eaton died on June 1, 1811, at the age of 47.
Early life William Eaton was born in Woodstock, Connecticut. He was one of thirteen children of Nathaniel and Sarah (née Johnson) Eaton. His father was a middle class farmer, who worked as a school teacher in the winter, "an employment for which he is represented as having been well qualified by more than ordinary means for a farmer".Sparks, Jared. The Library of American Biography, Vol. IX. Hillard Gray and Company. 1838 When he was ten years old, William's family moved to Mansfield, Connecticut.
Military career Eaton ran away at the age of sixteen to enlist in the army.Prentiss, p. 11 He joined the Continental Army in 1780 and served until 1783, attaining the rank of sergeant at the age of 19. He earned money for college working as a school teacher in Windsor, Vermont. In 1790, he graduated from Dartmouth College. He and a classmate presented a poetic dialogue at the commencement. Between 1791 and 1792, he worked as a clerk in the lower house of the Vermont legislatureAdams, p. 429
In 1792, Eaton accepted a captain's commission in the Legion of the United States and began training at Legionville (Baden, Pennsylvania). He also married Eliza, the widow of General Timothy Danielson. In 1795, Eaton faced court-martial for charges resulting in a "misunderstanding" between himself and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Gaither.Prentiss, p. 22 For the charges, which included those of profiteering and "liberating from confinement"Prentiss, p. 36 a murder suspect, Eaton was sentenced to two months' suspended commission. Despite the conviction, Eaton held his commission until July 11, 1797, when he was appointed U.S. Consul at Tunis.Prentiss, p. 54 He served at that post until war with Tripoli broke out in 1801. Other sources say he left the consul post in 1803.The Encyclopedia Americana. Derne Expedition. 1918
Tunis (1799–1803)
Eaton's main task in Tunis was to negotiate peace and trade agreements with the bey (governor). During the nineteenth century, European and American merchant ships were under threat by pirates from what was called "The Barbary Coast". The Barbary Coast was made up of several Muslim states, under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, that bordered the Mediterranean Sea in Northern Africa. They acquired revenue from raiding merchant vessels of their cargo, ransoming their crews or selling them into slavery. The European nations opted to pay tribute to the Barbary states to prevent such raids. After the American Revolution, the United States was left without Britain's protection in Mediterranean, thus the Washington and Adams administrations chose paying tribute to the Barbary states as a cost-effective alternative to military action.Kelly, Jack. Kill the Pirates. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 2009. Retrieved on March 31, 2010
By 1796, the United States was behind in payments to the dey of Algiers. In 1797, Joel Barlow, United States Consul to Algiers, negotiated with the dey and promised him a frigate, at the cost of nearly one million dollars. He then sent a French merchant, Joseph Stephen Famin, to negotiate with the bey of Tunis. An agreement was reached, but Congress would not ratify it. United States President John Adams appointed William Eaton as Consult to Tunis to negotiate more agreeable terms.Lyman, Theodore. The Diplomacy of the United States, Vol 2. Wells and Lilly. Boston. 1828United States and the Barbary States. Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 6. 1860 It took two years to accomplish the task. In that time, as the demands of Algiers and Tripoli increased, Eaton had come to believe that it was better to use military force to secure trade in the region, than to continually pay tribute. He wrote an impassioned letter to the Secretary of State, James Madison, voicing the opinion that, "The more you give the more the Turks will ask for."
Jack Kelly, of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, wrote in the a 2009 article, Kill The Pirates, that Thomas Jefferson favored an international military intervention to the payment of tribute. Kelly said that Jefferson was unable to convince Europe to take such a course. When he became president of the United States, in 1801, he refused to pay tribute to Tripoli. The Atlantic Monthly (1860), called the belief that the United States was the first to refuse tribute to the Barbary pirates a "patriotic delusion". The article, flouting what it called "the popular view" of events said, "The money question between the President and the pasha was simply one of amount". It went on to say that Jefferson was motivated in his actions toward Tripoli by pressure from powerful merchants. The pasha of Tripoli, Yusef Karamanli (sometimes referred to as Karamanli or Karamanli), responded to the lack of payment by declaring war on the United States.
Tunis was the closest neighbor to Tripoli and the deposed pasha of Tripoli, Hamet Karamanli, was exiled there. He was, in fact, the elder brother of the reigning pasha, Yusuf Karamanli. William Eaton devised a plan in which the United States would support the restoration of Hamet Karamanli as pasha thereby creating fear of the U.S. within the rest of the Muslim world. He borrowed $22,000 to support the plan, but at this point did not receive the backing of the U.S. government. While the demands for tribute from the bey of Tunis continued, Eaton refused to convey the demands to the United States. He requested that he be recalled, as he felt he could no longer negotiate with the bey. In addition, a U.S. fleet, under the command of Commodore Richard Morris, had recently captured a Tunisian vessel that was headed for Tripoli. Morris came ashore in Tunis to visit Eaton and was arrested for Eaton's debt of $22,000. Eaton borrowed the money to pay the debt from the French Consul-General. At that point the bey ordered him to leave Tunis, which he did in the company of Morris. Hamet Karamanli, having failed at his attempt to regain Tripoli, fled to Egypt.
