Without the help of this man of questionable repute, New Orleans would almost certainly have fallen to the British Army. The Americans desperately needed Lafitte's stores of gunpowder and flints for their firearms; and Lafitte's pirates would man most of the American cannons on the battlefield at Chalmette. Precise gunners, with, shall we say, much professional experience on the high seas, the pirates slaughtered the invading Redcoats as they marched against the American lines near the levee of the Mississippi River just south of New Orleans.
Many of the facts of Lafitte's life are unsure. Where was he born? Maybe in France or in the Caribbean. Where did he die? Maybe in Louisiana or Texas or in Mexico or somewhere in the Caribbean. He was an absolute hero in the city of New Orleans, but he is still seen as a scoundrel and a man of mystery. He and his brother, Pierre, were smugglers and did a very successful business peddling stolen goods in the city. For his own security, he set up a base in Grand Terre Island in Barataria Bay, about 100 miles south of New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico.
Pierre would operate the family trade in New Orleans, while Jean ran the buisness in Barataria -- organizing privateer raids and transferring the stolen goods by small boats through the swamps and bayous to New Orleans. These activities, needless to say, annoyed the United States government which eventually sent warships to smash Lafitte's base in Barataria and imprison many of Lafitte's pirates.
Despite this, Jean Lafitte decided to support the Americans when the British plotted to invade New Orleans in 1814. The British had actually offered Lafitte British citizenship and land grants in British-held areas of the Caribbean in exchange for his help in the invasion. Additionally, should he refuse to help, the British threatened to attack and destroy his base.
The odds were certainly with the British. They had a large navy and a large army of seasoned troops who had experience fighting the French under Napoleon. They were well equipped (they even had a new technologically advanced weapon called the Congreve rocket), and had high morale. The Americans, on the other hand, had faced defeat after defeat by the British elsewhere on American shores.
American troops had fled in terror at the Battle of Bladensburg in Maryland as the British infantry advanced with a bayonet charge. The British burned the White House, and President James Madison and First Lady Dolley Madison had to evacuate the city. (Dolley Madison is credited with saving priceless American documents, as she fled the White House, including the Declaration of Independence and the original copy of the US Constitution.) The American situation looked bleak indeed.
Now at New Orleans Andrew Jackson did not have much of a professional army to speak of. He had some regular US Army troops; but many were Tennessee and Kentucky volunteers, civilian volunteers including Freemen-of-Color and Creoles from New Orleans, Choctaw Indians, and some sailors and Marines. But Jackson had one other force ... Lafitte and his pirates.
Lafitte's reasons for supporting the Americans are unclear. But it is clear Lafitte felt it was in his interests to support them and not the British. Andrew Jackson arrived in New Orleans to find the city poorly prepared. He needed supplies and men. Jackson therefore met with Lafitte and made a deal. Lafitte's men would be pardoned and freed from jail if they agreed to help the Americans against the British. As a result many of the pirates served on the battlelines at Chalmette where the Battle of New Orleans actually occurred, about four miles downriver from the city.
The American victory on January 8, 1815 at Chalmette was stunning. Several British generals, including the overall commander Edward Pakenham, were killed and over 2,000 redcoats died of wounds. (Pakenham was actually the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington who would defeat Napoleon at Waterloo.) The Americans suffered only minor casualties. Much of the credit for this victory went directly to Lafitte and his pirates. Andrew Jackson would later become a US president largely because of this incredible victory.
Lafitte eventually moved his smuggling business (including a trade in smuggled slaves) to Galveston, and it was said he died at sea in a battle with Spanish ships.
He was a scoundrel, a pirate, a rogue, and a hero. Jean Lafitte remains one of the greatest romantic figures in all of New Orleans history.
(Note: The sketch above is from Wikimedia Commons which states it is an engraving originally from a book published in 1837 called The Pirates Own Book: Authentic Narratives of the Most Celebrated Sea Robbers by Charles Ellms from a copy on Guttenburg.org. The map is an early 19th century map from Wikimedia Commons in public domain depicting the main battle on the East Bank of the Mississippi River in Chalmette a few miles below New Orleans. For more information on Jean Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Lafitte Also see the books The Pirate Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans by Robert Tallant and Lafitte the Pirate by Lyle Saxon.)
