Background
You was born c. 1772 in Sète, France.
You was born c. 1772 in Sète, France.
For a time You served in the French navy and was a member of Leclerc's ill-fated expedition against Haiti in 1802. It seems probable that he was connected with Haiti; many of the men who fled from Haiti at the time came to Louisiana. At any rate, by about 1810 "Captain Dominique" had joined the group of smugglers lodged at Barataria under the leadership of the Laffites.
Dominique became one of the most prominent of the outlaws; he seems to have displayed courage and skill in forays on Spanish vessels in the Gulf. He claimed that he had letters of marque from Cartagena, but the Cartagenan flag was a poor blind for lawlessness; the position of the ephemeral republic of Cartagena among nations was, at best, insecure, and there seems to have been no thought of admiralty ruling on prizes. Dominique captured many Spanish vessels. After the destruction of the establishment at Barataria, Dominique, like Laffite and many other Baratarians, joined the American forces protecting New Orleans against the British. He and Beluche, another notable buccaneer, were given commands in Andrew Jackson's artillery.
Dominique served well in the battles of January 1 and January 8, and was specifically praised in Jackson's general order of January 21, 1815. With the other Baratarians he was pardoned for his former crimes by President Madison. He seems to have accompanied Laffite for a time, but by 1817 was permanently settled in New Orleans. He seems to have dabbled in politics as a Jackson man, but apparently he had no great political power. With Nicholas Girod, a former mayor of New Orleans, he is said to have concocted a plan to rescue Napoleon from Saint Helena and bring him to New Orleans, to live in a house prepared for him there. To Dominique was assigned the difficult task of delivering the former emperor from his jailers and bringing him to the United States in the Seraphine, but before the vessel could leave New Orleans word came of Napoleon's death. Dominique lived on until 1830, when he died in want, too proud to ask aid of his friends. He was buried with some pomp. By the time of his death he was already a figure of legend, and today many tales of his heroism and of his piratic adventures are told in Louisiana.
