The Tripoli was moved to the grounds of the national capitol in 1831 when Benjamin Henry Latrobe rebuilt the domed building after the British torching during the War of 1812. Latrobe changed the Tripoli slightly to help Americans better understand it, adding the names of the Navy men who died near Tripoli and describing their battles. The figures convey Glory, Fame, History and Commerce . A The love of glory inspired them. Fame has crowned their deeds.
History records the event and commerce laments their fall.
In the shadow of the national capitol, Tripoli stood for nearly 30 years as the centerpiece in a west terrace fountain. During those years it was the only monument in Washington D.C., today a city dotted with hundreds of monuments. By the time the Naval Academy was founded in 1845, the Tripoli had fallen out of fashion and Congress was debating its future. In 1860, the monument made another journey to its permanent Annapolis home 35 miles away. Today, some 140 years later, the porous marble shows the ravages of nearly two centuries of bright sunlight, bitter cold, erosion and pollution stains from the coal-burning of the olden days.