Unaware of the Spanish sword poised over him, or that his sometime ally Onís had been ordered back to Spain in May, on September 30 Jean sent another letter to Long, this time borne by John Davis and Jean Lacaze. Laffite was simply gulling the filibuster. 17 Protesting once again that he could not leave Galveston, Jean said these two "lawyers" from New Orleans came to represent the Laffites' willingness to enter into an agreement whereby they would aid Long in establishing and maintaining Mexican authority at Galveston. To that end, Laffite sent a draft of such an agreement.18 Long took the Laffite proposal before his council, and by October 7 Long had come to Galveston to meet with Jean. On that day he appointed Jean "governor and commander-in-chief of the Island of St. Luis and Port of Galveston," empowered to grant letters of marque against Spanish shipping.19 He also declared Galveston a port of entry for the Republic. Jean Laffite began commissioning privateers under his power as governor, including that month the Jupiter, which sailed under the new "Mexican" colors of a white star in the center of a red field.20 Once again the Laffites were serving two masters, and preparing to betray one.
That day, in New Orleans, Pierre wrote a report on affairs at Galveston to Cienfuegos's successor in Havana, Captain General Juan Cagigal. It recounted the recent misfortunes suffered by the Laffites, and presented an exaggerated portrait of Long's arrival and his undoubted links to American expansionists, as well as his intention of taking La Bahia when his command was strong enough. Of course Pierre would not know until sometime later of the events on Galveston Island that day or what happened immediately thereafter.21
Long decided to take a party of his followers from Natchitoches to Galveston to help establish his sovereignty on the island, but he got only as far as the Coushatta Trace when he learned that Spanish soldados were on their way to attack. Long ordered a retreat to Nacogdoches, but when he recrossed the Brazos River the Spaniards caught him with a surprise attack that sent him reeling back in confusion. Meanwhile a post on the Trinity commanded by Long's brother David was also attacked, and the brother was killed. Fleeing refugees spread panic in Nacogdoches, and when Long reached his base he found it evacuated. He abandoned the town on October 26, just two days before Spaniards occupied the village, 22 and retreated to Louisiana. It had been in part Jean's July warning to Fatio, and information sent subsequently, that resulted in the successful expulsion of the filibusters—this being the only occasion when intelligence furnished by the Laffites influenced Spain's campaign against invaders and revolutionaries. Their information on Long also helped persuade Spain to delay ratification of the Adams-Onis Treaty, by making the Spaniards feel that the United States was trying through Long to take by force what it had agreed to give up in diplomacy.23
Long was in disgrace at the fiasco. As his fragmented army crossed the Sabine, one of his officers grumbled that the general had deceived his followers as to their prospects, and might be in danger from his own people if he appeared on the Sabine. A rumor soon spread along the river that Long fled south to Galveston to seek refuge with Laffite.24 In Bexar Spanish authorities believed the same, and ordered a regimental detachment to reconnoiter the strength of "Genl. Long and the Pirate Lafit."25
At this moment, the word "pirate" was finally to carry real peril for the Laffites. When Congress passed new legislation to protect commerce and punish piracy as part of the bargain in the Adams-Onis Treaty, even Onís for a change took heart. The act did not precisely define who should be regarded as pirates, however. Onís wanted it to include those who fitted out privateers in the United States to prey on Spanish shipping under Latin American insurgent flags, and who did so without being commissioned in a home port of that flag, or who took their prizes to insurgent ports for adjudication. In short, Onís wanted Galveston ruled illegal as well as Old Providence and all other corsair outposts on "some desert Island, where under colour of giving a sanction to their robberies, they have established a tribunal bearing the semblance of an Admiralty court." He also wanted it stipulated that the captain and two-thirds of the crew of a privateer must be native to the nation whose flag they flew. 26
Further definition would be forthcoming, as would a renewed assault on the illicit corsairs and their nests. In May Washington sent Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry aboard the John Adams to cruise between Venezuela and Buenos Aires and San Domingue to protect American commerce in those waters. Privately Adams also wanted Perry to meet with the leaders of the insurgencies and assure them of unofficial American support.27 The message was clear enough. The United States would honor privateers properly commissioned, but would regard all others as pirates. Adams was especially concerned with those commissioned by DeForest for Buenos Aires.28
