Editing USS Constitution (section)

===Peace treaty===
On 24 September Captain Stephan Decatur was ordered by Prebble to sail to Malta and take command of Constitution.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://ibiblio.org/anrs/docs/E/E3/nd_barbarywars_v05p01.pdf |title=Naval Documents related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers Volume V Part 1 of 3 September 7 1804 through April 1805 |pages=49 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |via=Ibiblio |access-date=27 March 2025}}</ref> Captain Decatur took command from Capt. Preble at Malta on 28 October and Capt. Preble took up quarters on shore.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://ibiblio.org/anrs/docs/E/E3/nd_barbarywars_v05p01.pdf |title=Naval Documents related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers Volume V Part 1 of 3 September 7 1804 through April 1805 |pages=104 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |via=Ibiblio |access-date=10 April 2025}}</ref> Captain [[John Rodgers (naval officer, War of 1812)|John Rodgers]] assumed command of ''Constitution'' on 9 November 1804 while it underwent repairs and resupply in Malta. The ship resumed the blockade of Tripoli on 5 April 1805, capturing a Tripoline [[xebec]], along with two prizes that the xebec had captured.<ref name="Hollis117">Hollis (1900), p. 117.</ref> Meanwhile, Commodore Barron gave [[William Eaton (soldier)|William Eaton]] naval support to [[Battle of Derne|bombard Derne]], while a detachment of US Marines under the command of [[Presley O'Bannon]] was assembled to attack the city by land. They captured it on 27 April.<ref name="MacSmith300">Maclay and Smith (1898), Volume 1, p. 300.</ref> A peace treaty with Tripoli was signed aboard ''Constitution'' on 3 June, in which it embarked the crew members of ''Philadelphia'' and returned them to Syracuse.<ref name="Toll261262">Toll (2006), pp. 261–262.</ref> The ship was then dispatched to [[Tunis]] and arrived there on 30 July. Seventeen additional American warships had gathered in its harbor by 1 August: ''Congress'', ''Constellation'', ''Enterprise'', {{USS|Essex|1799|2}}, {{USS|Franklin|1795|2}}, {{USS|Hornet|1805 sloop|2}}, {{USS|John Adams|1799|2}}, ''Nautilus'', ''Syren'', and eight gunboats. Negotiations went on for several days until a short-term blockade of the harbor finally produced a peace treaty on 14 August.<ref name="Hollis118120">Hollis (1900), pp. 118–20.</ref><ref name="Allen05-268269">Allen (1905), pp. 268–69.</ref>

Rodgers remained in command of the squadron, sending warships back to the United States when they were no longer needed. Eventually, all that remained were ''Constitution'', ''Enterprise'', and ''Hornet''. They performed routine patrols and observed the French and Royal Navy operations of the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref name="Jennings168">Jennings (1966), p. 168.</ref> Rodgers turned over the command of the squadron and ''Constitution'' to Captain Hugh G. Campbell on 29 May 1806.<ref name="Hollis120">Hollis (1900), p. 120.</ref>

[[James Barron]] sailed ''Chesapeake'' out of Norfolk on 15 May 1807 to replace ''Constitution'' as the flagship of the Mediterranean squadron, but he encountered {{HMS|Leopard|1790|6}}, resulting in the [[Chesapeake–Leopard affair|''Chesapeake''–''Leopard'' affair]] and delaying the relief of ''Constitution''.<ref name="MacSmith305">Maclay and Smith (1898), Volume 1, p. 305.</ref> ''Constitution'' continued patrols, unaware of the delay. The ship arrived in late June at [[Livorno|Leghorn]], where it took aboard the disassembled [[Tripoli Monument]] for transport back to the United States. Campbell learned the fate of ''Chesapeake'' when he arrived at [[Málaga]], and he immediately began preparing ''Constitution'' and ''Hornet'' for possible war against Britain. The crew became mutinous upon learning of the delay in their relief and refused to sail any farther unless the destination was the United States. Campbell and his officers threatened to fire a cannon loaded with grapeshot at the crewmen if they did not comply, thereby putting an end to the conflict. Campbell and the squadron were ordered home on 18 August and set sail for Boston on 8 September, arriving there on 14 October. ''Constitution'' had been gone for more than four years.<ref name="Martin122126">Martin (1997), pp. 122–126.</ref><ref name="Allen05-272273">Allen (1905), pp. 272–273.</ref>