Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve protects the natural and cultural resources of Louisiana's Mississippi River Delta region. It is named after French pirate Jean Lafitte and consists of six separate sites and a park headquarters.
Barataria Preserve
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
WPA workers straighten headstones, Chalmette National Cemetery, 1937
Site of the former Freedmen's Cemetery in 2019, separated by a brick wall from the Chalmette National Cemetery (upper left)
Jean Lafitte was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". This has become the common spelling in the United States, including places named after him.
Presumed portrait of Jean Lafitte
An 1837 woodcut of Lafitte, Governor W.C.C. Claiborne, and General Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812
US Commodore Daniel Patterson commanded an offensive force against Lafitte and his men at Barataria, 1814.
A persistent rumor claimed that Lafitte rescued French Emperor Napoleon (pictured) from exile on the isolated island of Saint Helena and both of them ended their days in Louisiana. No evidence supports it.
