Despite Lafitte's warning the other Baratarians of a possible military attack on their base, a US naval force successfully invaded in September 1814 and captured most of his fleet.

Later, in return for a legal pardon, Lafitte and his fleet helped General Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans to defend the city during the War of 1812.

A famous persistent rumor claimed that Lafitte rescued French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte from exile, and both of them ended their days in Louisiana.

Jack C. Ramsay, who published a 1996 biography of Lafitte, says, "this was a convenient time to be a native of France, a claim that provided protection from the enforcement of American law".

[4][5] In the late 18th century, adult children of the French planters in Saint-Domingue often resettled along the Mississippi River in La Louisiane, especially in its largest city of New Orleans.

[7] His elder brother Pierre became a privateer; he may have operated from Saint-Domingue, where the colonial government frequently issued letters of marque to profit from the shipping traffic of other nations.

He withdrew his battered troops and ended French involvement in North America, selling the US what became known as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803: French-claimed lands west of the Mississippi River.

It was specifically intended to prohibit trade with the United Kingdom, as tensions were increasing between the two countries over the North American border with Canada and other issues.

Jean Lafitte spent most of his time in Barataria managing the daily hands-on business of outfitting privateers and arranging the smuggling of stolen goods.

[30] The US built 13 warships in upstate New York to operate on the Great Lakes, but in other areas supplemented its navy by offering letters of marque to privately owned armed vessels.

[31] As the smuggling operations reduced the amount of revenue collected by customs offices, American authorities were determined to halt business at Barataria.

[33] Although under indictment, in March 1813 Lafitte registered as captain of Le Brig Goelette la Diligente for a supposed journey to New York.

He requested approval to raise a militia company to "disperse those desperate men on Lake Barataria whose piracies have rendered our shores a terror to neutral flags".

[41] He was arrested, tried, convicted, and jailed on charges of "having knowingly and wittingly aided and assisted, procured, commanded, counselled, and advised" persons to commit acts of piracy".

[42] Following the charges of November 10, 1812, and subsequent arrest and jailing of his brother Pierre, Jean Lafitte operated the piracy and smuggling business.

In exchange, the king asked for Lafitte and his forces to promise to assist in the naval fight against the United States and to return any recent property that had been captured from Spanish ships.

[47] Believing that the Americans would eventually prevail in the war against Britain, Lafitte thought he could more easily defeat the US revenue officers than he could the British Navy.

[53] Likely inspired by Lafitte's offer to help defend Louisiana, Governor Claiborne wrote the US Attorney General, Richard Rush requesting a pardon for the Baratarians, saying that for generations, smugglers were "esteemed honest ... [and] sympathy for these offenders is certainly more or less felt by many of the Louisianans".

[54] According to Ramsay, Claiborne next wrote to General Andrew Jackson, "implying Patterson had destroyed a potential first line of defense for Louisiana" by his capture of Lafitte and his ships.

[61] The British began advancing upon the American lines on December 28, but were repulsed by an artillery crew manned by two of Lafitte's former lieutenants, Renato Beluche and Dominique Youx.

On January 21, Jackson issued a statement praising his troops, especially the cannoneers and "Captains Dominique and Beluche, lately commanding privateers of Barataria, with part of their former crews and many brave citizens of New Orleans, were stationed at Nos.

Jean was sent to Galveston Island, a part of Spanish Texas that served as the home base of Louis-Michel Aury, a French privateer who claimed to be a Mexican revolutionary.

[80] According to historian William C. Davis, in 1815 Lafitte began a public relationship with his mistress, Catherine (Catiche) Villard, a free woman of color.

[85] Almost half of the combined crew refused to sail as pirates; Lafitte allowed them to leave aboard his largest ship, the brig General Victoria.

That night his remaining men reboarded the General Victoria and destroyed its masts and spars, crippling the ship, but they left the crew unharmed.

[91] When Lafitte and other pirates operating in the area began attacking merchant ships carrying legal goods to Cuba, they angered Cuban officials.

[93] In June 1822, Lafitte approached the officials in Great Colombia, whose government under General Simón Bolívar had begun commissioning former privateers as officers in its new navy.

[104] Lafitte is rumored to have buried treasure at many locations, including Galveston and sites along coastal Louisiana, such as Contraband Bayou in Lake Charles.

[104] In 1909, a man was given a six-year prison sentence for fraud after swindling thousands of dollars from people, by claiming that he knew where the Lafitte treasure was buried and taking their money for the promise to find it.

In a fifth-season episode of the long-running Western series Bonanza ("The Gentleman from New Orleans") an elderly man (played by John Dehner) claiming to be Lafitte appears.