Laffite quite possibly took the letters directly to Onís, though the Spanish ambassador was already well informed of rebel movements thanks to his other spies. In late January 1816 he demanded that Washington take all measures to punish and disperse a "factious band of insurgents in Louisiana, and especially New Orleans" who were lighting revolutionary flames in Spain's provinces. He wanted Toledo and Herrera arrested, and warned that the two traitors were reviving the old plan for a marine assault on Tampico, along with an overland march into Texas.108 His source was Sedella, who got his information from Picornell and Pierre Laffite. Pierre may also have written to his brother. In early February, speaking of Pierre Laffite, Onís affirmed to Apodaca "the great value this acquisition presents." He told Picornell to promise Pierre everything he asked.109
By the middle of February Jean was ready to return to New Orleans.110 Jackson had left Washington at the beginning of the month, and it was clear that neither Congress nor the president were going to act on Jean's appeal for restitution. His arrangements for a new vessel or vessels were complete, and, more important now, he had his first assignment from his Spanish employers. Onís and Latour had persuaded him to accompany the engineer on a tour of Spanish land north and west of Louisiana, ostensibly a routine inspection and mapping expedition but really a chance to assess defenses and probe the vulnerability to attack by filibusters. Onís left for Philadelphia on February 13, after which Jean could not expect to receive more instructions in person and was free to depart.
By the middle of March he was back in Louisiana. He gave Pierre the letters from Gual, and Pierre promptly turned them over to Sedella, who would put them in the hands of the viceroy in Havana. It was Jean's first accomplished act of espionage. Now he saw his son for the first time. He also came back to a new home for his sporadic sojourns in New Orleans. In September Pierre and Marie Villard had sold her Dumaine Street house to a free colored woman, though Pierre had to witness the transaction for it to be lawful. 111 At the same time, to satisfy a debt, Marguerite Villard, probably Marie's mother, sold her old picket cabin at the corner of Dauphine and Orleans streets, where the brothers had probably spent some time on the gallery on summer evenings. Indeed, with its latrine and well, this might have been the place where Pierre spent the uncomfortable night in a well hiding from General Flournoy's guard. Marguerite had owned the place for almost twenty years, and Pierre witnessed her transaction, too.112
After satisfying Marguerite's debt, Pierre had moved the family to a rented accommodation, but already he was looking for a new house. Such things were apparently of little interest to Jean, for he never had and never would buy property. Even now his stay in the rented home lasted scarcely a fortnight. By the end of March he was gone again, joining Latour for their expedition and his first real mission as a Spanish spy.113
The only known alleged portrait from life of Pierre Laffite is this ghostly image, which survives today only in a poor reproduction of the original painted miniature. It surfaced in the hands of New Orleans antique dealer Joseph Pelletier in 1925, supposedly in effects belonging to General Daniel Morgan, with whom Pierre served at New Orleans in 1814–1815. Lyle Saxon saw the miniature in Pelletier's hands in the late 1920s and described it as showing a young man in a green coat with light brown hair drawn back over his ears. He suspected that it was painted in France circa 1797, but that was only a guess. Efforts to locate the original have been fruitless, and in the absence of it or any provenance establishing its authenticity, it can only be said that this might be Pierre Laffite.
New Orleans, Times-Picayune, August 23, 1925
The only known alleged portrait of Jean Laffite by someone who claimed to have known him, this crude sketch was supposedly done by a man named Lacassinier who said he worked for the Laffites in Galveston circa 1819. Joseph O. Dyer acquired it in 1874. There is no reason to suppose it to be an accurate depiction, and it could be complete invention.
Galveston, Daily News, September 19, 1926
In 1879 Homer Thrall published his Pictorial History of Texas, and in it included this woodcut by John R. Telfer depicting Jean Laffite. It may be pure imagination, though it shows evidence of being based in part on published descriptions available at the time. Still, regardless of his sources, it was drawn half a century after the fact by someone who never actually saw Laffite in the flesh. It remains the most popular image of the privateer.
