ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Jean Lafitte

Okay kiddo! So, Jean Lafitte was a man who lived a very long time ago in the 1700s and 1800s. You might think he was a pirate, and some people did call him that, but he mostly just did some not-so-nice things like stealing things and breaking laws. He lived in a place called Louisiana, which was near a big river called the Mississippi River.

Now, Jean LaFitte was a very sneaky man who liked to hide in swamps and sneak around, and so he would steal things like money and gold from the big ships that would go up and down the river. He had a bunch of friends who helped him, and they would sell all the things they stole to people who wanted to buy them. Sometimes they would even sell the stolen things to the government, which was kind of funny since they were breaking the law!

A lot of people thought Jean LaFitte was a bad guy, but some people also thought he was really cool and brave for doing all those sneaky things. During one time, the government really needed his help. Some people from another country came and wanted to fight the United States, and Jean LaFitte was really good at fighting too, so he actually helped the United States win the fight.

Jean LaFitte passed away a long, long time ago, but some people still like to talk about him and say his name because they still find him really interesting and cool.