Saint Malo () was a small fishing village that existed along the shore of Lake Borgne in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana as early as the mid-eighteenth century until it was destroyed by the 1915 New Orleans hurricane. Located along Bayou Saint Malo, about east of the Isleño fishing village of Shell Beach, it was the first permanent settlement of Filipinos and perhaps the first Asian-American settlement in the United States. The exact date of the establishment of Saint Malo is disputed. The settlement may have been formed as early as 1763 or 1765 by Filipino deserters and escaped slaves of the Spanish Manila galleon trade. The members of the community were commonly referred to as Manila men, or Manilamen, and later Tagalas. Filipino-Americans residing in the region (referred to as "Manilamen" on the account of Manila being the capital of the Philippines) were recruited by local pirate Jean Lafitte to join his "Baratarians", a group of privately-recruited soldiers serving under the American forces under the command of Andrew Jackson, in the defense of New Orleans. They played a decisive role in securing the American victory, firing barrage after barrage of well-aimed artillery fire. History Small communities of criminals, fugitive slaves, and Filipinos commonly found refuge along Lake Borgne in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The settlement of Saint Malo was established, by some accounts, as early as 1763 by Filipinos who deserted Spanish ships during the Manila galleon trade. It is also possible that the community was established later into the early nineteenth century. The Manilamen settled in the marshlands of Louisiana where no Spanish officials could reach them. Reasons for their desertion varied; however their desire to escape brutalities dealt by the Spanish is generally regarded as the main reason. Beginning in 1784, Juan San Maló () led a group of fugitive slaves below New Orleans and in St. Bernard Parish which stole livestock, destroyed property, and seeded other chaos. In May of that year, the Spanish government began preparing for an expedition to capture San Maló and his maroons after a group of Americans were murdered. San Maló retreated with his group to live in the extensive marshland surrounding Lake Borgne, but Spanish forces led by Francisco Bouligny eventually captured him along with sixty maroons. On June 19, 1784, he was hanged in Jackson Square. The same area that San Maló and his group found refuge became known