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5. Q: Is there a signature of Jean Laffite that is considered authentic?


A: There are several, including: Jean Laffite letter to President James Madison, December 27, 1815 (Library of Congress); Jean Laffite letter to General James Long, July 7, 1819 (Lamar Papers); Jean Laffite's instructions to the captain of the privateer Le Brave, August 18, 1819 (National Archives). The Laffite letters from 1814 in the E. A. Parsons collection at the University of Texas are also probably authentic, though Parsons and others have taken some liberties with the translations and identification of the authors (for example, several of the documents attributed to Jean Laffite are in fact letters written by Pierre)--[Vogel].

[The Laffite Society logo contains an image of an authentic signature of Jean Laffite.--Ed.]

6. Q: Is there a roster of men who served with Laffite?

A: No such roster is known to exist--indeed, it would seem unlikely that the Barataria and Galveston gangs ever held roll call. The problem of identifying who was and who was not a Laffite associate is complicated by the fact that Laffite did not become famous until after publication of Joseph Holt Ingraham's best-selling novel Lafitte, the Pirate of the Gulf in 1836. Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth-century, old men appeared in public to claim their 15 minutes of fame as a Laffite "lieutenant," "crewman," "prisoner," or "cabin boy." Louis Chighizola, Charles Cronea, and probably James Campbell appear to fall within the category of pirate wanna-be's, as their claims are wholly unsubstantiated.

Known associates of the Laffite brothers (not all of whom were privateers or smugglers, per se) whose identities can be verified include: Jean Blanque (d. 1816), merchant and politician; Guy R. Champlin, privateer captain, who was at Galveston in 1817-1818; Auguste Genevieve Valentin Davezac (1780-1851), attorney; Jean Desfarges (ca. 1798-1820), privateer captain; Felipe Fatio (d. 1820), Spanish consul at New Orleans (and the Laffite brothers' contact with the Spanish secret service); Dr. Felix Formento (1790-1888), physician with the Champ d'Asile colony; V. Garrott, Pierre Laffite's business agent; Jean Joseph Amable Humbert (1755-1823), filibuster; Barthelemy Lafon (1769-1820), architect, engineer, privateersman; Arsene Lacarriere Latour (ca. 1775-1837), engineer (Spanish spy who worked with the Laffite brothers in 1816-1817); Edward Livingston (1764-1837), attorney (Baratarian defense attorney 1814-1816); William Wilson Mitchell (ca. 1784-1821), privateer; Juan Bautista Mariana Picornell y Gomilla (1739-1825), revolutionary and Spanish secret agent; and Joseph Sauvinet, merchant, privateer owner--[Vogel.]


[There were others, some of whom were members of the New Orleans Association--a group of New Orleans businessmen including the Laffites-- who owned ships that used the facilities maintained by Jean and to which he at least had access. These included among others: Abner Duncan, J.B. LaPorte and John West. Additional people who were active with Laffite were: Latham, John McHenry, Robert Johnson, George Brown, John Oliver, John Tucker, Jacques Lacroix, John Grymes, Michel Lebrequet, James Roeny, Henri Perry, Arsene Lebleu, Warren D.C. Hall, Charles Sallier, Edmund Quirk, Michel Pithon, Anson Taylor, Andrew Roach, Louis Chighizola (aka Nez Coupe), Jacinto Labrano, Peter Ellis Bean, James Campbell, Charles Cronea and perhaps Nathan Tilton.

At the Battle of New Orleans, Battery Number 3, captained by Dominique You, had a total of 42 Baratarians. These men are listed in Powell Casey's Louisiana at the Battle of New Orleans and reprinted in Ramsay's Jean Laffite Prince of Pirates.

The Journal of Jean Laffite (which is not an authentic work) lists many more men associated with Laffite. This list provides interesting leads but should not be considered authentic per se. The names should serve as leads for further research only.--Ed.]

The Laffite Society
Galveston Island, Texas
 Established 1994