In 1803 the rulers of the four nations of the Barbary Coast of North Africa violated treaties with many nations by capturing merchant ships, enslaving their crews, and holding the vessels for ransom. Tripoli (now Libya) was the worst offender and finally provoked the young and struggling United States to go to war. Fourteen year old Oliver Baldwin, newly assigned as a midshipman in the U.S. brig Argus, under Lt Stephen Decatur, tells the story of...