James Armistead Lafayette
- History Fix Podcast
- 5 days ago
- 14 min read
Episode 164: How an Enslaved Black Man Helped Win Freedom for White Americans
"Engraved portrait of James Armistead Lafayette (c. 1759-1830)". After the painting by John B. Martin
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It’s October 17, 1781 in Yorktown, Virginia. The sound of a drum breaks through the early morning quiet. A single British drummer beats his drum somewhere in the distance. The patriot’s eyes widen at the sound. Their jaws drop. They know this beat. It means truce. It means surrender. After a 20 day siege, the British are out of food. They are out of artillery. They are trapped. They have no choice but to surrender. The men assemble. American General Washington stands side by side with French General Rochambeau. Someone approaches from the British line, carrying a sword, but it is not who they were expecting. It’s not General Cornwallis. It’s his second in command, General O’Hara. He makes some sort of excuse, Cornwallis is not well. He attempts to hand the sword off to General Rochambeau, clearly unwilling to accept Washington as worthy. The British have been fighting the French forever. Losing to the French is familiar. Losing to the Americans is unthinkable. Rochambeau shakes his head and gestures towards Washington by his side. O’Hara grimaces, turns, and reluctantly offers the sword to the American General. Washington refuses the sword too and instructs O’Hara to give it to his second in command General Lincoln instead. If Cornwallis won’t play the game, neither will he. With the thing done, a seemingly endless line of redcoats approaches. The British soldiers lay down their weapons, lining them up in the middle of the field. Their drummers beat out a mournful rhythm, a tune called “The World Turned Upside Down.” For the British it had. The world had turned upside down. Less than a month before, they had approached Yorktown, Virginia with full confidence. What had gone wrong? Well, that what was really more of a who. An enslaved Black man named James, a man the British had mistakenly trusted, a man who helped turn the tide of the American Revolution, a man most people have still never heard of. Let’s fix that.
Hello, I’m Shea LaFountaine and this is History Fix where I tell surprising true stories from history you won’t be able to stop thinking about. I have a really incredible story for you today. This is one of those that I come across quite often actually that really should be a movie. Actually I googled whether there was a movie about James Armistead Lafayette and there isn’t and that’s honestly such a missed opportunity because this story is awesome. There was a movie that came out recently, Young Washington, no I haven’t seen it. Umm, I’m not gonna throw out opinions about a movie I haven’t seen but I get a lot of Christian Nationalism vibes from it, let’s just say that. And, I don’t know… George Washington has been glorified plenty. I just feel like we’re good on that. It’s so played out. James Armistead Lafayette… where’s his movie? Here let me just, let me tell you the story and I think you’ll agree.
James, first of all, James was just James. He never actually went by the last name Armistead during his life although that’s how he’s remembered. Lafayette will come in later. But James was just James. He was born enslaved in either North Carolina or Virginia in either 1748 or 1760. Fuzzy details of course because he was enslaved and records like this were not kept for enslaved people. At some point, James became the property of, I don’t like that wording, he was enslaved by a Colonel John Armistead in New Kent County, Virginia. So this is where the last name Armistead comes from. Technically his name was James Armistead but he never personally used that last name. That’s why I said he was just James. Colonel John Armistead died in 1779, but even before that he had transferred James to his son William. So James had become the first man enslaved by young William Armistead. We know that James was taught to read and write while he was enslaved by the Armistead family which wasn’t illegal in Virginia yet in the 1700s but it was still quite rare.
The Revolutionary War started in April of 1775 and by June, George Washington was unanimously chosen to lead the continental army as Commander in Chief. Now, Washington enslaved people. I have a whole episode about Washington if you missed it, episode 69, that’s the real young Washington. But Washington enslaved people and so he was very uncomfortable with the idea of arming Black people, of giving enslaved people weapons, guns. He was not cool with that at all. And so he did not want enslaved Black men in his army. By July 10, 1775, rules were in place barring Black men from joining the Continental Army. And this was honestly really dumb. And that wasn’t lost on their enemies. In November, Virginia’s royal governor Lord Dunmore promised freedom to any enslaved men who joined his British forces. And many did. Caitlin Healy writes for the US Army National Museum quote “Lord Dunmore hoped for a full-scale slave revolt, something that many southern Founding Fathers like Washington and Thomas Jefferson were terrified of. Such a revolt never materialized. It has been estimated that only 800 to 1,000 Virginia slaves joined Loyalist forces. However, upon hearing news of the Dunmore Proclamation, as many as 100,000 enslaved people from all 13 colonies ran to British lines to escape slavery,” end quote. And can you even blame them?
