Here's Where It Gets Interesting - Louisiana: The Notorious Pirate Who Saved America

Episode Date: October 6, 2021

In this solo episode, Sharon shares the story of Jean Lafitte. Jean was a Louisiana blacksmith, and when the United States passed the Embargo Act in the early 1800s, Jean and his brother turned to smuggling goods to make a living. The smuggling escalated to full-on piracy and the brothers were instrumental in getting goods to U.S. citizens and helping the US Navy. Sharon goes into detail about Jean’s role in the War of 1812 and the importance of the Louisiana Purchase. For more information on this episode including all resources and links discussed go to https://www.sharonmcmahon.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Goaltenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those, friends. So happy to welcome you to this episode which is about somebody who maybe saved america maybe i'll let you decide by the end of the episode but this person was a pirate from louisiana and if you are from louisiana i bet you can guess who we are about to talk about, Jean Lapete. So let's do it. Let's dive into the pirate who saved America. I'm Sharon McMahon, and welcome to the Sharon Says So podcast. So if you visit the Louisiana tourism website, you will be greeted

with this message. Come explore the heart of the Barataria Basin, where the dark bayou waters hide silent alligators alongside the secrets of notorious pirate Jean Lafitte. Okay, so pirates in America are not just Captain Jack Sparrow. We're not just talking pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. Pirates are a real and actually, you're going to find out an important part of US history. So let's talk about one of the most famous pirates in US history, Jean Lafitte. Now, his origin story is a little unclear. Turns out they did not keep careful records when he was born. There is a journal that somebody claims that he wrote. One of those things where it's like, can this be authenticated? Not sure. And so there are a few different origin stories, including

various stories about where he was born, what year he was born. Some people say he was born in France. Some people say he was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which is now in Haiti. Other people think he was born in Louisiana. All that we know for sure is that he ends up in Louisiana at the turn of the century, sometime around 1800-ish. This becomes important because Louisiana was added on to the United States via the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. It was added on, overseen by Thomas Jefferson, who was kind of obsessed with adding on the Louisiana Purchase, even though he himself was unclear about whether or not he had the constitutional authority to double the size of the United States. In his letters, he wrote to other members of

Congress and was like, this is a little sketch. And so maybe we should make an amendment that lets me do this. And that ended up not happening. He ended up just proceeding anyway, because he felt like the opportunity to add on the Louisiana Purchase was so important. Like this is once in a lifetime, and it was once in a lifetime. By the way, Jefferson sent James Monroe, who became the fifth president, to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. Monroe went to France because again, you couldn't call people then. You had to physically sail across the ocean. He gets this letter from Jefferson before he leaves. And the letter said, all eyes, all hopes are now fixed on you. For on the event of this mission depends the future destinies of this

republic. But no pressure. The destiny of the republic is on your shoulders, Monroe, but absolutely no pressure. It's going to be fine either way. So Jefferson gave Monroe the authority to spend $10 million to affix the Louisiana Purchase, which, by the way, was not just the state of Louisiana. It was basically everything from Louisiana all the way almost up to Canada. Gives him $10 million and says, this is how much you have to spend. Monroe gets to France thinking he's going to have to convince Napoleon to sell the land. When Monroe got there, Napoleon was hot to trot. He was like, I got to sell this land. Napoleon wanted the money. And Napoleon proposed selling it for $22

million. He was like, this is how much I'd like to get. He wanted the money to fund all of his war efforts. And Monroe ended up talking him down to 15 million, which was more than he was supposed to spend. And then, you know, he had to write home. None of this is fast. This takes months. Eventually, of course, the United States did purchase the Louisiana Purchase. It bought the Louisiana Purchase from France, and it's obviously still part of the United States. But this is where things start to get interesting. This is where Jean Lafitte comes into play. In 1807, so this is four years after the Louisiana Purchase has been negotiated. In 1807, the United States passed the Embargo Act. At that time, Britain and France were at war with each other, like big time, and they were using neutral United States as a pawn, you know, boarding U.S. ships, trying to get a leg up using the United States as leverage.

Congress was not interested in that. They were like, absolutely not. We are not going to be used as a pawn in your game. None of you are allowed to dock in the United States. None of you. And also, no ships will leave our ports for you. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. Like, fine, we are not going to be useless upon. You can't dock in the United States and we are not going to send stuff to you. Seemed like a good idea at the time, except it really made things difficult for merchants in the United States who were like, um, hi, we'd like to get stuff. Hi, we'd like to sell our goods. And you're making it real challenging for us to do that. Thomas Jefferson was like, listen,

it's either this or go to war. And we are not going to win a naval war. We are not going to win a war of the seas. They're like, there's just no way. The United States cannot beat Britain or France on the water. So this is what we can do with the resources we have available. What it also did was launch the career of Jean Lafitte. Keep in mind, New Orleans was a major port. Of course, it's sitting right on the Gulf of Mexico. All of those Caribbean islands that have goods that they want to trade with the rest of the world, those are coming into the port of

New Orleans. Of course, when you control New Orleans, you are also in control of the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River became incredibly important to the United States. That was one of the reasons they wanted to buy the Louisiana Purchase was control of the Mississippi River, didn't want the British to have it, et cetera. So all of the shipping merchants in New Orleans were like, how are we supposed to get stuff? How are we supposed to send stuff out? And Jean Lafitte, who had a brother named Pierre, they had been running a blacksmith shop in New Orleans, got an idea. What if we help you out in that situation? What if we help you smuggle some stuff in and out of the United States? And they knew that there were too many government eyes on them in the actual port of New Orleans. And so they established this little

outpost in an area called the Barataria, little islands kind of out in the bayou, way beyond the roving eyes of the government. It's hockey season and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.

