Pierre Lafitte (1770–1821) was a pirate in the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
and
smuggler
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are various ...
in the early 19th century. He also ran a
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...
shop in
, his legitimate business. Pierre was historically less well known than his younger brother,
Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Th ...
. While not as much of a sailor as Jean, Pierre was the public face of the Lafitte operation, and was known for his wit and charm, in addition to his handling of the sale of smuggled goods.
Pierre Lafitte also spied for
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and commanded
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
units. He died in 1821 near Dzilam de Bravo in the
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, PenÃnsula de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...
.
Early life
Details of Pierre Lafitte's early life are scarce and often disputed. His older brother
Jean
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* Jea ...
gave contradictory information about his birthplace, including the French cities of
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast.
The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...
and
Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
* Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
* Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
** Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Br ...
. However, as Jean Lafitte's biographer, Jack C. Ramsay, stated, "this was a convenient time to be a native of France, a claim that provided protection from the enforcement of American law."
[Ramsay (1996), p. 10.] Further contemporary accounts claim that Jean Lafitte was born in
Orduña,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, or even
Westchester, New York
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...
.
[ Ramsay speculates that Lafitte was actually born in the French Caribbean colony Saint-Domingue (now Haiti).][
It was common in the late 18th century for the adult children of the French landowners in Saint-Domingue to resettle in the Mississippi River Delta, which was also owned by France. Families with the surname Lafitte are mentioned in Louisiana documents dating as early as 1765.][Ramsay (1996), p. 12.] According to Ramsay, Lafitte, his younger brother, Jean, and their widowed mother sailed from Saint-Domingue to , Louisiana (New Spain)
Spanish Louisiana ( es, link=no, la Luisiana) was a governorate and administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1762 to 1801 that consisted of a vast territory in the center of North America encompassing the western basin of t ...
in the 1780s. Approximately 1784, his mother married Pedro Aubry, a New Orleans merchant. Jean stayed with his mother while Pierre was raised by extended family elsewhere in Louisiana.[Ramsay (1996), p. 13.]
The biographer William C. Davis reports a different childhood. According to Davis's book, Lafitte was born in or near Pauillac
Pauillac (; oc, Paulhac) is a municipality in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The city is mid-way between Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave, along the Gironde, the largest estuary in western Europe.
Populati ...
, France and was the son of Pierre Lafitte and Marie LaGrange, who married in 1769. LaGrange died the following year, likely while she gave birth. The elder Pierre Lafitte remarried in 1775 to Marguerite Desteil; they had six children, including Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Th ...
. The boys were likely given a basic education,[Davis (2005), p. 2.] and Pierre Lafitte later joined his father's trading enterprise.[Davis (2005), p. 3.]
The father died in 1796, and Davis speculates that the younger Pierre Lafitte journeyed to Saint-Domingue (later Haiti).[Davis (2005), p. 5.] In May 1802, Lafitte requested a passport so that he could go "to Louisiana to join one of his brothers."[Davis (2005), p. 4.] As the Haitian Revolution became more violent, French citizens began leaving the islands. Lafitte, probably accompanied by an infant son, left the island aboard a refuge ship in early 1803.[Davis (2005), p. 7.]
Lafitte's ship landed in , which had originally been part of French Louisiana
The term French Louisiana refers to two distinct regions:
* first, to colonial French Louisiana, comprising the massive, middle section of North America claimed by France during the 17th and 18th centuries; and,
* second, to modern French Louisi ...
although it had become a Spanish possession for nearly 40 years. Records indicate that on March 21, 1803, Pierre Lafitte partnered with Joseph Maria Bourguignon to purchase a city lot, home, and outbuildings near Royal Street.[Davis (2005), p. 9.] The men were unable to pay their mortgage and returned the property three months later.[Davis (2005), p. 10.] In December 1803, Louisiana became a territory of the United States.[Davis (2005), p. 12.] The following year, Lafitte moved to Baton Rouge, which was in the Spanish-controlled West Florida
West Florida ( es, Florida Occidental) was a region on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico that underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. As its name suggests, it was formed out of the western part of former S ...
.[Davis (2005), p. 13.]
Barataria and War of 1812
Along with his 'crew of a thousand men' (the number that he commanded was actually quite small, but the loose confederation that he and his brother ran caused the number of men engaged in their affairs was substantial), Lafitte also receives credit for helping defend Louisiana from the British in the War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, and Pierre is mentioned in several accounts of the Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...
. His piracy was pardoned by President James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...
on February 6, 1815 by the aiding of Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
during the battle.[
]
The United States made the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. In January 1808, the government began to enforce the Embargo Act of 1807
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a general trade embargo on all foreign nations that was enacted by the United States Congress. As a successor or replacement law for the 1806 Non-importation Act and passed as the Napoleonic Wars continued, it repr ...
, which barred American ships from docking at any foreign port. That was problematic for New Orleans merchants, who had relied heavily on trade with Caribbean colonies of other nations.[Ramsay (1996), p. 22.] Pierre and Jean began to look for another port from which they could smuggle goods to local merchants.
They established themselves on the small and sparsely-populated island of Barataria, in Barataria Bay
Barataria Bay (french: Baie de Barataria), also Barrataria Bay, is a bay of the Gulf of Mexico, about 15 miles (24 km) long and 12 miles (19 km) wide, in southeastern Louisiana, in Jefferson Parish and Plaquemines Parish, United Stat ...
. The bay was located beyond a narrow passage between the barrier islands of Grande Terre and Grande Isle.[Ramsay (1996), p. 23.] Barataria was far from the US naval base, and ships could easily smuggle in goods without being noticed by customs officials. Workers would reload goods into smaller batches onto ''pirogue
A pirogue ( or ), also called a piragua or piraga, is any of various small boats, particularly dugouts and native canoes. The word is French and is derived from Spanish , which comes from the Carib '. Description
The term 'pirogue' does n ...
s'', or barges, for transport through the bayous to New Orleans.[Ramsay (1996), p. 27.]
