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Mar 6, 2014 · Almost 200 years ago, privateer-smuggler Jean Laffite became a hero because he did something most people wouldn’t have done: in the face of extreme adversity, he had helped save New Orleans for the Americans, even though United States officers had destroyed his home base and seized his property a few months earlier.
Later, in return for a legal pardon, Lafitte and his fleet helped General Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans to defend the city during the War of 1812. British forces sought access to the Mississippi River to gain control of the interior of the US.
- Early Life
- Piracy & Privateering
- The War of 1812 & New Orleans
- Galveston & Death
- Jean Lafitte in Fiction
Lafitte was born around 1780, probably in France, but very little can be said for certain about his early life. He must have gone to sea, for by 1809, he ended up working for a time with his brother Pierre as a blacksmith, or at least fronted such a business, in New Orleans. The forge and anvils likely concealed the pair's smuggling activities. The...
From around 1810, Lafitte made his base at the secluded Barataria Bay inlet, located to the south of New Orleans and the west of the Mississippi Delta. The location was ideal since the maze of shallow waterways and secret bayous made it very difficult for the authorities to search the area. On the other hand, it was close enough to New Orleans and ...
Lafitte was first approached by the British who realised that a man who commanded a large fleet could be a very useful ally in their war with the U.S. The British were impressed with how Lafitte managed to get through their blockade of the Mississippi Delta. In September 1814, Lafitte was offered various incentives to join the British side and help...
By 1817, Lafitte and his 1,000 loyal men, who crewed some 20 ships, had returned to piracy, attacking merchant ships of the Spanish Empire. This time, the pirate chief chose Campeche as his base, an island that would become Galveston, Texas, in what was then an unstable and much-disputed Spanish province. Lafitte took advantage of the volatile loca...
Lafitte's colourful exploits led to him becoming a favourite figure for later fiction writers. Lord Byron got in early when he wrote the poem The Corsair, perhaps loosely based on Lafitte's life but set in the Aegean. If it is indeed based on Lafitte, Byron did not limit himself to very much historical accuracy in his poem published in 1814. The wo...
- Mark Cartwright
Most Americans were reared upon the story that Jean Laffite and the Baratarian pirates helped Andrew Jackson beat the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814-15.
The story of the French pirate Jean Lafitte. Despite the bribe and the Americans holding his brother Pierre in jail for smuggling and expecting an American attack on his base and small fort on Grande Terre, Laffite sent a warning to New Orleans with his fastest courier, who could arrive in a day.
Sep 6, 2014 · Follow the links below to learn more about how Jean Lafitte has contributed to the worldwide remembrance of America's "Forgotten War," and what events are still to come. April 2012: Tall Ships in New Orleans. June 2012: The War Begins, and Louisiana Becomes a State. September 2013: Re-dedication of the Chalmette Monument. UPCOMING EVENTS:
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Virtual Battle of New Orleans 1/4: The Battle of New Orleans was one of the final conflicts of the War of 1812. But what led to the war? Who was involved and why were we fighting? Find out what the events were that led to the culmination on January 8th, 1815. Duration: 10 minutes, 13 seconds
