France Recruited Barbary Coast Africans Into Their Foreign Legions.
Kilmeade, Brian, and Don Yaeger. Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History. , 2015. Print.
Historical records show that France, and French Foreign Legion forces extort America and other nations for "protection" required to sail through the Mediterranean. Any nation that does not pay the extortion fees is targeted by French Foreign Legion forces.
In 1805, the war was fought against legionnaires on North Africa's Barbary Coast. Nations that were extorted were forced to sign a Treaty of Alliance with France. At the end of the American Revolution, American vessels in the Mediterranean sailed without protection by the Treaty of Alliance which ended in 1773. In the decade and a half leading up to the election of Thomas Jefferson in 1801, hundreds of American citizens were captured on American ships targeted by nations along the Barbary coast of Africa. American hostages including women and children were held as victims of the slave trade for periods of over a decade.
On October 31st, 1803 the frigate USS Philadelphia was captured during deployment with the Schooner USS Vixen to blockade the nation of Tripoli in response to the declaration of war by Barbarian nations. According to all known historical records, America provided little response to state-sponsored piracy until May of 1805 when William Eaton lead a coalition of American Marines and mercenaries from 5 African nations to raid the Tripolitan city of Derna. The first recorded raising of an American flag in victory on foreign soil is included in the Marine’s Hymn “the shores of Tripoli”.