Action of 31 August 1819
Part of the American pirate conflicts
Date August 31, 1819 Location off Louisiana, Gulf of Mexico Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States	Mexico
Commanders and leaders
Captain Jairus	Captain Jean LaFarge
Strength
2 schooners	1 schooner
Casualties and losses
unknown	1 schooner captured

((Campaign |name=[[united States counter-piracy conflicts in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico |raw_name=United States counter-piracy conflicts in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico |battles=Action of 31 August 1819 - Battle of Patterson's Town - Action of 19 July 1820 - Action of 2 November 1822 )) The Action of 31 August 1819 was a naval battle between United States Revenue Cutter service cutters and a pirate ship suspected of being a Mexican privateer. At the time Mexico was fighting a colonial war with Spain and had several privateers operating in the Gulf of Mexico, attacking shipping.

In early 1819 the two ships were finished being built in New York and fitted with one pivot gun each. The sister ships cost $4,500 apiece and were sent to the Gulf of Mexico to conduct counter piracy patrols. Alabama was assigned to Mobile, Alabama and Louisiana assigned to New Orleans.

Sometime in August 1819, Alabama was temporarily assigned to New orleans to help thwart the pirate incidents in those waters. On August 31, the two ships were sailing the Gulf when they sighted the schooner Bravo. The Americans gave chase and eventually came within range. A brief gunnery duel occurred and then the Americans boarded the enemy. The pirates were captured. Captain Jean LaFarge commanded the suspected privateer, apparently no letter of marque was presented to the Americans which explained why the pirates fled at the sight of the Revenue Cutter schooners. The pirates were taken into United States custody and probably hanged later on. Casualties are unknown.

The two revenue cutters would fight two more battles with pirates in the Gulf of Mexico pirates before being scrapped. On April 19, 1819, the Alabama and Louisiana destroyed a pirate base at the Battle of Patterson's Town on Breton Island, Louisiana. Another action was fought on July 10, 1820 when Captain Jairus of Louisiana captued four pirate ships off Belize. On November 2, 1822, Louisiana along with USS Peacock and the Royal Vavy schooner HMS Speedwell captured five pirate vessels off Havana, Cuba. Louisiana's career was soon over, on March the vessel was put up for public auction. Alabama eventually went on to fight the slave trade in the Atlantic until being sold in Florida on August 6, 1833.