Meanwhile on the Gulf coast, Patterson began the year with his squadron in poor condition. His ketch the Surprise was in such bad shape that he thought it might be cheaper to replace her than to repair her. "In her present condition she is unsafe as a cruising vessel," he reported the previous November.29 The Enterprise needed extensive repairs and her sails and rigging were much worn. He also had the Prometheus, too decayed to be worth repairing. The Firebrand, mounting four twelve-pounder medium guns and four twelve-pounder carronades, was in perfect condition in all respects, however, and his only seaworthy vessel with substantial armament. Otherwise he had the revenue cutter the Louisiana, in bad shape generally and unarmed; the little felucca the Bull Dog with its two twelve-pounder carronades, in excellent shape; and two small launches each mounting a single carronade.30
Still Patterson tightened his grip on the Gulf coast, on July 18 capturing nine men who had attacked and plundered several vessels at anchor below New Orleans and then retreated to Big Bayou Barataria. Washington gave him more muscle, and by late September when rumor had the brutal pirate William Mitchell fortified at Barataria with 150 men, Patterson stationed the Hornet, the Lynx, the Surprise, and the Bull Dog off Barataria and the passes leading in from the sea, and sent an expedition in to destroy the remnant of a renascent pirate base.31 The Laffites' old associate Dominique had already given up on Gulf coast privateering, shortly after appearing in court in New Orleans to contest his right to three boxes of prize goods. When he put out from Galveston the previous March, he left again bound for Aury and Old Providence, stepping out of the Laffite orbit for good.32
Less than a month earlier, however, Patterson struck a blow that sent a shiver throughout the corsairing community, and signaled the beginning of its end. On August 29 the Laffite-owned privateer Le Brave under Desfarges took the Filomena bound from Pensacola to Havana, laden with a cargo of raisins, flour, lard, beef, peas, and $3,000 in gold and silver coin. The next day about one hundred miles west of the Florida Keys the vessels encountered the cutters the Alabama, commanded by Don Gomez Taylor, and the Louisiana, with Lieutenant Harris Loomis in command. Desfarges had his men fire a musket volley at the Louisiana, but after a return volley he quickly surrendered. Loomis brought both the privateer and her prize back to Bayou St. John above New Orleans.33 Taken aboard Le Brave were seventeen men including Captain Desfarges, and with them Loomis captured the articles of agreement prepared at Jean Laffite's order, a blank commission signed by Humbert, and other documents going back to the days of Aury, John Ducoing, and John Peter Rousselin. In a trunk in the cabin Loomis also found some table silver and assorted items including a flag of the Mexican republic.34
Perhaps for the first time, federal authorities had in their hands the letters of marque and other relevant documents of a Laffite privateer out of Galveston, and it was immediately apparent how bogus was any claim to legitimacy. The federal court had a perfect opportunity with an ironclad case to send a message to the corsair community. On November 12 a grand jury indicted Desfarges and his crew on charges of piracy. 35
It was not a good time to be called a pirate. On August 27, 1819, three days before the taking of Le Brave, Judge Richard Peters handed down a decision in a case involving one of DeForest's privateers that brought a Spanish prize into Philadelphia
after being fitted out illegally in Baltimore. What he said bore directly on the Laffite operation as well as American corsairs everywhere:
It is a disgrace to the character of American citizens, thus to prostitute themselves in nefarious acts of robbery and plunder, under the mask of assisting the Spanish patriots of South America, as those are termed whose cause many of our deluded or vitiated citizens effect to espouse; when in fact they are pursuing selfish and sordid objects, for their private emolument. Such base and hypocritical depravity, gives to those who envy our national character and unexampled success in our republican and highly estimable form of government, the opportunity of uncandidly generalizing the foul propensities of culpable individuals, into stains on our national reputation; although those who are guilty of such unworthy and base crimes and misdemeanors, are, as in all civilized nations they should be, subjected to punishment by our laws, (which if defective in a case will no doubt be made more perfect), and are held in merited detestation by the great body of our citizens. It is the duty of those to whom the execution of our laws is committed, to correct these abuses, by punishing the perpetrators, and rendering their enormities unprofitable to them, by restoring their