Jean Laffite, famous for aiding Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans, is largely a man of mystery before and after that event. His recollections of a raider's life before the War of 1812 and his adventures after his expulsion from Galveston, Texas, are now recounted in this English translation from the original French of the words of an old man living with his new, young family in St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1840's.
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A liking for colorful characters, including history professors, and a weakness for barbecued chicken, led Gene Marshall, an associate professor of languages at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to a conversation at a McNeese State History Department picnic with Dr. Tom Watson, recently retired Head, about a manuscript in French alleged to have been written by Jean Laffite. Though he is the object of a two-week-long festival in Lake Charles, Laffite's renown comes from his role in the Battle of New Orleans.
Dr. Watson wanted to know if Marshall would take a look at a photocopy of the Laffite manuscript and use his literary background and knowledge of French and Spanish to help solve the mystery of the origin of the Journal of Jean Laffite? A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, and the publication of the Memoirs of Jean Laffite is only a continuation of the voyage of discovery started on that May afternoon in 1998.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lafitte Memoirs: Translation,
By Otis B. Tucson AZ (Tucson AZ) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Memoirs of Jean Laffite (Hardcover)
If you are a Lafitte scholar, researcher or a historical buff you probably own this work. If you are a casual reader, don't be mislead by the title. This is a scholarly translation of a 150 year old codex that was originally believed to be written by Jean Lafitte, in French. Researchers now believe it was written by a contemporary. It is a puzzling dicument. The original consists of 257 pages. The Gene Marshall translation runs 193 pages with a comprehensive preliminary analysis and explamatory end-notes. It is not a fake or a forgery, but the authorship is still a subject of controversy and investigation. This translation replaces an older (1958) translation that was inferior. Be sure to read the explanatory introduction first.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Memoirs of a Crackpot,
By
This review is from: The Memoirs of Jean Laffite (Paperback)
Assuming that the text is authentically the work of Jean Laffite, then this is a great case study of how people resort to denial and self-delusion on a fantastic scale if they are engaged in crime. I understand the criticisms of the text based on handwriting analyses and so forth, but handwriting samples of a given person can change at different times over a person's life and to me the criticism voiced in other reviews here of this text are inconclusive.
The thing that makes the text ring true as the voice of Jean Laffite here is the identification of the pirates' brother Pierre as the illustrious Dominique You. This has never been corroborated, but the claim makes sense. So, if this is Jean Laffite, then the fellow was a certifiable, vainglorious crackpot of a headcase. The author expresses throughout an irrational condemnation of the British and Spanish, whom he lumps together and condemns as the neferious villains he fought against all his life, as a "privateer" first in the service of revolutionary France and then the adolescent United States. He seems blissfully unaware that when he claims he began attacking and robbing Spanish ships in 1801 the French government he claimed then to be in the service of was at that time an ally of Spain! He denigrates the Spanish nation further throughout the book, villafying them as the arch enemy of freedom and liberty, but seems oblivious to the fact the from 1820 to 1823 Spain founded, and attempted to make a go of it as a republic. Laffite's (or the author's) ignorance is even more astonishing when one considers that this "First Spanish Republic" of the 1820s was destroyed by a military invasion from Laffite's beloved holy-land: France! Laffite, (or the author makes the claim for him) also seems to take credit for saving the United States (from which he claims bitter dishonor due to lack of compensation from said government) from British aggression at the Battle of New Orleans. Yes, we are given to understand ol' Jean and Pierre (as Dominique You) and their band of "privateers" saved the fate of the U.S. from destruction at the hands of the British at N.O. that day in January 1815! Never mind that what the Laffite's actually contributed was but a minor fraction of the total manpower and arms supply of Jackson's forces! Laffite saved the day, and the U.S. has him to thank for it, and according to him that thanks never came (at least not in the form he wanted it in, cold hard cash or silver or gold or, yes indeed - slaves!) That brings me to the next thing- while Laffite cries melodramatically throughout on the oppression of poor peoples everywhere by evil powers like Britain and Spain, he casually admits, as if all about it were normal and acceptable, that he often stole slaves- Africans- from British and Spanish slave ships and sold said slaves to customers of his own choosing and pocketed the cash! LAffite exhibits no problem of conscience whatsoever when he says this. Laffite also denies vehemantly that he was a "pirate." He insists on calling himself "privateer." He claims he always carried registration papers from the French government or some lesser organization of doubtfull validity varifying his status as a professional privateer. Never mind that his claim of privateer in the service of France while he was attacking Spain, an ally of France by Treaty of San Ildefonso in the early 1800s would seem to suggest he, at the very least, tended to abuse his privateer status. Whether the text is authentic or not, it is a fascinating confession (or conscienable evasion) of a scoundrel! Also, be aware, the syntax of this translation is atrocious. Given that it was translated from the French by a university professor (who himself, in a disclaimer at the front of the book, acknowledges the constant non-sequiturs and general non-sensicals of many passages in the original) an added conclusion can be made: that Laffite (or his hoaxer) was an illiterate!
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Be Fooled,
By
This review is from: The Memoirs of Jean Laffite (Paperback)
I first read this piece of rubbish at a local library several years ago. It was purported to be the "real diary" of the notorious pirate Jean Laffite. But, several experts in handwriting and historical documents pronounced it a fake. (I too had examined the "real diary" first hand.) Back many years ago, John Laflin was passing himself off as a direct descendant of the "Terror of the Gulf" but it turns out he was a notorious forger. He forged this item and a handful of photographs as well. He managed to make a nice sum selling this trash. What's even more amusing is how Price Daniel Sr. the former governor and a collector of Texana was duped into buying this hoax. Now my dear reader, I just hope YOU won't be duped into buying this nonsense.
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