Thrall, Pictorial History of Texas, 1879
The territories of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Spanish West Florida, as they appeared in 1806 in Barthélémy Lafon's outstanding map published that year, still a masterpiece of historical cartography. This was the America that the Laffites knew on coming to the New World. Historic New Orleans Collection, Acc. No. 1971.52
New Orleans as it looked to Pierre Laffite when he arrived in 1803, in an etching that year by John L. Boqueta de Woiseri. The view is down Levee Street, with the spires of the Cathedral Church of St. Louis at right center marking the location of the Place d'Arms. Historic New Orleans Collection Acc. No. 1958.42
Governor William C. C. Claiborne endured a rocky relationship with the Laffites, first as their adversary, then as their erstwhile ally in defending New Orleans, but in the end he never regarded them as more than criminals.
George W. Cable, The Creoles of Louisiana, 1885
Top: Pierre Laffite's signature in March 1803 soon after his arrival in New Orleans. Middle: Pierre's signature in October 1811 when he sold a slave to Adelaide Masclari, showing the effects of his stroke the year before. Bottom: Pierre Laffite signs an October 7, 1819, report to Captain General Cagigal with his code name "No 13."
Top and middle, NONA; Bottom, Gobierno Superior Civil, Coleccion de Documentos del Archivo Nacional de Cuba, Havana, Legajo 492, Expediente 18688, microfilm at HNOC
Jean Laffite's earliest known signed document, February 5, 1813 NONA
General Andrew Jackson as he appeared when he met with the brothers Laffite in 1815.
Arsené Latour, Historical Memoir of the War in West Florida and Louisiana in 1814–1815. 1816
This crude 1837 woodcut is probably the first attempt to depict Jean Laffite in art. In this instance he stands at left, looking distinctly unpiratical, while meeting with Governor Claiborne at center and General Jackson at right.
Charles Ellms, The Pirates Own Book, 1837
The only known contemporary eyewitness depiction of a Laffite vessel is this January 7, 1819, watercolor by Benjamin Henry Latrobe entitled "View of the Balize at the Mouth of the Mississippi." As Latrobe's own caption shows, the tall masts with yardarms appearing above the trees at left belong to the USS Firebrand. It, of course, was formerly the Laffites' Dorada. A captured sloop formerly belonging to the pirate William Mitchell, probably taken in the September 1819 raid on Barataria, is tied up beneath the large signal tower.
Copy from original owned by the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore
New Orleans as surveyed in 1816 by Barthélémy Lafon, the Laffites' sometime fellow corsair and soon to be their partner in spying for Spain. Bayou St. John, a route sometimes used by the smugglers to bring goods into the city, runs across the top of the map, one of its branches extending down into the western suburb of the city, a haunt of the smugglers after the War of 1812.
Historic New Orleans Collection, Acc. No. 1945.2
No image of a Laffite dwelling survives other than this 1848 overhead site plan of the house owned in the name of Marie Louise Villard at the northeast corner of Bourbon and St. Philip Streets. It shows the house at the lower left corner of the lot, along with outbuildings. As of 1848 it had not changed from its 1816–20 appearance when the Laffites intermittently lived there.
Plan de Trois Lots de Terre de La Municipalité No. 1, Plan Book No. 72, Folio No. 27, March 28, 1848
"Père Antoine," Padre Antonio de Sedella, the zealous champion of Spain in the New World, spiritual leader of New Orleans and spymaster who helped enlist and then manage the Numbers 13, Pierre an
d Jean Laffite.
