Player Handout 2 - Background on Jean Lafitte

• Jean Lafitte, has been called "The Corsair," "The Buccaneer," "The King of Barataria," "The Terror of the Gulf" and "The Hero of New Orleans".
• At three separate times, U.S. presidents have condemned, exonerated and again condemned his actions. He is known for his piracy in the Gulf of Mexico, and lauded for his heroism in the Battle of New Orleans.
• From the Gulf of Mexico through a vast uncharted maze of waterways to New Orleans, his name was legend even in his day.
• Lafitte is most known for the having taken an island-full of bloodied seafarers, rovers and fishermen and turned them into an organization of buccaneers, smugglers and wholesalers.
• From the ships they plundered off the Caribbean Coast and in the Atlantic he and his "crew of a thousand men" kept a constant cargo of black-marketed and very necessary provisions (including Negro slaves) moving through the Mississippi Delta.
• He never attacked an American ship. A man without a country, he nevertheless respected the constitution of American ideals and hoped that what he called his "kingdom by the sea" might someday meld into like ideals.
• Barataria, with its three islands -- Grande Terre, Grande Isle and Cheniere Caminada -- all occupied by Lafitte’s brigands, was literally a fortress; no ship could pass into or out of the Mississippi without having to squeeze past this trio of islands. Out toward the awesome Gulf of Mexico Lafitte’s siege guns aimed -- oiled, packed and ready -- to literally sink any interference from the waters.
• Lafitte’s operations were centered on Grande Terre, an island almost level with the sea, where around 1808 he constructed a great brick two-story house facing the open sea.
• Grand Terre is inaccessible from the Louisiana coast except by sea craft.
• No one was allowed to walk on Grand Terre unless they had permission or possessed some item to prove their worth as a pirate.
• Although not recognized among all pirates, Lafitte’s men obeyed “The Code” and would give “parlay” to any person requesting same. It would then be up to Lafitte to determine that person’s fate after they spoke with him.
• In a bold move to prevent governmental intrusion, Lafitte invited all members of his contracted ships -- those seamen he had hired to bring in the wares -- to make their home on the island with him. It would be, he told them, their essential quarters. Some of them, he knew, had already settled there with their women and were praising the freedom of isolation it offered.
• Overnight, Grande Terre was alive with the hordes who found a "dry dock" for their revels. They were wandering spirits from across the globe who had shunned their native France, Italy, Portugal, Carribea, Germany, Russia and other countries.
• The Rights of Citizenship he offered his Baratarians were a blend of moral ethics and pirate code. As long as they performed their duties -- as plunderers, smugglers, gunners -- and as long as they served him and the Baratarian oath of loyalty -- to him and each other -- the inhabitants could live there as long as they wanted.
• On September 2, 1814, after receiving permission to enter, Captain Lockyr of the British Navy and Captain McWilliams of the British Army landed at Barataria to propose an alliance against the Americans in the War of 1812, including Letters of Commission into the Officer Corps of the Royal Navy.
• Lafitte rejected the offer, instead presenting an offer Governor Claibourne of Louisiana of loyalty and service against the British in exchange for amnesty for him and his men.
• Claibourne responded to the offer by sending three gunships to destroy Barataria. Lafitte escaped the onslaught, but his ships were captured, his “kingdom by the sea destroyed” and his treasure taken from him.
• During the battle, it was recorded that Lafitte was heard to say that he would “never rest” until he once again assumed command the Vulcan.
• Approximately three months later in December 1814, after General Andrew Jackson had come to defend New Orleans from the British, a deal was struck between Lafitte and General Jackson where Lafitte and his men were pardoned in exchange for the Baratarians arms and bodies to protect the City of New Orleans.
• Lafitte and his men were true to their word and defended New Orleans with their very lives. In the end, the defense of New Orleans was successful, and President James Madison pardoned Lafitte and his men upon General Jackson’s recommendation.
• However, when Lafitte requested that his ships and treasure be returned, he was rebuffed and forced to buy back his lesser ships at auction. Without his treasure, he was never able to afford to repurchase his flagship, Vulcan.
• Lafitte left New Orleans in 1815, never to return again. There is no record of his death, although he was supposedly sighted in both Galveston, Texas and Florence, South Carolina.