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What they would do is board ships, bring some of the cargo aboard, bring it back to these little islands in the Barataria region, break up the cargo that was on these large ships so that it could be transported by smaller ship into these smaller ports. Again, all beyond the watchful eye of the government, go back, get some more stuff, bring it to the small islands. Then they could put it on barges, small islands. Then they could put it on barges, go through the bayous, and then go in the back way into New Orleans and thereby smuggle goods in and out of the United States. Jean and Pierre Lafitte became very successful at smuggling goods in and out of the United States. So successful that it allowed them to earn enough money to purchase a ship. And they were like, you know what? We could make more money being pirates than we could being smugglers. So they bought a ship and they began their career of piracy. They boarded one ship,

they ended up getting a bunch of money. They boarded another ship, got a bunch of money. Within very short order, they had made tens of thousands of dollars. And again, this is the early 1800s. Tens of thousands of dollars was a lot. It's still a lot. So it was a lot, a lot. They eventually worked their way up to having a small fleet of ships. They had fake government orders that were like, we're legit. They did not just sail around with like a skull and crossbones.

They were pretending to be legit, but they were in actuality pirates. And they developed this reputation for being benevolent to the crew of a ship. They would board the ship, seize the goods, and then return the ship back to the crew. And so they were a little bit more palatable than other pirates in other places. Also, the people of New Orleans kind of liked them because they were able to get stuff and sell stuff. So a lot of the people of New Orleans were very loathe to turn them in. Their economy depended a lot on this smuggling and piracy. Eventually, however, in 1812, Pierre was arrested. He was arrested for being a pirate, and he was put on trial and put in prison. And in 1814, Pierre has been in prison for a couple of years at this point,

Pierre has been in prison for a couple of years at this point. Jean Lafitte is out doing his piratey things when he discovers that he is being fired on by a British ship. The British ship fires on him. He immediately like darts into shore kind of beyond where the British could get to him. The British get as close as they can and they raise their white flag. Like, listen, we're not trying to kill you. Come and talk to us. They eventually meet. They row their boats to meet each other. And the people aboard the British naval ship hand Sean the Feet a letter. And it is a letter from King George III himself. Yes, that King George from Hamilton. A letter from King George himself offering Jean Lafitte a commission in the Royal Navy, the Royal British Navy, and $30,000, which is like millions of dollars today, if he will fight against the United States

in the War of 1812. And Lafitte was like, well, thank you for this fantastic offer. I am going to have to give it some thought. While he was thinking about it, he decided to let America know of this offer. He goes to some military leaders. He's like, listen, I got this letter that offered me a commission in the Navy and it offered me $30,000. I just want to let you know that this is what's going on. Some of the local military leaders were like, dang Lafitte, you should not do that. You should not take that deal. Fight for us instead. Lafitte was like, you know, I would consider it, but my brother is still in prison. And you know, that is really just like making me not able to think about things clearly. I'm really going to have to give this some more thought because my brother is still in prison. And oh, very shortly thereafter,

within a couple of days, isn't it shocking that Pierre escaped from prison? Oh, he just escaped. Oh, shoot. I hate it when prisoners escape from prison randomly at the most opportune moments. His brother, quote unquote, escaped from prison in an effort to help Lafitte make his decision more easily. Some of the people in the US military, like higher up above the local leaders were like, I don't believe a word he's saying. He was just trying to get his brother out of jail. He is going to go right back to being a pirate. So in September of 1814, the United States military began to attack Lafitte and his crew on the little islands in the Barataria. They took 80 people captive. That is how many people the Lafites had working for them. Lafite ended up escaping. But the American military took possession of six ships and 20 cannons and goods worth at

least $500,000 in 1814 money. And they were doing it because they felt like Lafite is a traitor. We cannot trust him. They had let him just kind of fly below the radar all of this time. And they were doing it because they felt like Lafitte is a traitor. We cannot trust him. They had let him just kind of fly below the radar all of this time. And they finally, once he had come to them with this letter that he had gotten, then the higher ups got word of it. And they thought they smelled the rat, didn't believe that that was what really happened. And they were going to give him like a little taste of his own medicine. So do you guys know about the battle of New Orleans? Do you guys know about the Battle of New Orleans? Do you guys know about the War of 1812? I mean, I feel like a lot of people don't. I feel like a

