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Gayarre says unable to find anything treasonable, and that Blanque acted “with undeviating patriotism,” showing his colors on Dec. 15 by a call to arms of the citizens of Louisiana.
A note about Barthelemy Lafon
The reason that I have been searching for info about Blanque is to see if I could find any connection with the Pirate House in Waveland, MS. I have not, but he is still my primary suspect.
The only other person who might fit the description passed down over the years and described above, was Barthelemy Lafon. Lafon was once one of the leading citizens of NO: “architect, engineer, geographer, surveyor, cartographer, scholar, politician and pirate.” [Tulane Master’s Thesis, Harriet Bos, 1977]
Lafon’s maps of the area have remained treasures over the years for any historian or researcher interested in our area from before and after the purchase.
He was also a leading citizen during the battle of NO, but tragically, it was after that event when his fortunes floundered. He was almost unable to get contracts from the city any longer and his massive real estate holdings proved to be less than assets.
It was then that he went to pirating, with no less a personage than Jean Lafitte, but his activities seem to be centered around the operation at Galveston.
I had harbored one hope, based on a single clue, that being the mention of a French corsair named Lafon. He shows up in some Spanish documents we have in the HCHS. Specifically, the year was 1805, which is too early for Barthelemy’s pirating. As stated in the master’s thesis, one Bernardo Lafon was found guilty in 1814 of piracy; it was probably Bernardo mentioned in the Spanish document, and there is no evidence that the two were related.
In short. I have given up thinking that he may have been the “over-lord of all pirates that plied the Gulf waters.