Battle
On April 27, two days after arriving at Bomba, Hull's ships opened fire and bombed Derne's batteries for about an hour. General Eaton divided his army into two separate attacks. Hamet would lead the Arabs southwest to cut off the road to Tripoli and then attack the left flank of the city and storm the lesser defended governor's palace while Eaton with the rest of the mercenaries and Marines attacked the harbor fortress, while Hull and the other ships opened fire on the heavily defended port batteries At 2:45 p.m. the attack began with Lt. O'Bannon and the Marines in the lead. The harbor defenses had been reinforced and the attackers were momentarily halted, this however allowed the Arab mercenaries sent to cut the road to Tripoli to ride unopposed into the western section of the city.
Eaton led the force over the walls while being seriously wounded in the wrist by a musketball. The defenders fled in such haste that they left their cannon loaded and ready to fire. O'Bannon raised the American flag over the works as Eaton turned the captured batteries on the city and opened fire. Hamet's force in the meantime had seized the governor's palace and secured the western part of the town. Many of the defenders of the harbor fortress continued retreating through the town and right into Hamet's force. By 4:00 p.m. the entire city had fallen. For the first time an American flag was flown over fortifications on that side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Yusuf was aware of the attack on Derne and had sent reinforcements to the city. By the time this force arrived the city had fallen. Still they dug in and prepared to retake the city. Eaton immediately worked on fortifying his new position. Hamet had taken up residence in the governor's palace and his Arab forces patrolled the outlying areas of the city. The reinforcements dug in south of the city and waited. On May 13, they attacked the city and drove the Arabs back almost capturing the governor's palace. The Argus and Eaton's captured batteries pounded the attackers, who fled under continued bombardment. By nightfall both sides were back to their original positions. Skirmishes and several other minor attempts were made on the city in the following weeks but the city remained in American control. From Derne, Eaton now planned to march across the desert and attack Tripoli from the land. During his march he was informed of the treaty signed between Tobias Lear and Yusuf Karamanli. In the middle of his trek Eaton was ordered to return to Egypt with Hamet.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Derne
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