The Tripoli Monument in front of you is the oldest military monument in the United States. It honors heroes of the United States Navy from the First Barbary War (1801–1805): Master Commandant Richard Somers, Lieutenant James Caldwell, James Decatur (brother of Capt. Stephen Decatur), Henry Wadsworth, Joseph Israel, and John Sword Dorsey. The white marble sculpture was carved in Livorno, Italy, in 1806 and brought to the United States on board the 1797 frigate USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides." It was first installed in the Washington Navy Yard at the new national capital of Washington, D.C., in 1808, then moved to the west front terrace of the United States Capitol facing the National Mall in 1831, and finally brought here to the United States Naval Academy campus in Annapolis in 1860.
A thirty foot high column rises above you, topped by an eagle and mounted on an elaborate base adorned with allegorical figures representing Glory, Fame, History, and Commerce. Notice History on the northwest corner: a seated female figure holding a book in her proper left hand and a pen of bronze gilt in her proper right, looking up and beginning to record the event. Beyond it spreads the Naval Academy campus, home to this centuries-old memorial.