Jean Lafitte (c. 1780 – c. 1823) was a
French pirate and
privateer in the
Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his elder brother, Pierre, spelled their last name
Laffite, but English-language documents of the time used "Lafitte". The latter has become the common spelling in the United States, including for places named after him.
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Lafitte is believed to have been born either in Basque-France or the French colony of
Saint-Domingue. By 1805, he operated a warehouse in
New Orleans to help disperse the goods smuggled by his brother
Pierre Lafitte. After the United States government passed the
Embargo Act of 1807, the Lafittes moved their operations to an island in
Barataria Bay, Louisiana. By 1810, their new
port was very successful; the Lafittes pursued a successful
smuggling operation and also started to engage in
piracy.
Though Lafitte warned the other Baratarians of a possible military attack on their base of operations, an American naval force successfully invaded in September 1814 and captured most of Lafitte's fleet. Later, in return for a legal pardon for the smugglers, Lafitte and his comrades helped General
Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans against the British in
the final battle of the
War of 1812.
The Lafittes became spies for the Spanish during the
Mexican War of Independence and moved to
Galveston Island, Texas, where they developed a pirate colony they called
Campeche. Lafitte continued attacking merchant ships as a pirate around Central American ports until he died circa 1823, trying to capture Spanish vessels. Speculation about his life and death continues among historians.