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Weekly History
Challenge
This week's
prize is the DVD documentary "Islam:
What the West Needs to Know"
During the 1790's American Mediterranean Shipping was
regularly plundered by Barbary pirates (Muslim outlaws from Morocco,
Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli). Washington and Adams had paid some
small bribes at first - the trade was not sufficient to warrant a
military expedition. But when the pasha of Tripoli chopped down the
flagpole at the U.S. consulate there and held the ambassador and his
staff hostage, it was a direct affront and an act of war. President
Thomas Jefferson sent a small fleet (including the USS Constitution)
and set up an naval blockade. In October of 1803, responding
to a Tripolitan vessel making a run to break the blockade, the
frigate USS Philadelphia struck an uncharted reef and heeled
over - the ship and crew was captured. In a daring plan to
recapture and destroy the Philadelphia (so it could not be used by
the enemy); this man led a small group of eight Marines and
successfully completed the operation without the loss of a single
man. Name the man who led this successful
mission.
Submit Answer Here!!!
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