Lafitte, Campbell & Pirates

Privateer Jean Lafitte

For a time in the early 1800s, the coastal areas in and around Galveston Island were home to the legendary pirate and privateer Jean Lafitte. He profited greatly from the region's natural harbor, relative obscurity and easy access to highly trafficked waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Sources contradict each other regarding both Lafitte's origins and his death; some state that he was born in France, others in a French colony. He was probably born some time around 1776. The circumstances of his death are equally unclear. Sources variously place his death in the southern United States, the Yucatán, and Central America in or around 1823.

Jean and his brother Pierre were crafty businessmen in addition to being experienced seamen, a profitable combination at a time when European colonial powers were themselves occupied by the Napoleonic Wars and piracy at the fringes of the American frontier wasn't well policed (Block, 1991). The Lafitte brothers' prowess at plundering ships and their subsequent profiteering was aided by their ships' "letter of marque" status, or license allowing the Lafitte gunships to freely attack and "privateer" designated foreign or enemy trading vessels (Gayarre, 1965).

Move to Galveston

The Lafittes moved their base of operations to Galveston after the War of 1812, when the brothers agreed to become spies for the government of Spain. At the time, Spain was attempting to suppress revolution in Mexico and intended to use the Lafitte brothers to gather inside information about the revolt from the front lines (Gayarre, 1965). Despite their business arrangement with Spain, the Lafittes continued to busy themselves privateering Spanish galleons on behalf of various Spanish colonies like Mexico and Colombia, which opposed Spanish rule (Block, 1991). Lafitte erected accommodations for his men on the bay side of Galveston Island, creating a temporary shanty town and calling it Campeche or Campeachy. By 1818, the population had grown to around 800 people, including Lafitte, his men, their families, and a number of African slaves from captured Spanish ships. Remnants of Lafitte's own personal quarters on the Island, the "Maison Rouge," still exist today (Gayarre, 1965).

James Campbell

James Jim Campbell originally came into contact with the Lafitte brothers in New Orleans in 1815 (Block, 1991). Born in Ireland in the late 18th century (sources do not agree on the exact year), Campbell immigrated to Maryland with his family at a young age. Campbell was an apprentice ship builder in Baltimore in his youth and enlisted in the U.S. Navy just prior to the War of 1812 (Articles, 1998 and Block, 1991). During wartime, Campbell played an active role as a naval midshipmen and dockyard ship builder, and served under Commodore Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie.

Arrival in Galveston

In 1817, James Campbell moved to Galveston Island and Campeachy with his wife Mary Sabinal, a ferryman's daughter from Crow's Ferry, located in present-day Sabinetown, Texas. After serving Lafitte in mostly administrative capacities throughout 1817, Campbell was appointed the captain of the schooner Concordin in early 1818. The Concord was a privateer ship fitted with five large guns and a crew of 75 men (Articles, 1998). From his first cruise under Lafitte until his last in 1820, Campbell's ships led all other Lafitte ships in the quantity of booty and commandeered cargo. 

Lafitte would regard Campbell as one of his best secret officers and he liked and trusted him very much (Block, 1991). Despite the authority granted by the letters of marque for Campbell's ships to liberally attack and commandeer enemy ships, the captain usually released the crews of captured vessels after arriving on land. A cabin boy named Charles Cronea serving under Campbell aboard the Hotspur remarked that he'd "never seen a single man murdered" during his time spent with the captain. Lafitte also employed Campbell on various clandestine missions to New Orleans and even entrusted him with the task of acquiring a new gunship from Baltimore, Maryland (Block, 1998).