Patriot and Pirate. Born Frederic You or Youx, he was a privateer, soldier, and politician. According to information he provided to his masonic lodge in New Orleans, he was born in Cette (now spelled Sète) in Languedoc, France. (Contrary to the spurious Diary of Jean Laffite, he was not the older brother of Pierre and Jean Laffite, nor was he known as Alexandre Lafitte). He served as an artilleryman in the French Revolutionary Army under Napoleon. In 1802 he accompanied General Charles Leclerc's expedition to quell Toussaint Louverture's Haitian Revolution. He later reached Louisiana and appears to have joined Jean Lafitte and Pierre Lafitte. He became the captain of the pirate ship Le Pandoure. He was nicknamed "Captain Dominique" by the French and "Johnness" by the Americans. He acquired a reputation for being very bold and daring. During the next few years he and the Lafitte brothers became successful smugglers in the Louisiana bayous. As pirates, they preyed on Spanish ships in the Gulf of Mexico, doing extensive damage to Spanish commerce. From 1804, the governor of newly American Louisiana (or "the Territory of Orleans"), William C. C. Claiborne, was making efforts to suppress piracy. In July 1814, Dominique You was publicly identified as a pirate. In September 1814, he was in a pirate camp at Barataria Bay when it was captured by American forces but he escaped to the swamps. Soon, however, in the context of the ongoing War of 1812, Jean Lafitte had the opportunity to offer to help General Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans against the impending British invasion, in exchange for a pardon for him and his pirate crews. Jackson accepted this offer, and You was appointed commander of a company of artillery which was composed of the Baratarians' best gunners. The pirates fought particularly well in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, and were mentioned in Major General Andrew Jackson's general order of January 21 for having shown uncommon gallantry and skill in the field. The General reportedly said that "Were I ordered to storm the gates of Hell, with Dominique You as my lieutenant, I would have no misgivings." As a result of this success, the charges against the Baratarians and Dominique You were dropped. After the battle, You settled in New Orleans where he became involved in politics as a partisan of Andrew Jackson. You died on 15 Nov 1830 at his residence at the corner of Love and Mandeville Streets at the age of 55 years in a state of poverty bordering on penury. The City Council of New Orleans resolved to pay the debt of gratitude which this country owed him and ordered extensive preparations for his interment including a military funeral at public expense. From a newspaper article on the anniversary of his death many decades later: "When Dominique You died, he had such a funeral as no one had had before in New Orleans. The entire Legion [an organization of the Orleans Artillery, of which Dominique You had been a founder] shouldered their arms to render him military honors and an immense crowd of citizens accompanied his body to its last resting place. He sleeps in a plain brick tomb not far from Gen. Plauche, in the ancient St. Louis No. 2." The grave inscription in French reads "Intrpide guerrier, sur la terre et sur l'onde, Il sut, dans cent combats, signaler sa valeur Et ce nouveau Bayard, sans reproche et sans peur Aurait pu sans trembler, voir s'crouler le monde." In English it reads "Intrepid warrior on land and sea. In a hundred combats showed his valor. This new Bayard without reproach or fear could have witnessed the ending of the world without trembling." His grave bears a Freemasonic symbol.