William Eaton was an American diplomat in North Africa who sought to end the war with Tripoli by plotting to overthrow Yusuf Qaramanli, the bashaw of Tripoli, and supporting an invasion in the name of Hamet Qaramanli, the bashaw's exiled and deposed brother. Born in Woodstock, Connecticut, Eaton ran away from home at 16 to join the Continental army. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1790, served in the U.S. Army, and by 1792 had earned the rank of captain. In 1798 he was appointed consul of Tunis, where he renegotiated the 1796 U.S.-Tunis treaty pact.

In 1801 Tripoli declared war on the United States. Three years later, Eaton traveled to the United States to present his plan to Congress for a land campaign in North Africa to achieve peace. He hoped to defeat Yusuf Qaramanli in Tripoli and place Hamet Qaramanli back on the throne. According to Eaton, Hamet would be more friendly and easier to deal with than Yusuf, and America's problems with Tripoli would be solved.

Congress sent Eaton to North Africa in September 1804 as "Navy Agent to the Barbary states." He found Hamet Qaramanli in Egypt and gathered an eclectic army of mercenaries and Arabs. This patched-together force marched to Derne in eastern Tripoli (modern Libya) and took the city with the help of eight U.S. Marines and a few gunboats. However, after the invaders occupied Derne, Eaton was ordered to leave because treaty negotiations had opened. In 1805 Tripoli signed a peace treaty that helped the United States assert its independence in the Atlantic world. The nation abandoned its ally Hamet Qaramanli, and Eaton returned home in 1805 embittered by what he saw as Thomas Jefferson's betrayal of Hamet in favor of paying off a corrupt leader.

In 1807 Eaton was summoned as a witness in the trial of Aaron Burr because of their close association, but he was able to clear himself of any wrongdoing. In December 1807 he won a seat in the Massachusetts legislature, but he was not subsequently reelected. He retired to Brimfield, Massachusetts, where he died on June 1, 1811, age 47.

Bibliography:

1) Robert J. Allison, The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World, 1776-1815 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995)

2) Frank Lambert, The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World (New York: Hill and Wang, 2005)

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