Jean Laffite
Jean Laffite was one of the later pirates who was active around 1810. With his brother, Pierre, he practiced pirating with a group of pirates, smugglers and privateers out of Barataria Bay, south of New Orleans. His pirating activities took place mostly in the Gulf of Mexico attacking British, American, and Spanish ships.
In 1812, the Governor of Louisiana put a bounty on Jean Laffite in the amount of $ 500 for piracy and illegal trading. In return, Laffite offered a bounty for the capture of the governor in the amount of $ 5,000.
After the British invaded Maryland and captured and burned the White House in Washington, D. C., the British offered Laffite a pardon and reward if he would help them attack New Orleans to disrupt the trade passing through the Mississippi River. Laffite notified New Orleans Officials, who in return sent ships that captured most of Laffite’s ships that were at anchor in Barataria Bay. Laffite was offered a truce by General Andrew Jackson if he would help him repel the British invasion of New Orleans in 1814. Laffite did help and received a pardon by President Madison, but decided to keep on with his career in piracy.
In 1817, Laffite and his crew made a new home base in the Galveston area. In 1820, Galveston was destroyed by Captain Biddle and the USS Enterprise, but Laffite escaped capture. It is rumored that he lived out his remaining days in Mexico, but some think he returned to the United States and lived under an assumed name.
Sources:
www.piratesinfo.com/cpi_A_Biographo _of_Jean_Laffite_528.asp, Copyright (c) 1996 – 2008 Krzysztof Wilczynski, All rights reserved.
The History of Pirates by Angus Konstam, The Lyons Press, 1999, 2002.