Fifteen years after leaving the United States, Bean returned as a Mexican colonel and emissary from Morelos to seek American aid for the insurgents, but without much success. In New Orleans he encountered the pirate Jean Lafitte, and together they offered their services to General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans against the British. They were assigned positions in the American battle line. Their valiant conduct gained a pardon for Lafitte, and promises of help for the Mexican insurgents for Bean.