r, a British armed brig anchored near the
buccaneers' retreat, and sent a flag of truce ashore. Lafitte, with
great dignity, received the envoys in his tent, and assured them of
his protection, though the whole village was up in arms clamoring for
the death of the intruders. The British officer then announced that he
had come to secure the aid of Lafitte and his followers in the
campaign against New Orleans. He offered the pirate captain
forgiveness for all piracies committed against the British
flag,--whereat the chief smiled sardonically,--also thirty thousand
dollars in cash, a captain's commission in the British navy, and lands
for himself and his followers. It was a tempting bribe; for at that
moment Lafitte's brother lay in the _calaboza_ at New Orleans awaiting
trial for piracy, and the Americans were preparing rapidly for a
descent upon the Baratarian stronghold. But, little as he liked the
American flag, Lafitte liked the British still less: so, asking the
Englishman to wait a few days for his answer, he sent a report of the
occurrence to the New Orleans authorities, and offered to co-operate
with the Americans, if he could be assured of pardon for all offences
committed against the government. This document caused some hesitation
at New Orleans; but the military authorities determined to refuse the
offer, and break up the outlaws' nest. Accordingly, a few days later,
the war schooner "Carolina," six gunboats, a tender, and a launch,
dropped down the Mississippi, and, rounding into the deep blue waters
of the gulf, headed for Barataria. Lafitte had too many friends in New
Orleans not to know of the force thus sent against him; and, when the
Americans reached Grande Terre, they found the pirates at their
batteries, and the Baratarian flotilla drawn up in order of battle.
The contest was sharp, but ended in the rout of the Baratarians. Their
village was burned, their fortifications razed; and, when the
triumphant Americans returned to New Orleans, they brought in their
train ten armed prizes and a number of prisoners, although Lafitte was
not to be found among the latter. Thereafter, the Baratarians, as an
organization, vanished from history. Lafitte was afterwards
occasionally heard of as a desperado on the more western shores of the
Mexican Gulf; and it is further noticeable, that two guns were served
by Baratarians under their old lieutenant, Dominique Yon, on that
bloody day when Packenham's forces were beaten