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The Pirate House and Jean Lafitte « Russell Guerin
http://www.russguerin.com/history/pirates/the-pirate-house-and-jean-laf..
would be a challenging endeavor. But the legend is strong, and there have been eyewitnesses to attest to its existence. One story still told is that workers constructing the beach road in 1928 uncovered part of the tunnel. The Pirate House stood next to a small bayou and pond. These natural formations, still in existence, are shown in several of the earliest maps of the area. They are contained in Deed Book A in the Courthouse, and called the Francis E. Fremaux tract. (Copy of map is attached.) This is possibly significant because it is probable that the little bayou and the pond would have been shrouded by trees and brush in the early 1800’s, adding cover to the activities of any illegal endeavors. Certainly, the site would have been very secluded in those days, and small boats could well have gone into that pond to secretly unload contraband cargo. Much ballast stone - even now - has been found in the immediate area. It seems right to postulate that the house was built next to the pond and bayou for a reason. Concerning other parts of the legend, it should be noted that our Lobrano House collection does indeed record stories about pirates. And these deal not only with legends of those that plied the local bayous and Honey Island swamps, but also authentic historical recordings. Consider, for example, a letter from Joseph Collins, then the administrator of Pascagoula and the Bay of St. Louis, written on October 17, 1806, regarding travel to New Orleans and mentioning “.. .frequent invasions of Boats and Launches of the enemy corsairs that sail for these passages.” Another letter of December 4 of the same year, from an official of Spanish West Florida, states: “As per the part of Benito Garcia of a small Ship of traffic and commerce on these coasts, as formally denounced to me, that in the post of Pascagoula, will be disembarked twenty-one blacks of contraband.” In the early 1800’s, trading in and importation of slaves was legal in the fledgling United States, thus prompting the question as to why would pirates, Jean Lafitte or others, have to be secretive in their operations. The answer is found partly in the Constitution of the United States and partly in the charter given to Louisiana after the purchase in 1803. Although the Constitution, in Article I, Section 9, paragraph 1, allows for continued importation of “such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit” until the year 1808, Congress outlawed such importation in Louisiana. This was at the suggestion of President Thomas Jefferson, who had attempted to do the same for the thirteen states in his initial wording of the Declaration of Independence, but was thwarted by the Continental Congress in the final draft. By way of background, Jefferson's position on slavery was an anomaly. While he owned slaves and, it is believed, had children by Sally Hemmings, his writings were decidedly anti-slavery. At his suggestion, Congress established the government of Louisiana on the basis of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which outlawed slavery. Moreover, he appointed as governor of Louisiana W.C.C. Claiborne, whose writings show clearly that he hated the institution of slavery. In a letter to Jefferson dated November 25, 1804, he stated, “The Searcher of all hearts knows how little I desire to see another of that wretched race set foot on the shores of America.” But Louisiana and its plantation economy craved more slaves. In the same letter as above, Claiborne wrote, “But, on this point, the people here are united as one man. There seemed to be but one sentiment throughout the province. They must import more slaves, or the country was ruined forever.” Regarding Claiborne's problem, Charles Gayarre, in his History of Louisiana, was later to write, “Negroes were daily smuggled into the territory through the Spanish possessions by way of the lakes Borgne, Pontchartrain, and Marepaus.” It is reasonable to assume that Jean Lafitte knew of the circumstances and their resulting opportunity for profit. Certainly, the Waveland and Bay St. Louis coasts and Pearl River, because of their proximity to the back door of New Orleans through lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain, must have been ideal locations for the transport of contraband slaves in that period. It is probably not coincidental that another house shared the same legend with the Pirate House. This was known as Laurel Wood Plantation, located on Mulatto Bayou, a distributary of Pearl River. It was also believed to have been a transfer point of slaves. It was built about 1800 by one of the Sauciers, and eventually became the home of another Claiborne, that being Colonel JFH Claiborne. Before the house was tom down in the development of Port Bienville in the early 1960’s, eyewitness accounts had recorded that there were “cages” under the house. All of the above notwithstanding, one must now inquire into that part of the legend involving the persona of Jean Lafitte the Pirate. The name Lafitte appears a number of times in the written records of Hancock County. Various spellings are evident: Laffite, Lafito, Laffiteaux, and Lafitto. These include official documents such as deeds, probate records, and census reports. The most curious records are dated substantially later than the 1803-09 period, noted above as important years in the study of the slave trade. Beginning in 1825 and going to 1850, there are no less than five deeds showing the real estate activity of Jean and Clarisse Lafitte. Even more interesting is the fact that the 1850 deed recites a sale of forty acres by Clarisse to Jean Defour. That document traces a chain of title to one Mary Parish, who in 1833 had been awarded 639 acres by the United States government. (An earlier document indicates a claim by Mary Parish and the Widow Moran. The latter was possibly a parent of Parish, who identified land in another deed as having been property sold “by my mother and father.” It must be stated, however, that genealogical tables do not confirm this.) The acreage so described in several of these deeds was the land, or very near to the land, which included the Pirate House. It would be easy to jump to a conclusion at this point, but a couple of unwelcome facts raise their heads. One is that Clarisse’s
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