James Armistead Lafayette
| James Armistead Lafayette | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
James Armistead December 10, 1760 New Kent County, Virginia, or Elizabeth City |
| Died | August 9, 1830 (aged 69) New Kent County, Virginia |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Spy |
James Armistead Lafayette (December 10, 1760 – August 9, 1830) was an African American slave who served the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War as a double agent. He served under the Marquis de Lafayette, reporting on the activities first of Benedict Arnold – after he had gone over to the British – and then Lord Cornwallis during the run-up to the Battle of Yorktown. He also fed false information to them.
An African-American slave, Armistead was owned by William Armistead of Virginia. Most sources indicate that James Armistead was born in 1748 in New Kent County, Virginia, while other sources put his birth around 1760 in Elizabeth City, Virginia.
After getting the consent of his master, Armistead volunteered in 1781 to join the army under Lafayette, who utilized him as a spy. Posing as a runaway slave, he joined the camp of Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, the turncoat who was leading some British forces in the area. Pretending to be a spy for the British, Armistead gained Arnold's confidence to the extent that Arnold used him to guide British troops through local roads. "The ex-slave, who later renamed himself James Armistead Lafayette in the general's honor, served as a double agent against the British under the avowedly antislavery Lafayette."
After Arnold departed north in the spring of 1781, James went to the camp of Lord Charles Cornwallis and repeated his successful pose there. He moved frequently between British camps, where the officers would speak openly about their strategies in front of him. Armistead documented this information in written reports, which he then delivered to other American spies. In this way he relayed much information about the British plans for troop deployment and about their arms. The intelligence reports from his espionage were instrumental in helping to defeat the British during the Battle of Yorktown.
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