The Many Deaths of Jean Lafitte

Actual photo of the grave of Jean Lafitte (and friends)? 

See "The Legend That Disagrees with History" below.

Jean Lafitte died of injuries sustained during a sea battle sometime in 1821 or 1822. Or he succumbed to disease on the Yucatan coast near Isle de Mujeres (the Island of Women) in 1826. Or, in a year unnamed, his ship was sunk and he and his men died fighting on a sandbank. Or maybe, just maybe, he changed his name and moved to St. Louis, where he died of pneumonia in 1854. (We'll deal with the fascinating tale behind that story tomorrow, in Friday's Forgotten Books.)

In his 2005 work The Pirates Laffite, author William C. Davis claimed to have solved the mystery for good. He discovered a piece in a Cartegna (Colombia) newspaper stating Lafitte's ship was attacked at sea by unknown vessels and struck by grapeshot. Suffering a severe wound from a splinter, Lafitte died on February 5, 1823 and was buried at sea. Pardon me if I'm not convinced.

The wildest story yet claims that Lafitte was buried in the Louisiana bayou right next to Napoleon Bonaparte and John Paul Jones. An account of this theory appears below, from the 1943 book The Land of Lafitte the Pirate. This notion later served as the basis of an enjoyable mystery novel, The Lafitte Case by Ray Peters.

 (click to enlarge)

Tomorrow: The Memoirs of Jean Laffite
Saturday: The Legacy of Jean Lafitte
Still playing on BEAT to a PULP: "The Mercy of Jean Lafitte" by Yours Truly