Jean Lafatte
Smuggler, Pirate, America’s Savior
Brief
Jean Lafitte was a smuggler and privateer operating in the Gulf of Mexico during the early 19th century. His base was on an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, and he was a very successful smuggler. However, eventually smuggling became less profitable, and he gradually fell into piracy. He became an exceptional pirate – so much so that he became a prime target of the fledgling USN. Ultimately, his base was captured, and both he and his men were imprisoned.
Fortunately for Lafitte, General Andrew Jackson was desperate for fighting men to defend New Orleans, which was threatened by the British invasion during the War of 1812. Consequently, Jackson offered Lafitte and his men a pardon if they would help defend the city in what history calls The Battle of New Orleans. After Jackson’s glorious victory over the British, the future President paid tribute to Lafitte and his men for their bravery during the battle.
Unfettered, Lafitte moved his operations to Galveston, Texas where he founded a colony, then declared himself president of Texas. Lafitte earned millions from smuggling and plundering the Spanish Main. Curiously, what became of him remains a mystery to this day.
Nevertheless, historians credit Jackson’s celebrated victory of The Battle of New Orleans as a pivotal part of winning the War of 1812, and if the British had won that war, America may have remained a British colony. So, we can all tip our hats and thank the smuggler-pirate’s role for keeping America free, and his part looms as larger, and perhaps even larger than the more famous smuggler – “pirate” who signed the Declaration of Independence: John Hancock.
