James Armistead Lafayette

The Spy:

James Armistead Lafayette, an enslaved man, was owned by William Armistead of Virginia. Most sources indicate that James Armistead was born in 1748, though others put his birth around 1760.

In 1781, after getting his master's consent, he volunteered to join the army under Marquis de Lafayette. He 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 them allowed James to gain 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 Marquis de Lafayette."