Pierre Laffite

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Pierre Laffite or Lafitte (* 1770 , † 1821 in Dzilam de Bravo ) was a pirate in the Gulf of Mexico .

He ran a forge in New Orleans and was the older brother of Jean Laffite . He was a less good seaman than this, but he played a bigger role in public because he was responsible for selling the stolen goods. He also commanded artillery units . Laffite was known for his charm and wit.

youth

Details from Laffite's early life are rare and often controversial. His brother Jean gave conflicting information about his birthplace, including the French cities of St. Malo and Brest . Jean Laffite's biographer Jack C. Ramsay said: “It was pleasant to be a native of France, as this claim protected against the application of American laws.” (“This was a convenient time to be a native of France, a claim that provided protection from the enforcement of American law. ") Other contemporary witnesses claim that Jean Lafitte was born in the Spanish city of Orduña or in Westchester in the state of New York . Ramsay suspects that Lafitte was actually born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti ).

It was not uncommon in the late 18th century for adult children of French landowners to move from Saint-Domingue to the Mississippi Delta , which was then part of France. Families with the surname Lafitte are mentioned in Louisiana documents dating back to 1765. According to Ramsay, Laffite, his younger brother Jean, and their widowed mother traveled from Saint-Domingue to New Orleans , Louisiana in the 1780s . Around 1784 his mother married Pedro Aubry, a New Orleans merchant; Jean stayed with his mother while Pierre grew up with relatives of the families in Louisiana.

The biographer William C. Davis reports another variant of Laffitte's childhood story. According to his book, Laffite was born in or near Pauillac , France. He was the son of Pierre Laffite and Marie LaGrange, who married in 1769. LaGrange died the following year, likely during childbirth. Pierre Laffite Sr. married Marguerite Desteil in 1775; they had six children together, including Jean Laffite . The boys likely received a basic education and later Pierre Laffite worked in his father's trading company.

The father died in 1796, and Davis believes that his son Pierre Laffite traveled to Saint-Domingue. In May 1802, Laffite asked for a passport to return to his brothers in Louisiana. As the Haitian Revolution became more violent, French residents began to abandon the island. Laffite, who may have been accompanied by his toddler son, left the islands aboard a refugee ship in early 1803.

Laffite's ship headed for New Orleans , which was part of the French colony of Louisiana . Records show that on March 21, 1803, Laffite partnered with Joseph Maria Bourguignon to purchase land in town, a house, and outbuildings near Royal Street. The men were unable to pay their mortgage and returned their property three months later. In December 1803 Louisiana became a state of the United States . The following year, Lafitte moved to Baton Rouge , which was in Spanish-controlled western Florida .

Barataria

Pierre and his younger brother Jean founded their own "Kingdom of Barataria" in the swamps and bays near New Orleans after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Pierre had a crew of a thousand men. The number of men in command was actually quite small, but because of a loose alliance he had with his brother, the number of men involved in their deeds was sufficient.

Laffite is known for helping defend Louisiana from the British in the British-American War . Pierre is mentioned in some accounts of the Battle of New Orleans .

Claiming to command over 3,000 men, Jean provided them as troops for the Battle of New Orleans of 1815, a great aid to Andrew Jackson in repelling the British attack. The actual number he commanded was probably only a few dozen, though their impact was substantial because they specialized in artillery. Lafitte has been shown to conduct his military operation in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans. General Jackson was informed of the helpful support given to the two Laffites in the Battle of New Orleans by Colonel Ellis P. Bean, who then recruited the Laffites to support the Mexican Republican Movement.

His piracy was pardoned by American President Madison on February 6, 1815, because he had supported Andrew Jackson in battle.

Of the two brothers, Jean was most familiar with the maritime aspects of the company, while Pierre was more concerned with the commercial aspects. Pierre lived in New Orleans or at least ran a household there with his mulatto lover, who gave him a plentiful offspring. Jean used most of his time to conduct his daily business, outfitting privateers and organizing the smuggling of the stolen goods. The most valuable commodity was slaves, especially after the slave trade was banned in the United States.

In 1810 a Spanish slave ship was hijacked by pirates en route to Pensacola , Florida, and the cargo was sold in Louisiana. The shipowner investigated and found out the names of the men who had acquired the slaves. The sheriff of Ascension Parish made Laffite Deputy Marshal and sent him to fetch the slaves back; Laffite carried out the arrest warrant and helped find the slaves again. An ordinance in Louisiana law had abolished the slave trade and called for illegally imported slaves to be confiscated and sold at auction, with half of the proceeds going to the men who delivered the illegally procured slaves. For his work in this case, Lafitte received half the selling price for every illegally acquired slave he identified. Davis suspects that Lafitte took part in the raid to stop slave traders who did not operate from Barataria Bay.

Galveston

After Jean left New Orleans in 1817, Pierre stayed in New Orleans, but often visited his brother on the island of Galveston , Texas .

When the Laffite brothers operated in Galveston, one of their clients was James Bowie , with whom they worked in the slave smuggling trade. The Laffites sold slaves for a dollar a pound ; Bowie bought them at that price. He then circumvented American anti-slave laws by stating that he found his slaves in the possession of smugglers. The law of the time allowed him to collect a fee for the seized slaves, then he could buy back the slaves and sell them back to potential buyers.

The Laffites, especially Pierre, spied for Spain through agents in Cuba and Louisiana. They often provided profound material, but in reality they played both sides, the United States and Spain, against each other, always keeping an eye on safeguarding their own interests. Undoubtedly, Pierre's charm and reputation as a knowledgeable man contributed greatly to the fact that his word carried weight with the negotiators, although he was never trusted by the higher-ranking Spaniards.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ramsay (1996), p. 10.
  2. ↑ Ramsay (1996), p. 12.
  3. ↑ Ramsay (1996), p. 13.
  4. ^ Davis (2005), p. 2. Online
  5. ^ Davis (2005), p. 3 Online
  6. ^ Davis (2005), p. 5 online
  7. ^ Davis (2005), p. 4 online
  8. ^ Davis (2005), p. 7. Online
  9. ^ Davis (2005), p. 9 online
  10. ^ Davis (2005), p. 10 online
  11. ^ Davis (2005), p. 12 Online
  12. ^ Davis (2005), p. 13 Online
  13. ^ Charles Jared Ingersoll: History of the second war between the United States of America and Great Britain: declared by act of Congress, the 18th of June, 1812, and concluded by peace, the 15th of February, 1815 . Lippincott, Grambo & co. Pp. 82-83. 1852. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  14. ^ Davis (2005), pp. 60-63 online
  15. ^ Davis (2005), p. 64 online
personal data
SURNAME Laffite, Pierre
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lafitte, Pierre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French privateer
DATE OF BIRTH 1770
DATE OF DEATH 1821
Place of death Dzilam de Bravo