George W. Cable, The Creoles of Louisiana, 1885
This crude woodcut depicts the death of Jean Laffite. It is probably based on published accounts from Captain Porter's squadron soon after the actual event in 1823, and while they were themselves inaccurate, still they likely echoed genuine current stories of the corsair's death. Charles Ellms, The Pirates Own Book, 1837
New Orleans artist Edward Arnold's imaginative painting, "Interception by American Navy Frigates of Lafitte's Privateer Attacking A Merchant Vessel," painted in 1858. It is a fictional scene, of course. No privateer, and certainly not the Laffites', flew the skull and crossbones flag so popular in pirate fiction, nor did any of the corsairs risk taking on an armed frigate. Courtesy of a private collection
THIRTEEN
A Career of Betrayals 1815–1816
He had the skill, when Cunnings gaze would seek
To probe his heart and watch his changing cheek
At once the observers purpose to espy,
And on himself roll back his scrutiny,
DURING JEAN'S eight-month absence, Pierre maintained the Laffites' interests in New Orleans, as well as their roles in the projects of the "associates" and their emerging double life as Spanish spies. The Spaniards had known of the Laffites' flirtation with the filibusters and revolutionaries when the brothers conspired with Picornell in the abortive Tampico raid the year before.1 Sedella was ever vigilant, as was Morphy, and the plotters seemed almost comically inept at keeping their plans secret. As early as March 4, 1815, an agent in Pensacola warned Apodaca of the threat to Tampico and Bexar, to be aided by "all of the indolent French, privateers, and Americans who served in the defense of New Orleans, and which Pirates' Crimes have been forgiven by the State Legislature."2 When Cunningham took the Eagle, the Presidente, and the Santa Rita, the captured correspondence on them revealed the details of Toledo's plans, and hinted at tacit acquiescence by the United States government, which Apodaca's agent condemned for its "shocking dissimulating strategy." Apodaca was advised to halt all maritime communication between Nautla or Vera Cruz and Barataria after Toledo's captured letters made it clear that the smugglers were involved with the revolutionaries, and that Governor Claiborne gave "very good Audience" to them. Rumor even held that the American government now conspired with the Baratarians to smuggle Spanish prize goods into New Orleans, with the result that insurance companies in the city refused to write policies on Spanish cargoes. 3
When news arrived of the peace treaty, Apodaca feared that his troubles would only get worse, "because as I see it, these pirates will gain a new strength and vitality, and there is nothing else than the crude activity and braveness of our Royal Navy able to finish once and for all this mob infecting the Mexican essence and entirely annihilating the Spanish Commerce." Even before the return of the Eagle, Toledo sent another goleta to Nautla seeking money and an official diplomatic envoy to the United States. Apodaca feared that if this trip was successful, the filibusters' little force would experience a "big immigration of privateers and armorers and Military men of every kind."4
The capture of the Eagle and Toledo's arrest put a halt to the plotters' movements, but by July the men were ready to resume, and Pierre Laffite was to be very much involved. The intrusive Anaya was shunted aside, and Humbert, Toledo, and Gutiérrez took up again their idea of a joint land-sea operation. At first Toledo planned for Humbert and himself to lead the army that ships would convoy to Matagorda, while Gutiérrez would lead another overland from Natchitoches in northwestern Louisiana. They would rendezvous at La Bahía, an important colonial presidio, and then take the Spanish administrative center of Texas at San Antonio de Béxar. At the same time a fleet led by Dominque was to attack Tampico and establish a port on the Gulf coast to be controlled by the Mexican Congress.
But then Toledo fell out with Humbert. Now Major Henry Perry would take over Humbert's army, and Gambi, once free of his legal difficulties, stepped in for Dominique, who seems as usual to have gone his own way. The group made little attempt at secrecy, Perry publishing in New Orleans the call for one thousand men willing to invade Texas, which served as one of the catalysts for President Madison's September 1 proclamation. Soon arms and munitions openly came into New Orleans for Perry, and to Natchez for Gutiérrez, and volunteers passed on the road to Natchitoches. Pierre Laffite's role would be to cooperate in assembling and outfitting the ships, if they could be found.