lot of people are not aware that the British didn't want to let America go. I feel like a lot of people are not aware that they tried to reinvade and they like burned down the White House and a big chunk of the U.S. Capitol. And like, it was a war that took a long time. Also, the Star-Spangled Banner written during the War of 1812, not written during the U.S. Revolution. It was written during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. So before Andrew Jackson became President of the United States, he was a huge war hero. And the reason he was a war hero in large part was because he won the Battle of New Orleans. Here comes Andrew Jackson, who has been serving in other parts of the U.S. South. He gets wind of the fact that the British are trying to recruit Lafitte and they're going to try to take New Orleans and he quickly heads

to New Orleans. Andrew Jackson rounds up this ragtag volunteer army in need of a shower in an effort to get them to defeat a global superpower. You see what I just did there? You see what I just did? It happened again. It didn't just happen that one time in the Revolutionary War. It happened again in the War of 1812. Andrew Jackson cobbles together 4,500 men. Most of them just live there. They're just people who live in the region. But some of them were pirates. Some of them were Lafitte's men.

They fight the Battle of New Orleans. And Andrew Jackson, it was like a personal vendetta. He had spent time as a British prisoner of war during the revolution. And he said, I owe to Britain a debt of retaliatory vengeance. Should our forces meet, I trust I shall pay the debt. So he puts together this 4,500 person military. The British have almost double that number of people. They're much better equipped. But Lafitte had all of these boats with cannons on them. And so his men were experts at cannons. All of these people living in the region, by the way, they were all accustomed

to hunting for all of their food. They were expert marksmen because they were literally used to hunting for food to subsist with. The Battle of New Orleans, the big part of it took under one hour. There were other skirmishes and it took longer than that to fully resolve, but the Battle of New Orleans took under one hour. The British in letters later said that the U.S. military, which again is just a row of fiery furnaces. Andrew Jackson had told Lafitte, listen, if you will fight for me, if you will fight for America, I will make sure that everybody that the U.S. government just arrested, I will make sure that they all get pardons. None of them will go to prison. And that was what made Lafitte willing

to fight for the United States. In the Battle of New Orleans, over 2,000 British soldiers were killed in under an hour. Approximately 100 Americans were killed. That is an incredible ratio, especially when you're considering the training that the British had that the Americans did not have. Later, Andrew Jackson gave a special commendation to Lafitte and his men about their extraordinary bravery and their extraordinary accuracy with their cannon fire. You can't necessarily say that like, wow, without Lafitte and all of his expert cannon operators, we would have lost the Battle of New Orleans. But you can say that they absolutely aided in our win. They absolutely made it possible so that we clearly and decisively won that battle. I mean, they sunk a lot of ships. They killed a bunch of generals.

It was a very, very decisive victory due in part to Lafitte and his men. Had the United States lost the Battle of New Orleans, U.S. history would look very different. If the British had been able to take New Orleans and take control of the mouth of the Mississippi River, completely different trajectory in U.S. history. Yes, Lafitte and his men get pardons. Do they then go back to being law-abiding citizens? One guess. The answer is no. The Lafitte brothers decided to sign up to be spies for Spain in another conflict with Mexico. They traveled away from Louisiana and founded a community on another southern island. Maybe you will recognize the name, Galveston, Texas. While John Lafitte was living in Galveston,

he was so incredibly wealthy. He was making $2 million a year in like 1818, literally living the highest life possible. $2 million a year in like 1818 is incredible. But in 1821, they kicked him out of that little barrier island off the coast of what is now Texas. What happened to Jean Lafitte? Also a little bit up in the air. Best guesses are that he died being a pirate somewhere in the region of Honduras, Haiti, and he was buried at sea. So now in Louisiana, there is a Lafitte National Historic Park and Nature Preserve. He is also commemorated at Disneyland. Of course he is. Outside of the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean ride, there's like a little plaque and it says on it that this is said to be from a pirate ship commanded by Jean Lafitte in the Battle of New

Orleans, January 8th, 1815. It is also said that Lafitte's privateering ships left a wake of blood from the mainland to Barataria Bay. But don't believe everything you read. Lafitte's blacksmith shop is one of the oldest buildings in New Orleans. And it is now a bar. It's questionable whether this was actually the Lafitte Brothers Blacksmith shop, but it is an incredibly architecturally important building on the National Register of Historic Places. It's one of the only buildings that remains of that certain type of architecture from that time period. So did pirates save the United States from British rule? That is the million dollar question. And I will let you be the judge of that. But if you're interested to learn more about Jean Lafitte, his last name is spelled L-A-F-I-T-T-E. And what a colorful

character he is even commemorated at Disneyland. Thank you so much for listening to the Sharon Says So podcast. I am truly grateful for you. And I'm wondering if you could do me a quick favor. Would you be willing to follow or subscribe to this podcast or maybe leave me a rating or review? Or if you're feeling extra generous, would you share this episode on your Instagram stories or with a friend? All of those things help podcasters out so much. I cannot wait to have another mind blown moment with you next episode. Thanks again for listening to the Sharon Says So podcast.