Revolutionary Secrets, Part 3

A key double agent made big social moves

James Armistead and the Marquis de Lafayette; painting by Jean-Baptiste Le Paon in 1783; courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. The Marquis referred to a useful informant, who was likely James, in letters to George Washington as a “correspondent of mine,” “my honest friend,” and “a very sensible fellow.”

This is the third installment of a five-part series on the covert Southern missions that helped make America’s freedom possible. If you haven’t read Parts 1 and 2, you can access them below.

Revolutionary Secrets, Part 1

Revolutionary Secrets, Part 2

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A Key Double Agent

James Armistead Lafayette, an enslaved man from New Kent County, Virginia, became one of the most significant intelligence operatives of the American Revolution.

James Armistead Lafayette, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. He signed his name as “James Fayette.”

With permission from his enslaver, Armistead joined the Continental Army and came under the command of young French nobleman Marquis de Lafayette, who, in 1777, had anchored his ship at the entrance of South Carolina’s Winyah Bay and rowed to North Island, where he vowed to fight on the side of liberty. Armistead’s ability to move between social worlds primed him for double agency, and that is exactly what Lafayette assigned to him.

Armistead posed as a runaway enslaved man seeking work with the British, which gained him access to enemy camps. There, he observed British commanders and defectors like Benedict Arnold, then relayed this intelligence to American forces.

Benedict Arnold, portrait courtesy of the Library of Congress. Arnold used coded letters, invisible ink, and intermediaries to pass secret communications.