The battery was at last silenced by the fire of our ships, and most of the gunners retired to join the forces opposed to us. Yet on we went, passing through a shower of bullets from the walls of houses. Soon we reached the battery, and wrested it from its defenders. I had the honor of planting, amidst cheers from my comrades, the American flag on the wall—an honor indeed, since this was the first time the American flag had been raised on a fort of the old world. Then we turned the guns on the infidels and drove them back into the houses, where they could only fire at us from behind walls.
THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME AN AMERICAN FLAG HAD BEEN
RAISED ON A FORT OF THE OLD WORLD.
Our ships, which had suspended their fire during our charge, now resumed bombarding the houses that sheltered the governor and his men.
The deadly fire of the ships terrified the already faint-hearted forces there, and they began to flee in disorder. Hamet's troops captured the governor's castle, and his cavalry pursued the flying foe. By four o'clock in the afternoon we were in full possession of the city, the action having lasted about two hours and a half. Of the Christians who fought there were fourteen killed and wounded. Three of these were American marines; two dead and one wounded. The rest of the dead were Greeks. Our Grecian allies showed great bravery and were worthy descendants of the ancient heroes of their race.
THE GOVERNOR FLEES
The governor fled first to a mosque; then to the abode of an old sheik.
"I must lay hold of him!" General Eaton said. "He is the third man in rank in the entire kingdom of Tripoli, and we can use him to exchange for Captain Bainbridge!"
The general, in great zeal to take the governor captive, now marched at the head of fifty Christians with bayonets to that remote section in which the fugitive had found refuge. The aged chief who sheltered him, however, vowed that the laws of hospitality would be violated if he permitted us to take the governor, and refused to yield him up to us.