"Some considered him a rapacious rogue, a man of unmitigated violence. Others, many of whom were young women, regarded him as a charming person. He was seductive, perhaps deceptive, but always elegantly gracious. .. In spite of divergent appraisals of the man, a president of the United States once considered him a trustworthy ally. When British forces attacked New Orleans, Laffite played the role of patriot. He won the confidence of Andrew Jackson who, after the battle, officially commended him for his 'courage and fidelity.' .. One fact is clear: Laffite was a man of mystery whose actions and motives were subject to a variety of interpretations." So writes Jack Ramsay in his Jean Laffite, Prince of Pirates.
Using 12 years to research conflicting accounts, Dr. Ramsay challenges lingering myths, presenting credible evidence that Laffite was not a native of France as claimed but born in the New World of parents who fled eighteenth century violence in the Caribbean. Ramsay uses little known documentation to prove Laffite's participation made a significant contribution to Andrew Jackson's victory in the Battle of New Orleans, information deliberately covered up by supporters when Jackson became a candidate for U.S. President. Also included is a discussion as to the authenticity of a massive manuscript which claims to be a journal written by the pirate commander himself.
Tales of the Laffite brothers have been told, fictionalized, and made into movies. They smuggled slaves with Jim Bowie and fought beside Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans. The author traces Laffite's lefe from his birth to his final years on Galveston and Mugeres Islands.
REVIEW
Jean Laffite, Prince of Pirates
"I think it can be fairly said that there will never be a ‘definitive biography of Jean Laffite, which is how he spelled his last name in later years... What Ramsay has done – and done effectively – is sift through the available records and information and make a manful attempt at separating the deliberate deceptions practiced by the brothers Jean and Pierre Lafitte and their cohorts, to arrive at the few times they — or someone else — actually told the truth about them.
Jean Laffite claimed — or was claimed by someone else – to have been born in four different towns in France – one in Spain – and in Westchester, New York, USA. Ramsay makes a very good case for yet another birthplace... (He) traces the careers of the brothers Laffite, Jean and Pierre, through the Louisiana years and into Texas, where he offers fairly positive proof that … Jean Laffite did in fact engage in outright piracy rather than the semi-legitimate profession of privateering. The greatest mystery of Laffite is where and when he died.... Over the years, in the face of all the ‘heifer dust’ that has circulated concerning the brothers Laffite, in particular Jean, a number of historians have stated flatly that an accurate biography of Jean Laffite would be impossible. Jack Ramsay seems to have accomplished the impossible."
-The Tombstone Epitaph, Reviews by C. F. Eckhardt, Book Bag Editor
"Jack Ramsay’s book defines contradictory pirate prince Jean Lafitte with descriptions of .. ‘very handsome’, a ‘very, very polite gentleman’ and ‘ferocious, with no more regard for innoncent lives than a butcher has for his victims’. .. by contrasting ‘winning the confidence of Andrew Jackson, who after the Battle of New Orleans, officially commended him for his courage and fidelity’ with well known evidence that he raided British and Spanish ships, .. ‘a legendary man’. .. ‘Like the river, Jean Lafitte was enslaved by the lure of the sea’."
- "Books" by Lois Scott for The Victoria Advocate.
