Jean Lafitte

Jean Lafitte (c. 1780 – c. 1823) was a French pirate, privateer, and slave trader 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". This has become the common spelling in the United States, including places named after him.

Lafitte is believed to have been born either in Biarritz, in the French Basque Country, France, or the French colony of Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean.

By 1805, Lafitte was operating a warehouse in New Orleans to help distribute the goods smuggled by his brother Pierre Lafitte. The United States government passed the Embargo Act of 1807 as tensions built with the United Kingdom by prohibiting trade. The Lafittes moved their operations to an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. By 1810, their new port had become very successful; the Lafittes had a profitable smuggling operation and also started to engage in piracy.

In 1812, the United States and the United Kingdom went to war. Despite Lafitte warning the other Baratarians of a possible military attack on their base, a US naval force successfully invaded in September 1814 and captured most of his fleet. Later, in return for a legal pardon, Lafitte and his fleet helped General Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans to defend the city during the War of 1812. British forces sought access to the Mississippi River to gain control of the interior of the US. After securing victory, Jackson paid tribute in despatches to the Lafitte brothers' efforts, as well as those of their fellow privateers.

The Lafittes subsequently became spies for the Spanish during the Mexican War of Independence. In 1817, Jean founded a new colony on Galveston Island named Campeche. At its height, the colonists and privateers earned millions of dollars annually from stolen or smuggled coin and goods. Very little is known about Lafitte, and speculation about his life and death continues among historians.

A famous persistent rumor claimed that Lafitte rescued French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte from exile, and both of them ended their days in Louisiana. No evidence supports it.

A number of details about Jean Lafitte's early life remain obscure, and often sources contradict each other. In the Journal de Jean Lafitte, the authenticity of which is contested, Lafitte claims to have been born in Bordeaux, France, in 1780 to Sephardic Jewish parents. His maternal grandmother and mother, both Conversos, fled Spain for France in 1765. His maternal grandfather had been executed by the Inquisition for "Judaizing". Some sources say that his father was French and his mother's family had come from Spain.

Lafitte and his brother Pierre also claimed to have been born in Bayonne. Other documents of the period place his birthplace as St. Malo or Brest. Jack C. Ramsay, who published a 1996 biography of Lafitte, says, "this was a convenient time to be a native of France, a claim that provided protection from the enforcement of American law". He notes that still other contemporary accounts claim that Lafitte was born in Orduña, Spain, or in Westchester County, New York, north of Manhattan.