Later in the war, this stance by Washington began to change out of necessity. They needed men, any men, white, Black, purple, whatever. Soon it didn’t matter, they were desperate for troops. This decision to allow Black men to join the army was helped along by a young French officer with a very long name. Officially his name was Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, but he’s mostly just known as the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette’s path will soon cross with that of James, currently enslaved by William Armistead over in New Kent County, Virginia but first, let me tell you his back story. Lafayette was born into a wealthy family in France in 1757. This was a military family. They were serious about military things. So much so that Lafayette was actually commissioned as an officer when he was only 13 years old. But, by the time he was 19, he was an orphan. A very wealthy orphan who desperately wanted military glory, the only thing his now deceased parents really valued. I’m sure there’s a lot to unpack psychologically there. But Lafayette wants military glory. Mostly he wants to avenge France against their long time rival, Great Britain. The problem is, there aren’t currently any conflicts going on in Europe, it’s all peaceful right now. So he decides to go to America where conflict is a brewing with Great Britain. Lafayette was also really into the enlightenment movement of the time which was all about the concepts of liberty and the pursuit of freedom. So he’s all for the American independence cause and he’s looking for a fight with the British. It’s perfect. The only problem was, the French king Louis XVI had actually explicitly banned the French from fighting with the Americans. He was like, we’re sitting this one out. So Lafayette, at 19 years old, bought his own ship called Victory, and used it to sneak out of France, defying the King’s orders. He gets to America. He joins the cause. He develops a tight relationship with George Washington. It’s often described as a sort of father son relationship. And Lafayette is one of the guys helping to convince Washington that he needs to let Black men fight already you dumb dumb.
Now let’s go back to James in New Kent County. James has 3 choices right now. He can carry on being enslaved by William Armistead. He can fight for the Americans, risk his life for almost zero personal gain, and then go right back to being enslaved afterwards. Or, he can fight for the British and receive his freedom. Which of the 3 would you choose? The one where you probably die and definitely still aren’t free afterwards? Yeah me neither. But that’s the one James chooses. For whatever reason. We’re really not sure why he does this. It really makes no sense, fighting for a country that’s fighting for freedom yet refuses to grant you yours, refuses to view you as a human being. But James was not the only one. Thousands of enslaved Black men fought as Patriots in the war. Something like 3.5% of the Continental Army was Black. Many of them were sadly forced to, sent in their enslavers stead. Many others, like James, chose to fight.
We know that James’ enslaver William Armistead was a passionate patriot and that he served as a commissary, in charge of food and supplies for Virginia troops during the war. And we know that James volunteered his services as well. He ended up volunteering under none other than General Lafayette, French rich kid with a boat and a dream. Lafayette sees a lot of potential in James, not as a soldier. He’s not going to make James a soldier and likely march him to his death. He has much bigger plans for James. Because James is enslaved and he can read and write. Lafayette latches onto those details and he hatches a brilliant plan. James is going to be a spy. Lafayette sent James right into the heart of the British War Department, posing as a runaway slave. He goes to British General Cornwallis, the British version of George Washington basically, and he pretends to be a runaway slave hoping to join the British forces. Lafayette knows they’ll take him because James has extensive knowledge of Virginian terrain. He knows the area and they don’t. And they trust him because they think he’s after the freedom they’re offering him and they don’t know he can read and write because he’s enslaved, right? Enslaved people can’t read and write. They aren’t educated. So they underestimate him. James is the perfect spy.
So the British take him in. Ironically, he was even ordered by Cornwalis to spy on Lafayette. So, he’s a double agent basically. He’s really spying for the Americans but the British think he’s spying for them. So, in this way, he has access to both sides. He worked as a courier for the British, carrying documents, information between their camps. They honestly made his job easy. So he gathers details about British plans and tells them to Lafayette. He also plants false information about American plans to try to throw off the British. More irony, during this time he spends spying on the British as a sort of double agent, he comes into direct contact with another even more famous trickster, Benedict Arnold. I’m dedicating next week’s mini fix to Benedict Arnold but I’ll briefly fill you in here. Benedict Arnold was an American. He was born in Connecticut. He joined the Continental Army and quickly rose through the ranks all the way to major general. He was a favorite of George Washington who had full faith in him, so much faith that he put him in charge of West Point in New York, which today is a military academy but back then it was a fort, a stronghold. It was in this really critical position on the Hudson River and, if the British were to gain control of it, they would split the colonies in two which is bad for obvious reasons. Washington called West Point “the key of America.” And he trusted Benedict Arnold so much that he put him charge of defending it. This was a major mistake because Benedict Arnold had secretly switched sides, a turncoat, and he was planning to hand West Point to the British on a silver platter. But, this plot was discovered in September of 1780. And so Benedict Arnold was forced to flee to British lines. He had committed treason, the worst sort of treason. Taken in by the British, he was made a brigadier general. I don’t really know what that means but it sounds fancy. So, while secretly working for the Americans under Lafayette, James pretends to work for both General Cornwallis and Benedict Arnold.
