Territorial Governor Claiborne had been wounded in a duel with his nemesis, Daniel Clark. Clark's challenge was based on Claiborne's recognition of the militia battalion of free men of color in 1804, shortly after the United States took possession of the formerly French province. Pitot's action built upon the long-standing network of kinship, economic ties, trade, and cultural ties free people of color had, not only up and down the Mississippi River from New Orleans with both slave-holding whites and with enslaved people, but also throughout the Caribbean and Gulf trade region, including Jamaica, where the British launched their attack against New Orleans in December 1814. British efforts to lure away both slaves and free blacks to their side of the conflict were not as successful as they had hoped. Pitot's volunteer militia, including the free men of color, joined other units of free men of color, as well as numerous slaves, who were crucial to the defeat of the British invasion under the unified command of General Andrew Jackson. See also Pitot House Genevieve Pitot References External links Pitot in the Louisiana Historical Association's online Dictionary of Louisiana Biography (Scroll down.) Pitot biography on New Orleans Public Library site, transcription from a 1940 WPA compilation; birth year given is incorrect. Pitot's tenure as mayor (in Kendall's History of Louisiana, Chapter 4) 1761 births 1831 deaths Louisiana Creole people Mayors of New Orleans