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- 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.
www.historiaobscura.com/commemoration-of-a-hero-jean-laffite-and-the-battle-of-new-orleans/Commemoration of a Hero: Jean Laffite and the Battle of New ...
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Jean Lafitte (c.1780 – c.1823) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte".
Apr 26, 2020 · Jean Lafitte–also spelled Laffite–was a man of many contradictions. He was a notorious pirate, but he thought of himself as a privateer, a legitimate officer of a government whose job was to, you know, rob and plunder ships.
- Benito Cereno
- 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
Aug 15, 2020 · Though much of his life has been obscured by legend and time, the story of 19th-century French pirate Jean Lafitte is nonetheless one of intrigue, crime, and heroics.
- Natasha Ishak
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.
Nov 9, 2011 · Jean Lafitte has immortalized himself in the history of the United States; as well as the history of pirates. He became a folk hero akin to Daniel Boone, Annie Oakley, or Wyatt Earp, while in the same breath standing beside Blackbeard (or Edward Teach), Captain Kidd, and Ching Shih.
But...pirate, thief, swordsman, businessman or savior, Jean Lafitte's legend has grown exponentially over the last two centuries. Complex in nature, shrouded in mystery, and often painted in splashes of color, he lives on in the role of auspicious hero.