plunder to those who have suffered by their depredations. Such unwarrantable misbehavior becomes unsatiable and boundless, and spreads itself into acts of piracy, murder, and robbery committed on the persons and property even of our own citizens, as well as those of all countries who navigate the seas, emphatically styled the high road or nations. The Buenos Ayres flag, or even the flag or commission of a nation acknowledged by our government to be sovereign and independent, would not justify to our laws, any acts of capture or depredation committed on the high seas, by an armed vessel fitted and furnished in any of our ports either wholly or partially, on the property or persons of the subjects of a power in amity with us. Such fitting and furnishing, would be a breach of our laws, even if the whole of the officers and crew were subjects of a foreign nation, originally belonging to, and arriving in the vessel thus furnished, equipped or fitted. But it is highly criminal in our citizens to engage on board such vessel, or otherwise to commit hostilities against a friendly power under any pretext. 36
The Peters decision set a precedent for dealing with questionable privateers and meant trouble for the Laffites, especially once initial reports saying that Le Brave belonged to one "Le Fage" were corrected to identify the owner as Jean Laffite. More sobering to the accused was the fact that finally, on the previous March 3, Congress had made piracy a capital crime.
Of course, many men, including the Laffites, had gotten to this point in the past. But hereafter it was not to be so easy. Grymes was engaged, apparently by Pierre Laffite, to defend Desfarges and the others. The crux of the case would be the legitimacy of the Laffite commissions.37 Until this time, life in New Orleans had assumed a more orderly pace for Pierre than his brother's life at Galveston. When he returned from the East he found the good news that he had won his suit against the estate of Champlin, though instead of getting all Pierre had sought, Livingston secured only $2,879.50 for his client.38 One of Marie's relations had bought a house two doors away on St. Philip.39 The family in the house on the corner may have grown yet again, for on Pierre's return he bought a slave girl aged just twelve, and in late August a grown male from the wife of Laurent Maire. 40 The old problems between Pierre and Paul Lanusse seemed to have been forgotten, and Pierre now conducted much of his business on behalf of Galveston through Lanusse's mercantile house.41 Indeed, when Jean helped Marie Villard repurchase the Bourbon and St. Philip house from Abat, one of the men subscribing himself as security for her notes was Lanusse.42
Nevertheless money was tight. On September 6, two weeks after the $9,000 in notes for the repurchase of their house came due, Marie had been able to pay off barely more than $2,000.43 Meanwhile Pierre's health probably remained indifferent, and the growing fear of exposure and uncertainty over the brothers' future employment by Spain contributed to a time of upset and uncertainty.44
Now the plight of Desfarges and his crew added to the stress. The defendants had entered pleas of not guilty and Pierre and the rest had set about their defense.45 They wanted to call Humbert to testify to his supposed authority in issuing Le Braves commission, but Humbert had decided it would be prudent to distance himself from the Laffites and he refused to testify. Ironically, the prosecution called Pierre Laffite and Pierre Lameson as witnesses for the government. On November 19 Laffite was able to testify as to the authority from Herrera, or Iturribarria, or whomever, that might or might not legitimize Humbert's commissions. Lameson could speak to his own earlier commission and corroborate Laffite. But together their testimony could have been damning for the men they wanted to defend, for they could present nothing to convince a jury that Desfarges sailed under legitimate papers. Hardly surprisingly, an attempt to get the men out of jail on a writ of habeas corpus was denied, for everyone knew that Desfarges and the rest would disappear as the Laffites had in 1813. On November 22 the jury returned a guilty verdict within minutes.46
Judge Hall postponed sentencing for several weeks. Until the Long business was settled, Jean did not dare leave Galveston. Pierre Laffite could often be seen at Maspero's Exchange Commercial Coffee House, alternately protesting that he and his brother were not and had never been pirates, and continuing his cover of railing against the Spaniards—which he could do with some sincerity after the expense he had incurred without reimbursement.47 Whatever his efforts to free Desfarges, however, he failed. It did not help that the sentiment against piracy continued to escalate as public sympathy for smugglers seemed to dissipate. On December 30, before a courtroom packed with Laffite friends, Judge Hall pronounced the feared sentence of death by hanging. It was time to set stern examples.
