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We all love the story of the Battle of New Orleans and how we saved our city from the British … after the War of 1812 was already over. Jean Lafitte has become heroic here in NOLA because of his role in the battle, despite his business of piracy and smuggling before and after the war.
In fact, Andrew Jackson was reluctant to include Lafitte and his men in his army, calling them “hellish banditti.” Lafitte’s men comprised 2% of the troops, but Jackson remarked on their “courage and fidelity.”
Lafitte returned to his previous piracy, but his heroic legacy remains.
– Scott Hutcheson, Senior Advisor to the Mayor on the Cultural Economy