Well, it's not giving "pirate" enough for today's lesson but..
Added 2024-07-18 11:00:21 +0000 UTCWell, it's not giving "pirate" enough for today's lesson but it is giving "mermaid" and maybe that's close enough?
Not long after the American Revolution, the British were still holding some control over the colonies who were now referring to themselves as The United States and taking their respective seamen to properly staff British warships which, as you can imagine hot off the revolution, had dwindled in number. The Americans were having none of it and declared war on the British, which became known as the War of 1812.
No strangers to the lands of the colonies, the war raged on and by 1815 the British attempted to seize control of the Mississippi River which (if you know your geography) connects to the Gulf. Specifically, New Orleans.
It looked like the British were likely going to take command of it and regain control of parts of the United States unless someone on the American's side came up with a plan.
Enter our hero of the story: Jean LaFitte, a well known French pirate and privateer of New Orleans, had recently had his fleet of ships taken from him by the US Navy for doing pirate things and incessantly causing mayhem down in the Gulf.
Andrew Jackson was a lot of things but dumb he was not. So, in true New Orleans pirate form, hired LaFitte and gave him back his fleet of ships in exchange for LaFitte helping command the Battle of New Orleans.
Unsurprisingly, LaFitte agreed, won the battle, and as promised his fleet was returned to him. So you wouldn't be wrong if you loosely characterized New Orleans as having been saved by pirates. 🏴☠️
