Biography
Born in Fauquier County, Virginia, Presley O'Bannon entered the Marine Corps on January 18, 1801. As a first lieutenant assigned to the USS Argus (1803), he commanded a detachment of seven Marines and two Navy midshipmen in General William Eaton’s small army during the Tripoli campaign of the First Barbary War. During the combined operations with the U.S. Navy, he led the successful attack in the Battle of Derna on April 27, 1805, giving the Marines' Hymn its line “to the shores of Tripoli”. Although some sources claim that Presley O'Bannon at this battle became the first man to raise the American flag over foreign soil, his superior William Eaton (a former Army officer) actually had done that several months earlier while traveling on the Nile from Alexandria to Cairo. According to tradition, Hamet Karamanli was so impressed with O'Bannon's bravery that he gave his own Mameluke sword to O'Bannon as a gesture of respect; however, this is a myth. After O'Bannon returned home, the Virginia legislature presented him with a sword featuring a silver eaglehead hilt and a curved blade modeled after the one Hamet had given him. The blade was inscribed with his name and the date of the battle.
O'Bannon resigned from the Marine Corps as a major on March 6, 1807. He moved to Logan County, Kentucky, making his home in Russellville. He served in the Kentucky State Legislature in 1812, 1817 and 1820–21, and in the Kentucky State Senate from 1824 to 1826.
Presley O'Bannon died in Russellville in 1850 at the age of 74. In 1919 his remains were moved to the Frankfort Cemetery.
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