The Tripoli Monument
by Benson J. Lossing
Officers of the navy erected a monument in the Navy-yard at Washington in commemoration of their brother officers who fell in the war with Tripoli. It was mutilated by the British when they burned Washington City in 1814. It was afterward removed to the west front of the Capitol, but has been taken away, and set up at Annapolis. It is of white marble, about forty feet in height. On the column are bows of vessels. At the base are four marble emblematical figures — Mercury, Fame, History, and America. The column is surmounted by an eagle. On one side of the base, in relief, is Tripoli; on the others the names of the officers.