DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker on this spot tells the tale, and I'm just the one low enough to repeat it — this is Duane, and this is Jean Lafitte. Now, that name alone ought to make the Gulf breeze pick up a little. Notorious pirate.
That's not my word — that's the first word on the marker, and it's hard to argue with it. In 1817, Jean Lafitte settled right here on Galveston Island, bringing his buccaneers and his ships with him. And if you think a man like that was going to sit still and go straight, well — he set up under the Mexican flag and kept right on making forays against Spanish shipping in the Gulf.
Different flag, same business. But a man needs a home, even a notorious one. And on this very site, Lafitte built his.
He called it Maison Rouge — the Red House — and it wasn't just a house. It was part of his fort. The upper story was pierced for cannon, in case anyone came calling with an argument he didn't feel like having.
Inside, though, it was something else entirely — luxuriously furnished with booty from captured ships. Silk and silver and who knows what else, all of it sailing in on somebody else's misfortune. He held all of this from 1817 to 1821.
Four years of Galveston as his personal kingdom. Then the United States made a demand, and Jean Lafitte — a man who answered to precious few — answered that one. He was leaving.
But here's where the story gets its teeth. He didn't just pack up and go. When Lafitte left Galveston in 1821, he burned his home, his fort, and his whole village.
Every last bit of it. Then he sailed to Yucatan. Whether that was defiance or just tidiness, the marker doesn't say — and I won't guess.
But the image is the image: the whole place going up in flames behind him as the ships caught the wind. You'd think that'd be the end of it. But Galveston has a long memory.
In 1870, a new structure went up right over the old cellars and foundations of Maison Rouge. The man was gone. The building was ash.
But the ground underneath? The ground remembered. Stand here long enough, and maybe you will too.
What the marker says
Notorious pirate. Settled here in 1817 with his buccaneers and ships; under Mexican flag, continued his forays against Spanish shipping in the Gulf. On this site, he built his home, Maison Rouge (Red House), which was part of his fort; and upper story was pierced for cannon. It was luxuriously furnished with booty from captured ships. Leaving Galveston in 1821, upon demand of the United States, he burned his home, fort and whole village; then sailed to Yucatan. In 1870, present structure was built over old cellars and foundations of Maison Rouge.