Jean Lafitte: Infamous Pirate, Folk Hero, Patriot
Jean Lafitte
One of the most infamous characters in New Orleans history was a man named Jean Lafitte. He was a pirate, a smuggler, and a slave trader — not exactly a nice guy — but in certain circles, he was seen as a dashing and mysterious antihero, maybe even a patriot. Like many figures in New Orleans history, the legend overwhelms the reality.
Pirate or Privateer?
Many considered Lafitte to be a pirate, but he passed himself off as something a little more nuanced: a privateer. He had been granted a (possibly dubious) letter of marque from a nation that had declared war on Spain, and this allowed Lafitte to (maybe) legally raid Spanish ships and keep the booty for himself. This legal permission came in handy because the penalty for unsanctioned piracy was death.
Early Life and Arrival in NOLA
Not much is known about Lafitte’s early life. He may have been born around 1780 in France or the West Indies, but he shows up on the scene in New Orleans with his brother Pierre sometime between 1804 and 1809.
Barataria and the Baratarians
He based his operations in the labyrinthine swamps south of the city, an area known as Barataria. He was backed up by a whole gang of sailors, smugglers and general ne'er do wells, a group known as the Baratarians.
The Business Plan
Lafitte and his Baratarians would capture Spanish merchant vessels, take the loot, and then smuggle the goods through the winding swamps into New Orleans. He sold luxury items like silks, spices, jewels, and, most heinously, enslaved people.
Slave Trader
An 1807 shipping embargo and, later, a complete ban on the foreign slave trade in the United States, made selling enslaved people from Africa and the Caribbean a booming and profitable black market. The money was very good and Lafitte returned to selling enslaved people again and again throughout his career.
Blacksmith Shop
His customers were a rogue's gallery of very wealthy businessmen and plantation owners. Lafitte had friends in high places. Negotiations for these stolen goods were often made here in the French Quarter, possibly at the corner of Bourbon and St Philip, a spot currently occupied by a bar called Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop.
Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop is often a stop on the nightly walking Ghost Tours offered by Gators and Ghosts.
A Wanted Man
To an extent, Lafitte’s elite clientele protected him from the law, literally hiding him behind a fireplace as one story goes. But it should come as no surprise that Lafitte was a wanted man. There’s an amusing story about the time Louisiana's governor William CC Claiborne set a $500 bounty for Lafitte's arrest, hanging wanted posters around the Quarter, but the ever brazen Lafitte had the wanted posters covered up with posters of his own, offering double the bounty for the arrest of Gov. Claiborne.
Feeling the Heat
Lafitte managed to mostly evade the law for a decade, but the jig was finally up in 1814 when the US Navy raided his operation in Barataria. They seized stolen property and arrested Lafitte and 25 Baratarians. He had a good lawyer and he wasn’t in jail for very long, but Lafitte had been playing with fire for ten years, and now he was finally starting to feel the heat.
Double-Cross
During all of this, the War of 1812 was raging on. British naval ships were closing in on the mouth of the Mississippi River, and they had heard about Lafitte’s legendary knowledge of the routes through the bayous; they wanted Jean Lafitte on THEIR side. They arranged a secret meeting and offered an alliance. Lafitte said, “Sure,” and then immediately wrote a letter informing the American authorities. It was a classic double-cross.
Lost Sheep
In his letter, Lafitte pleaded that, while he may have been on the wrong side of the law from time to time, he was, deep down, a good man and a patriot. He likened himself to a lost sheep returning to the fold. And he offered his men to join the battle to come.
Jackson Makes a Deal
US military commander Andrew Jackson was initially reluctant. But when he heard that Lafitte had 20,000 rounds of ammunition and naval cannons, the future president made a deal with a pirate.
Victory, Pardon, Departure
Lafitte, with Andrew Jackson and Louisiana Governor William C.C. Claiborne at the Battle of New Orleans.
Lafitte’s band of Baratarians fought alongside the American troops and ended up playing an arguably pivotal role in winning the Battle of New Orleans and ending the war. For his effort, Lafitte received a full pardon. He was hailed as a patriotic hero. But staying on the straight and narrow wasn’t really in Lafitte’s DNA. He had another brush with the law and left New Orleans for good.
Gators and Ghosts offers an afternoon cruise down the Mississippi River that features a stop at Chalmette Battlefield, the site of the Jan. 8, 1815, Battle of New Orleans.
Galveston, Fading From History, Death
Lafitte and his men moved on to Galveston, Texas, for a while, resuming their slave trade and embarking on a Quixotic scheme to conquer Mexico. Perhaps not surprisingly, Lafitte again found a way to anger the local authorities, and he headed out to sea.
It is here that Lafitte fades from the pages of documented history and we don't know exactly when or how he died. It was probably around 1823, off the coast of Cuba, that Lafitte finally met his end.
But his legend lived on.
Tall Tales
The life of Lafitte the Pirate was romanticized in several influential works of historical fiction, and the tales became taller and taller with each passing generation. Fantastic stories of swashbuckling and buried treasure entered the narrative, along with sightings of his ghost.
Fiery Eyes in the Blacksmith Shop
Inside the Blacksmith Shop, you’ll find a stone fireplace near the entrance. More than one (possibly intoxicated) reveler has reported seeing two fiery eyes peering out, just a brief flash, before disappearing into the darkness. Is it Lafitte, keeping a watchful eye over his buried treasure and the city he called home for more than a decade? Is it one of his victims, trapped in their place of death for eternity? Or is it just the alcohol?
Lafitte Today
There is the town of Jean Lafitte, Louisiana, the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve, the Lafitte Greenway in New Orleans, and several businesses in the city that bear his name.
A Modern Reckoning
Recently, there have been calls to have the name of Lafitte, a notorious human trafficker, removed from the public sphere, alongside other relics of the Confederacy and antebellum era. Considering most of the likable aspects of Lafitte’s character are complete inventions, this may not be the worst idea in the world.
As historian William Davis writes, “Once the Laffites were gone, there was little left by which to remember them, except stories that quickly grew into legend. Pirates and privateers were by nature profligate; they did not hide or bury money or treasure goods. When they got money, they spent it, and then went out after more. Virtually all of them died in obscurity as paupers. The Laffites’ genuine impact on their times was minimal. The Battle of New Orleans would have been won without them. Galveston Island would have been settled without them, and it was soon repopulated after they left. Their schemes for Mexican conquest came to nothing. In fact, their chief impact on Louisiana’s history was as folk heroes, their legend quickly overwhelming the reality of their lives and growing out of all proportion to the men themselves.”