War with Tripoli and the Battle of Derne Eaton returned to the Barbary region in 1804, this time on a military mission. It had taken months for word of Tripoli's declaration of war on the United States to reach President Jefferson, but he had already sent naval forces to the Barbary Coast because William Eaton had informed him that the situation in Tripoli was "nearing a breaking point."Tucker, Spencer. Stephen Decatur: A Life Most Bold and Daring. Naval Institute Press. 2005 Among the vessels that were sent was the USS Philadelphia which, in October, 1803, under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, was sent to blockade Tripoli. The frigate ran aground off the coast of Tripoli and was captured along with its crew of 306 men.Adams, p. 138 Bainbridge had failed to scuttle the ship before being captured, but Stephen Decatur, commander of the USS Intrepid, in a covert mission, destroyed the Philadelphia by burning it, to prevent Tripoli from using it.
On May 26, 1804, Eaton was commissioned by President Jefferson after a Cabinet meeting as the civilian “Navy Agent for the Several Barbary Regencies.” Eaton was then ordered to report to the commander of the U.S. Navy’s Mediterranean Squadron, Commodore Samuel Barron.
Eaton was ordered ashore to find Hamet Karamanli and enlist his cooperation in the war. Eaton found Karamanli in Alexandria and signed an agreement with him, although it is unclear if he had the authority to do so. This contract, which was forwarded to Secretary of State Madison, specified that the United States would provide cash, ammunition and provisions for Ahmed Karamanli's re-installation as pasha.Lambert, Frank. The Barbary Wars. Hill and Wang. 2005 It also designated William Eaton as "General and Commander in Chief" of the land forces that were to be used to carry out the operation. The agreement defined the relationship between Karamanli and Eaton as well as their mission, but was never ratified by the United States Senate.
The Americans included eight marines and two navy midshipmen. It was with that force that Eaton and Karamanli made the 600 mile trek from Alexandria to Derne, a coastal city within the realm of Tripoli. By the time the band had reached the Gulf of Bomba, they had eaten their last rations and the Arab factions were on the verge of mutiny. Eaton had written to Captain Isaac Hull of the USS Argus requesting that the ship meet them there with supplies, but when they arrived on April 15, there was no ship to be seen. The next day, however, the Argus appeared as Hull had seen the smoke from their fires. After resupplying, they continued their journey, and on April 27, 1805, Eaton's forces attacked and took control of Derne. "First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon of the U.S. Marine Corps raised the American flag for the first time over a conquered foreign city." At the Battle of Derne, one marine was killed and two were wounded. Eaton was wounded in the left wrist.
Twice Yusef Karamanli's forces tried and failed to take back the city. With the bey of Derne on the run and Hamet Karamanli reestablished in Derne, Eaton thought to march toward Tripoli. He requested reinforcements from Barron but instead received word that US Consul-General Tobias Lear was negotiating peace with Yusef Karamanli. Then he received word from Lear himself that he was to surrender Derne as peace had been reached on June 4. The terms of the treaty required the US to pay $60,000 for the release of the crew of the Philadelphia. Hamet Karamanli and his entourage of about 30 were allowed to leave, but his wife and family were held captive until 1807, as provided in the treaty.
Aftermath Although Eaton returned to the United States to a hero's welcome, he was disappointed and embittered by the treaty and outraged that ransom had to be paid for the freeing of the hostages. He had been denied victory in Tripoli and his agreement with Hamet Karamanli was left unkept. Furthermore, the government owed him money that he had fronted for the expedition. He complained loudly that the government was guilty of duplicity in regard to Hamet Karamanli. His complaints drew the attention of Jefferson's enemies in the Federalist party.
In January 1806, Congress was presented with a petition from Hamet Karamanli for money and the release of his family from his brother's custody. The issue became partisan with the Federalists supporting Karamanli's and Eaton's claims that the government had rescinded its agreement to re-establish Karamanli as Tripolitan pasha. Jefferson, and his supporters, on the other hand, denied that administration ever intended the arrangement, contending that Eaton had lacked the authority to broker the deal. Nevertheless, despite the Federalist opposition, the treaty with Tripoli was ratified by the Senate in April 1806, and the United States entered into an agreement with a Barbary state that, for the first time, did not include the payment of tribute.