Jean claimed to command more than 3,000 men and provided them as troops for the Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...
in 1815, which greatly assisted Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
in repulsing the British attack. The actual number that he commanded was more likely a few dozen, but since they specialized in artillery, their effect was substantial. Lafitte reportedly conducted his operations in the historic New Orleans French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Sq ...
. Jackson was informed of both Lafittes' gallant exploits at the Battle of New Orleans by Colonel Peter Ellis Bean
Peter Ellis Bean (sometimes ''Ellis Peter Bean''; es, Pedro Elias Bean) (June 8, 1783, Grainger County, Tennessee – October 6?, 1846, Veracruz) was a United States filibuster in Texas and Mexico, and a Mexican revolutionary.
Early life
Bean ...
, who then recruited the Lafittes to support the Mexican Republican movement.
Of the two brothers, Jean was more familiar with the naval aspects of their enterprise, and Pierre was more often involved with the commercial aspects. Pierre lived in New Orleans or at least maintained his household there with his mulatto lover, who bore him a very large family. Jean spent the majority of his time in Barataria in managing the daily hands-on business of outfitting privateers and arranging the smuggling of stolen goods. The most prized "good" was invariably slaves, especially after the outlawing of the international slave trade in the United States.
In 1810, a Spanish slave ship en route to Pensacola
Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...
was captured by privateers and its cargo sold in Louisiana. The shipowner launched an investigation and discovered the names of the men who had purchased the slaves. The sheriff of Ascension Parish
Ascension Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Ascension, es, Parroquia de Ascensión) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 126,500. Its parish seat is Donaldsonville. The parish was created ...
appointed Lafitte a deputy marshal and sent him to recover the slaves. Lafitte served the arrest warrant and helped to round up the slaves. A provision in the Louisiana laws abolishing the slave trade called for illegally-imported slaves to be confiscated and sold at auction, with half the profits going to the men who turned in the illegally-gotten slaves. For his work in that case, Lafitte received half the purchase price for each illegally-purchased slave identified by him.[Davis (2005), pp. 60–3.] Davis speculated that Lafitte had participated in the raid to try to close down the operations of the slave traders who were not operating through Barataria Bay.[Davis (2005), p. 64.]
Galveston
After Jean was run out of New Orleans around 1817, Pierre remained in New Orleans but frequently visited the island of Galveston, Texas, to visit his brother.
While the Lafitte brothers were engaged in running the Galveston operation, one client with whom they worked considerably in the slave smuggling trade was Jim Bowie
James Bowie ( ) ( – March 6, 1836) was a 19th-century American pioneer, slave smuggler and trader, and soldier who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He was among the Americans who died at the Battle of the Alamo. Stories of h ...
. The Lafittes were selling slaves at a dollar a pound, and Bowie would buy them at the Lafittes' rate and get around the American laws against slave trading by reporting his purchased slaves as having been found in the possession of smugglers. The law then allowed Bowie to collect a fee on the "recovered" slaves, and he would rebuy the slaves (essentially a "slave laundering" act) and then resell them to prospective buyers.
The Lafittes (Pierre, in particular) spied for Spain through agents in Cuba and in Louisiana. They often provided solid material, but the Lafittes in fact played both sides, American and Spanish, always with an eye to securing their own interests. No doubt, the charm of Pierre and his reputation as a man in the know figured heavily in the weight he was given by his immediate handlers, but he was never trusted by higher-up Spanish interests. While running the island of Galveston for personal benefit, Pierre Lafitte tried to induce Spain to assault the island. That would have enhanced his standing with Spain but caused minimal real losses to the Lafitte operations.
See also
*Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...
*Dominique You
Dominique You or Youx (born Frederic You or Youx, c. 1775 – November 15, 1830) was a privateer, soldier, and politician.
Biography
According to information he provided to his masonic lodge in New Orleans, he was born in Cette (now spelled SÃ ...
x
*Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Th ...
*Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop is a historic structure at the corner of Bourbon Street and St. Philip Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Most likely built as a house in the 1770s during the Spanish colonial period, it is one of ...
, New Orleans
* Letter of marque
*Privateering
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
*Renato Beluche
Renato Beluche (15 December 1780 – 4 October 1860) was an American-born Venezuelan merchant, pirate and privateer active in the early nineteenth century Gulf Coast. Born in New Orleans, Spanish Louisiana to a French smuggler, Beluche went to s ...
*
Footnotes
References
*Davis, William C. (2005), ''The Pirates Laffite: the treacherous world of the corsairs of the Gulf'', Austin, TX: Harcourt Books,
*Ramsay, Jack C. (1996), ''Jean Laffite: Prince of Pirates'', Austin, TX: Eakin Press,
External links
Lafitte, the Louisiana Pirate and Patriot
- biography in the Louisiana Historical Quarterly
French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld, by Herbert Asbury
Pages 154 - 171
Laffite Society
Pirate's Legacy - Pierre Lafitte
Pierre and Jean Laffite Collection
a
The Historic New Orleans Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafitte, Pierre
French pirates
Pardoned pirates
French slave traders
1770 births
1821 deaths
18th-century French people
19th-century French businesspeople
19th-century American people
19th-century pirates
19th-century spies
American businesspeople
American slave traders
American people of the War of 1812
People from New Orleans
People of Colonial Spanish Louisiana
People of Louisiana (New France)
People of Saint-Domingue
Recipients of American presidential pardons
Place of birth missing
History of Louisiana
Battle of New Orleans
American folklore
Louisiana folklore
Maritime folklore