Combat· War of 1812
Capture of the Baratarian establishment
Before Jean Lafitte's Baratarians fought for the United States at New Orleans, the United States destroyed their base.
In September 1814, Commodore Daniel Patterson led a naval expedition against the smuggling and privateering stronghold on Grand Terre Island in Barataria Bay, south of New Orleans. Marines were part of the landing party that went ashore to break up the establishment. The Baratarians, who had recently spurned a British offer of alliance, offered no real resistance, and the Americans seized the base, its vessels, and a quantity of contraband goods without casualties. The raid scattered Lafitte's organization but did not end it. In a turn that defined the coming campaign, Lafitte and many of his men soon offered their services and their artillery skill to Andrew Jackson in exchange for pardons, becoming part of the force that defended New Orleans.
Podcast episodes on War of 1812
Record no. 238