The pirate Jean Lafitte and his wolfish horde of ruthless cohorts settled in the region of Barataria Bay around 1809, and had an outpost on Grand Isle.
The Barataria Basin and Grand Isle was rife with Jean Lafitte's men, a conglomerate of
human cutthroats, French, English, mulattos of Santo Domingo and the West Indians,
Indians of Mexico and Cuba - all blended into a life of lawlessness. Privateers they styled
themselves: sea-rovers, robbers, and pirates they were, a wolfish swarm. They paid tribute
at a house that was built of brick, where a hammock swung under the pillared porch and
where the the walls within were hung with the silk from Spanish merchantmen. The
robbers held their hats in hand when they stood before that house, this was the house of
Jean Lafitte. The Gulf of Mexico was their hunting groun, and from it they bought their
catch of silks and gold and their pounds of flesh to the den at the Barataria Basin; there to
be divided among the hungry lot in apportionment as Jean Lafitte and his lieutenants
willed.
And on the mast-head of each of their vessel's fluttered a flag of the new government of
Cartagena. Cartagena was than struggling for independence, and Jean Lafitte found very
easy, in directing the gentle business of the privateer, to stretch his commission of
cruising against the Spanish Royalists into one of entering and blockading the Spanish
ports of Mexico and the West Indian seas.
The treasure (Gold & Goods) poured in. But the loot was not long resting on the island.
Schooners wound their way through bays and bayous to New Orleans. There Lafitte's
brothers, Pierre and Antoine, in brazen effrontery to the law, sold the goods in open
maket, and the gentlemen of New Orleans were not above purchasing what suited thier
fancy. But the gold was hidden with great secrecy.
In 1811 Jean Lafitte with one schooner sailed from the Grand Isle area and later anchored in the port of West Indies, with an armed crew, he landed and in a short while returned with his prisoners, the governor of the town, his secretary, and the holy Father Confessor. With great show he conveyed the precious trio to his schooner and there informed them that as the commander of a Cartagenan man-of-war, he had been instructed to seek them out and administer punishment for their acts of piracy. And, moreover, and what made the matter still worse, they--the governor, his secretary, and the holy Father Confessor--were in a league with one Gibbs--a most notorious American pirate.
And as a matter of just and reasonable punishment for their crimes, he, had prepared three nooses that hung from the yardarms; and he was quite ready to set the governor, the secretary, and the holy Father Confessor swinging unless a sum of fifty thousand dollars should be forthcoming immediately.
The governor and his companions denied by every saint in the calendar all knowledge of el infame Don Gibbs and the acts of piracy charged against them. But Lafitte insisted upon fifty thousand dollars as a ransom, or the decoration of the yard-arm, at which the holy Father Confessor begged the governor to save their lives for the future betterment of the town. So the secretary was sent on shore, and the governor and the holy father were entertained on board the schooner. After a time the secretary returned with the amount in gold. Lafitte thanked them for not detaining him longer, and set them upon shore again.
In 1812, on one of Jean Lafitte's raids in the Gulf of Mexico, a very beautiful Spanish woman named Genevieve, was brought back to Grand Isle by the pirates as part of the spoils. A great fight followed for her ownership. And in the struggle the pirate Chighizola lost his nose. The pirate Chighizola then became known as 'Na Coupal' (no nose).
Jean Lafitte, was a freebooter and fugitive who helped U.S. forces in the Battle of New Orleans at the end of the War of 1812.
In 1814 the British attempted to procure Lafitte's assistance in attacking New Orleans. Instead he passed their plans onto the Americans. In November of 1814, while Jean Lafitte was in New Orleans, Governor Claiborne and Commodore Patterson of the United States Navy destroyed Jean Lafitte's settlement on Barataria island now known as Grand Terre island with a fleet of gunboats. After all that, Jean Lafitte still helped Andrew Jackson defend the City of New Orleans in January 1815.
Even though Jean Lafitte helped Andrew Jackson defend the City of New Orleans, and was given amnesty, Governor Claiborne and Commodore Patterson still pursued Jean Lafitte. Jean Lafitte left the region and wasnever seen again. Most of Jean Lafitte's loot was buried in small caches throughout the Grand Isle area and region. Very little of Lafitte's plunder has been recovered.
Lafitte never maped his deposits, instead he had an old french soldier memorize all the locations of the caches. Unfortunately for Jean Lafitte, the old french soldier was killed during the November 1814 naval bombardment of Barataria island.
Before you go feeling sorry for Jean Lafitte, remember piracy is the seizure of a ship by armed force. Since piracy interrupts trade between nations, it has been traditionally considered a crime against international law. Pirates are also called buccaneers, freebooters, and sea rovers. They are often confused with Privateers, who have a governmental license to seize a ship by armed force, to loot and plunder, or commission to seize enemy property. In contrast, pirates seize ships by armed force, loot and plunder without governmental license or commission.
Pirate and privateer attacks were often underwritten by Politicians and Merchants who supplied the pirates and privateers with the essentials of the trade: powder, cannon, food and rum.
Pirates deposited their loot in pirate lairs in Jamaica, Madagascar, and other locations like the Barataria Basin of Southeast Louisiana.
A broad cross section of people were attracted to the buccaneer life. The dangers were no greater than those"assumed aboard a naval vessel or a privateer and the earnings were significantly greater. Women were also attracted to freebooter life; Anne Bonney and Mary Read participated in many coastal raids.
Privateers and Pirates bare little resemblance to the free booters suggested by modern motion pictures. Privateers and Pirates were, and, are robbers, murders and rapist. They have more in common with the antisocial Charles Manson then they do with the dashing Errol Flynn.
The pirates regarded all legal things and all holy things with more than usual suspicion, because they believed the same principles that governed a 'hold-up' were the self-same principles that governed religion and government.
