Jean Lafitte

Everybody has a favorite pirate.

Mine is Jean Lafitte.

OK, technically, not a pirate; more of a smuggler or fence. He operated several shops in New Orleans, including Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, which is now a bar and the oldest building in North America being used as a bar (which has to qualify for the most-convoluted superlative ever).

Lafitte and his brother also supplied arms and ships from their fleet of “merchant ships” to aid Andy Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans against the British, during the War of 1812 (note: the Battle of New Orleans took place in 1815, even though the Treaty of Ghent had been signed the year previous to end the war) and recieved a presidential pardon for his efforts.

And he probably had a crazy French accent, too.