Still Toledo needed money and a minister from the Congress to give the enterprise official sanction. By the end of May rumors began to circulate that Gambi might be leaving New Orleans suddenly, no doubt to prepare a vessel or vessels for the next part of the campaign.5 In fact, Gambi was going to leave on the Eagle—still free on the bond posted by Amigoni—which Gambi took once more to calling the Petit Milan. In July, almost immediately after his acquittal in the district court, Toledo began preparations for a voyage to Boquilla de Piedras. He sent letters ahead to rebel leaders asking that they have an accredited diplomat there for him to bring back to Louisiana, promising that the United States would recognize the junta as soon as it received an envoy. At the same time, Toledo told the leaders to have money ready to pay for the arms he intended to bring.
This time Toledo had no need to worry about his ship being taken, for he had protection from Commodore Patterson. Patterson had agreed to have the Firebrand accompany the Petit Milan on the voyage. Ostensibly he was providing an escort to an American merchant ship, but the commodore knew the vessel would be carrying dispatches and munitions for the insurgents, and he did not send escorts with other merchant ships. Using a United States naval vessel to bring back the proceeds of a private mercantile transaction was hardly within the mandate of a naval officer. Patterson might have been encouraging the junta in consonance with a general pre-Monroe Doctrine hostility to a European power's presence in the New World. But in sending the Firebrand he went against the official neutral policy of his government, and risked something approaching recognition of an unauthorized junta, which could be very embarrassing for Madison if the junta fell, as it did. At the least the action appeared to run counter to the spirit of Madison's September 1815 proclamation, given that the proceeds of the voyage could be expected to help fund a filibusteri ng attack on Mexico.
Patterson may not have been an actual investor or partner with the "associates," but he was doing their work. The investors secured arms and supplies to be loaded on the Petit Milan, and Morphy believed that Patterson gave Toledo goods from government storehouses. It seemed perhaps too coincidental that on October 1 someone broke into the federal arsenal and removed muskets and hundreds of uniforms. The Petit Milan had left port on September 2, but it was an old trick to load prohibited goods on a vessel somewhere downstream, or even at Barataria. Rendezvoused with the Firebrand the Petit Milan sailed across the Gulf and reached Boquilla de Piedras early in October.
While the vessels were at sea, Spanish warships sank several insurgent schooners off Boquilla de Piedras. On October 6 the Petit Milan and the Firebrand arrived. The priest turned revolutionary José Manuel de Herrera was there to meet them. Better yet from the "associates'" point of view, he had with him $28,000 in specie to pay for the arms and matériel. While Toledo had arranged the voyage, Henry D. Peire had charge of the cargo on behalf of the New Orleans investors and Patterson. A recently discharged officer from the 44th Infantry who before the war had been a revenue agent trying to thwart the Laffites, Peire represented the "associates'" insistence that Herrera pay for the cargo on the spot. Herrera stood his ground, however, and in the end Peire unloaded the goods and agreed to allow Herrera to pay the investors directly once he reached New Orleans. That done, the vessels set sail on October 11, and just over two weeks later tied up at the wharf in New Orleans. 6
No doubt Herrera felt rather put upon when, before any official reception or welcome, merchant West demanded full payment for the cargo and charged him almost double the value of the twelve hundred musket
s delivered. Herrera had almost no choice but to hand over the money though he knew he was being cheated. This incident made it evident that for all their protestations of commitment to Mexican independence, the "associates" were in it for the profit. Even when West agreed to accept part of the payment in cash and the balance on a note, Herrera was left with far too little to accomplish the original purpose for his money, the outfitting of Toledo's expeditions.7 West persuaded Herrera to ask his Congress for another $100,000, and Patterson obligingly offered the Firebrand to carry Herrera and his dispatches to Mexico in order that he might return safely with any messages or money the Mexican junta sent. After landing Herrera at Vera Cruz, the Firebrand would wait off the coast for a month. Meanwhile Patterson began fitting out the ketch the Surprise to transport a printing press, more correspondence, and printed proclamations that Toledo would write, all designed to incite the insurgents to take Tampico and Vera Cruz to provide a port for more commerce.8
The Pirates Laffite Page 27