This made it all the more important for the Laffites to reestablish themselves with Spain, and James Long could provide the lure. When Long arrived at Bolivar Point in late November or early December after the Brazos River fiasco, he did not immediately meet with Jean. Instead, he sent James Gaines, Warren Hall, and a few followers, and they spent some time on Galveston. Laffite received them in the repaired frame house, and there Gaines passed on Long's request that Laffite join forces with him against Spain. Despite showing every hospitality, Laffite avoided making any commitment.48 Meanwhile Jean sent word to Pierre in New Orleans, and Pierre in turn informed Fatio and wrote to Cagigal with a report of affairs at Galveston. He twisted the bare facts into a warning that Long surely intended to seize the port from Spain's friends, the Laffites. The intruders must be driven away. "I foresee the most woeful consequences if they take possession," he said, "since it is evident that they are instruments of a Government that seeks means of territorial expansion and that is setting them at work as pioneers." In short, Pierre accused Long of being a United States agent. Naturally the Laffites had a plan whereby Spain, with their help, could get rid of Long if he did take over. Pierre asked for eighty to one hundred men to be sent to Galveston, where Jean would allow them through the pass into the bay by means of "a signal to be agreed upon." He would then enable their commander to seize the place and raise the Spanish flag without difficulty. If the Americans tried to return and take the port by force, the Laffites would not be strong enough to repel them, perhaps, but Pierre promised that thanks to the brothers' knowledge of the coast, "never, never will the American gentlemen be masters of it." 49 Long's presence also irritated some in the United States, who complained that Galveston, which some described as "the present headquarters of the republicans," was nothing more than "a nest of murderers and pirates."50
While both Spain and the United States decided what, if anything, to do about Long, Jean Laffite had to deal with his unwelcome new neighbor on Bolivar Point, and he did so with his usual veneer of charm. Warren Hall from Rapides Parish, Louisiana, found the corsair, as had so many before him, to be tall and well formed other than those tiny hands and feet, and a man of appealing manners. If Jean Laffite showed any differe
nce in his dealings with people, it was that he treated his subordinates with a coolness approaching the aloof, while visitors got a warm welcome. He spoke good English, with an accent that left no doubt as to his Bordeaux nativity, and which Hall found gave additional zest to his impressive conversational skill. Laffite entertained his guests with often amusing stories of his past, many of them no doubt invented for their benefit. As he spoke, he habitually kept one eye closed, leading some to believe that he was blind in that eye. The old green uniform was gone, at least for the present, replaced by the simple broadcloth of the fashionable gentleman, a costume that should have seemed out of place on this all-but-desert island among pirates and smugglers.51
Hall found Laffite "always affable, but perfectly impenetrable."52 Gaines thought much the same, finding Laffite gentlemanly, sober, and thoughtful, but distant from his subordinates, rarely smiling. He had the manner and bearing of a leader, and relied on his personality and prestige to maintain control, though he occasionally wore a brace of pistols in his belt when he thought they lent weight to his authority. He did not brook disobedience, and could punish malefactors severely, but apparently with the sort of rude equitability that even the roughest men respected. 53 When one of the men on the island, François Francis, robbed Robert Kuykendall, a traveler from the Cadron settlement in Arkansas, Laffite turned Francis over to Kuykendall and told him to punish Francis as he pleased. Kuykendall hanged him.54 About the same time occurred a long-remembered incident with a privateer who tried to withhold some of the prize goods from the shares turned over to Laffite. When confronted, he supposedly spat in Laffite's face or offered some other insult, and the governor grabbed him, spun him around, and kicked him in the seat of his pants, which put an end to the insolence.55 Twenty years later men who had been on Galveston at this time liked to recall of Jean Laffite that "his sailors adored him, for though a strict disciplinarian & one who made no bones of hanging & shooting his subjects when they deserved, yet was he generous withal." There may have been more than a gloss of nostalgia or "sea story" to this, but it is apparent that Laffite knew how to control his men with a judicious mixture of severity and generosity.56
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