VA-FF6 Birthplace of Lt. Presley Neville OBannon, USMC

Marker text: BIRTHPLACE OF LT. PRESLEY NEVILLE O'BANNON, USMC

Just north stood the home of William and Ann (Neville) O'Bannon, where their son, Lt. Presley Neville O'Bannon, was born about 1776. O'Bannon, a Marine, was the first American to command U.S. forces on foreign soil and the first to raise the American flag over a fortress in the Old World. His success at the Battle of Darne, Tripoli (present day Libya), on 27 Apr. 1805, ended a four-year war against the Tripoli pirates, and inspired the phrase "to the shores of Tripoli" in the Marine Corps Hymn. He settled in Kentucky about 1807, served in its legislature, and died in 1850.

Department of Historic Resources, 1996.