No other name is more associated with the Gulf Coast than that of privateer, Jean Laffite. He has been called everything from a blood-thirsty pirate to a gentleman corsair. Tales of adventures, fights, and buried treasure have been told, fictionalized, and made into movies. He smuggled slaves with Jim Bowie and fought beside Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. The author traces Laffite's life from birth to his days at Barataria and to his final years on Galveston and Mugeres Islands.