The boys' book of buccaneers

by A. Hyatt Verrill

“So they did,” replied his father. “But Lafitte and his brother were not really pirates. That is, no real acts of piracy were ever proved against them, although they were denounced as such. In reality the Lafittes were smugglers, but their career was so picturesque and romantic that their story may be quite fittingly included in that of the buccaneers and pirates.

“The two brothers, Jean and Pierre Lafitte, were born in France, and came to New Orleans in the spring of 1809. They were brilliant, witty, well educated, attractive men, and spoke several [[233]]languages fluently. The two started a blacksmith shop, which they operated by slaves, and from the first the brothers appeared to have plenty of money. At that time there was a strip of territory, stretching for a distance of about sixty miles from the mouth of the Mississippi to Bayou Lafourche, which was in almost undisputed possession of a colony of smuggler-pirates known as the ‘Baratarians,’ from the fact that their headquarters were on the Bay of Barataria, a body of water with a narrow opening protected from the Gulf by a low, narrow island about six miles long known as Grande-Terre.

“Some of these Baratarians possessed letters of marque from France, as well as from the Republic of New Grenada (now Colombia), authorizing them to prey upon Spanish shipping, but like the pirates of old they had the reputation of lacking discrimination and of attacking any vessel that they could overpower. Whatever the truth of their piratical tendencies may have been, there was no question that they were smugglers on a large scale, and not long after the Lafittes arrived in Louisiana they joined their lot with these Baratarians.

“Jean occupied a position as a sort of agent [[234]]and banker for the smugglers, but he was far too clever and ambitious to remain long in such a subordinate capacity, and soon was the head and brains of the whole organization. To this state he won both by superior intelligence and force of arms, for both Lafittes were adept swordsmen and expert pistol shots, and when a fellow called Grambo, a burly leader among the Baratarians, had the temerity to question Jean Lafitte’s leadership the latter promptly whipped out a pistol and shot him through the heart.

“Hitherto the Baratarians had been divided into factions, and there were constant dissensions and quarrels among them, but under Lafitte’s management all were united, and so daring and brazenly did they carry on their operations that within three years from the time the Lafitte brothers stepped ashore at New Orleans there was more commerce entering and leaving Barataria Bay than the port of New Orleans. Great warehouses rose above the low sand dunes of Grande-Terre; cargoes of slaves were weekly auctioned in the big slave market; from far and near merchants and dealers flocked to the smugglers’ stronghold to barter and trade, and it was evidently but a question of time before the Lafittes [[235]]and their Baratarian friends would control all the import trade of the Mississippi Valley.

“Becoming alarmed at the magnitude of operations, the federal government decided to break up the smugglers, and revenue cutters were dispatched to the bay. But the Baratarians’ spies were vigilant, word of the raid was brought, and the discomfited government officers returned empty-handed, without having accomplished anything worth while. Indeed, it was a common rumor in New Orleans that even the United States officials were in league with the Lafittes, and the wealthy, charming Frenchmen came and went, spent their money freely in New Orleans, drove about in splendid carriages and with magnificent horses, maintained expensive establishments, and snapped their slender, jeweled fingers at the authorities.

“It was the greatest, most flagrant smuggling enterprise ever carried on in the history of the world, and at last Governor Claiborne of Louisiana decided to take drastic measures to suppress it. The penalties of the law for smuggling were evidently not severe enough to meet the case, and so, in 1813, the governor issued a proclamation in which he declared the Baratarians pirates, warned [[236]]the citizens not to deal with them, and threatened to hang every one he could lay hands on.

“But His Excellency might have saved his breath and his paper. Twirling gold-headed canes, decked in valuable jewels, attired in the most expensive and beautifully tailored clothes, the Lafitte brothers strolled nonchalantly through the streets and, surrounded by admirers, read with interest and amusement the official placards in which they were denounced as pirates. Then, to add insult to injury, they tacked up posters, advertising a slave auction to be held at Barataria, alongside the irate governor’s proclamations!

“Beside himself with anger, but realizing he was unable to cope single-handed with the situation; Governor Claiborne issued a supplementary proclamation offering five hundred dollars reward for the apprehension of either of the Lafitte brothers. Only one man, as far as known, attempted to earn the reward, and instead of the five hundred dollars he received a bullet through the lungs which promptly relieved him of all desire or necessity for money or anything else of a worldly nature.

“The governor was desperate. No one would raise a finger against the so-called ‘pirates,’ they [[237]]openly defied the state, and he asked the Legislature for an appropriation to raise a company of volunteers to attack the stronghold of the Lafittes. Unfortunately the increase of the smugglers’ business had so depleted the state treasury that there were no funds available; but at last the governor succeeded in obtaining an indictment for piracy against the two Lafittes and the Baratarian leaders. Armed with this, the governor managed to have Pierre arrested.