Before there was James Bond, there was James Armistead — who incidentally acted as a double agent against the British during the American Revolution. He was born into slavery on a plantation in Virginia but would rise to be one of the most important people in the American Revolution. He played a pivotal role in the American victory with such notable feats as reporting Benedict Arnold’s activities after his betrayal to the Continental Army and providing intel on Lord Cornwallis before the Battle of Yorktown. Unfortunately, his valor has not received the accolades or attention he rightly deserves.
Armistead received permission from his master to enlist in the Continental Army in the American Revolution. Armistead was assigned to General Marquis de Lafayette’s French units. Lafayette deployed Armistead as a spy. He pretended to be a runaway slave who wanted to join the British military and gain his freedom, a promise the British had extended to enlisting slaves. The British found his knowledge of the terrain quite valuable — or so they thought. Using his vast knowledge of the local landscape, Armistead helped British Gen. Benedict Arnold guide his troops through Virginia’s local roads, which subsequently gained the trust of the British. He would then dispatch these movements to the Continental Army.
Before the crucial battle of Yorktown, Armistead worked with Lord Cornwallis in Virginia. He provided vital information about British strategy and incoming troop reinforcements from England. This valuable information allowed the Continental Navy to design a blockade that hindered British reinforcements. It helped them defeat Cornwallis.
In his high-risk job as a spy, Armistead was always just one mistake away from being exposed and executed for treason. Unfortunately, because he was a spy and not a soldier, Armistead did not benefit from the Act of 1783, which freed any slave who fought in the Continental Army. Only after the war when Lafayette became aware Armistead was enslaved did he write a letter to Congress petitioning for his freedom. Of Armistead, Lafayette wrote: “This is to certify that the bearer by the name of James has done essential services to me while I had the honour to command in this state. His intelligences from the enemy’s camp were industriously collected and faithfully delivered. He perfectly acquitted himself with some important commissions I gave him and appears to me entitled to every reward his situation can admit of.”
Armistead was freed in 1787 — four years after risking his life to help the Americans defeat the British.
After gaining his freedom and a pension for his service, Armistead moved to a farm in Virginia. He changed his name to James Armistead Lafayette in honor of his general and the man partially responsible for his freedom. He married and raised a family, living the rest of his life as a free man. The hero James Armistead Lafayette lived into his 80s and died in 1832.
