Remembering for empire: The war with Tripoli and the battle of Derna in US memory

Abstract

In 2004, the Smithsonian debuted “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War,” a permanent exhibition at the National Museum of American History in Washington DC. The exhibit occasioned strong criticism for its privatization of public memory and glorification of militarism. What has gone unexamined, however, is the curious absence of the 1801–1805 War with Tripoli from the exhibit. This war has long been invoked as an important lesson in US exceptionalism. The assault and short occupation of the coastal town of Derna by US-led forces in 1805 holds particular significance and commemorations of the battle during the twentieth century were important in the formation of attitudes that informed US approaches to empire before, during, and after the Cold War.