The Memoirs of Jean Laffite

Jean Laffite, famous for aiding Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans, is largely a man of mystery before and after that event. His recollections of a raider's life before the War of 1812 and his adventures after his expulsion from Galveston, Texas, are now recounted in this English translation from the original French of the words of an old man living with his new, young family in St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1840's.

Biographies & Memoirs

Laffite, Jean

Historical

Xlibris US

Jean Laffite was born in Santo Domingo and raised by a Spanish-Jewish grandmother who instilled in him a hatred for the Spanish Crown and those who served it. Later this hatred grew to include the British. Following in the footsteps of his eldest brother Alexandre, Jean and his brother Pierre became privateers for France under the command of their uncle Rene Beluchai. Laffite describes in detail the capture of a Spanish ship and its crew´s fate. After a period of seizing enemy vessels, the two brothers go to France to join Napoleon´s armies. Instead, they find themselves in enemy prisons, and upon release they return to the Caribbean where they resume depredations against Spanish and British ships. The slave uprising in Haiti sends the brothers to the safety of Louisiana, where they establish Barataria as a smuggling center into New Orleans and up river. Jean and Louisiana governor Clairborne become enemies who mutually post rewards on the other´s head. Only the arrival of the British, offering a pardon and a bribe to Laffite, breaks the impasse between the Baratarians and the Americans. Laffite´s aid to General Andrew Jackson is well known and is the basis of his place in American history. After the victory, Jean received a pardon but no indemnification for his financial losses during the war years. Fruitless trips to Washington confirmed to Laffite the necessity of resuming old habits, and he established a new privateer settlement in Spanish territory on Galveston Island. A hurricane´s destruction and a changing world---backed by the power of the U.S. Navy --- led to the second dissolution of the Laffite enterprise. Jean and the last of his men quit Galveston settlement as it flamed, lighted by their own hands. Freelance plundering became more and more dangerous until Jean and Pierre decided to call it quits and spread the rumor of their violent demise and burial on the Yucatan coast. The brothers split their swag, buried some, and went their separate ways. Jean, who had lost a young wife during the birth of their third child, found a young wife in Charleston, South Carolina. They began his second family in Philadelphia before moving to St. Louis, Missouri, to end their years. Jean Laffite maintained his anonymity but worked behind the scenes for causes he held dear. The former slaver became an abolitionist under the influence of his new wife, and after a visit to Europe in 1847, he even became a socialist supporter of the young Karl Marx. He saw himself as a benefactor of mankind, but even at the end of his memoirs he did not forget to proclaim Down with the British dragon!

Marshall, Gene

XlibrisUS

This is a reprint of the book published in 1958. It is the controversial account of Jean Laffite's life after he was supposed to have died in Yucatan in 1826.

The Journal of Jean Lafitte : The Privateer-Patriot's Own Story

True Crime

Dogwood Press

<p>The Battle of New Orleans: Dec., 1814 British troops were preparing to land in force when a harried Andrew Jackson, charged with mounting an urgent defence of the critical port city, was confronted by the leader of the notorious Baratarian pirates. Jackson had already refused to collaborate with these "hellish banditti," but the charismatic smuggler would not be deterred. "You want flints?" he offered, "I have 7,500 flints available at a snap of my fingers. You want powder? I have kegs-full. You want rifles, axes, men? They're yours. I have a thousand fighting men, eighty of which are now rotting in the Cabildo. Jackson," he addressed the General flamboyantly, "I and my followers want to fight for America..." This was Jean Laffite, a 19th century Han Solo at war with the British Empire. His men, supplies, and counsel proved instrumental to winning the final battle of the War of 1812 for the fledgling American republic.</p>

The Journal Of Jean Laffite: The Privateer-Patriot's Own Story

Lafitte, Jean

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

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Books by Laffite, Jean

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Laffite, Jean. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Memoirs of Jean Laffite

The Memoirs of Jean Laffite

The Journal of Jean Lafitte : The Privateer-Patriot's Own Story

The Journal Of Jean Laffite: The Privateer-Patriot's Own Story