By 1781, it’s about to go down in Yorktown, Virginia. Cornwallis is going to Yorktown for supplies. The British navy is supposed to meet him there with supplies and then they’ll evacuate them, get them out of there. Okay that’s the plan. In and out. Get some stuff, get out of there. Well, it’s not the British navy that meets them. Instead, it’s the French fleet, blocking the Chesapeake Bay. Why French? I thought the French were sitting this one out. Well, they were originally. That’s why Lafayette had to buy his own boat and sneak out of France. But then more and more support for the Americans started to grow in France, thanks to Lafayette and other men like him, really. Lafayette had returned to France in 1779 to lobby King Louis XVI and the French ministers for troops and the navy to be sent to help the Americans and eventually they were. France joined the fight on the side of the Americans. Why? To hurt Great Britain and avenge their loss in the 7 years war. Super petty reasons, but whatever. We’ll take it. And so the French fleet is blocking Cornwallis escape out of Yorktown in 1781. He has to go by land. No problem, he’ll call in some backup from nearby Portsmouth, Virginia. 10,000 troops should do. Except James finds this out. He finds out about the 10,000 reinforcements coming to rescue Cornwallis and he tells Lafayette who tells Washington and the French General Rochambeau. With this information, they jump into gear, planning a successful bombardment that catches the British totally off guard. The reinforcements can’t get to them and they are really and truly trapped in Yorktown. They can’t escape by land or sea now. Eventually, with no supplies and no escape, they have no choice but to surrender.
Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown did not officially end the Revolutionary War. It wouldn’t officially end until almost 2 years later with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. But, it was the final major land battle and it was arguably the most significant American victory. It basically broke the British. It shattered their resolve to keep fighting. There would be more skirmishes afterwards but they would fizzle out more and more until the British gave in, signing the treaty that lost them their American colonies 1783. Without the surrender at Yorktown, the war may have ended very differently. And without James’ warning about the 10,000 troops from Portsmouth, that surrender may have never happened.
So what happened to James? We know Lafayette was all about the honor and the glory and he undoubtedly got it. But what about James? James agreed to this arrangement with the understanding that there would be no honor and glory, that he would return to his enslaver, William Armistead, afterwards. But things had changed since then. In 1783, Virginia passed a manumission act which said that any enslaved person who fought in the Revolutionary War was free. However, this only applied to enslaved people who were issued firearms, typically serving as soldiers in the place of their white enslavers. James was not a soldier. He was a spy. He was never issued a gun. And so he was omitted from this manumission act and he did not receive his freedom. But don’t worry, that injustice will not stand. With the support of both his enslaver, William Armistead, and none other than General Lafayette himself who wrote a letter to the General Assembly in 1784 explaining James’ contributions to the war effort. He’s basically like “guys, he did the whole thing, he won the war. We couldn’t have won it without him. We literally might have lost the whole war without this dude.” Not really actually, that’s what I would have said. What he actually said was “The petition of James (a slave belonging to Will: Armistead of New Kent county) humbly sheweth: That your petitioner persuaded of the just right which all mankind have to Freedom, notwithstanding his own state of bondage, with an honest desire to serve this country in its defence thereof did, during the ravages of Lord Cornwallis thro’ this state by the permission of his master, enter into the service of the Marquiss Lafayette. That during the time of his serving the Marquiss he often at the peril of his life found means to frequent the British Camp by which means he kept open a channel of the most useful communication to the army of the state. That at different times your petitioner conveyed inclosures from the Marquiss in to the Enemies lines, of the most secret & important kind; the possession of which if discovered on him would have most certainly endangered the life of your petitioner. That he undertook & performed all commands with chearfulness & fidelity in opposition to the persuasion & example of many thousands of his unfortunate condition. For proof of the above your petitioner begs leave to refer to Certificate of the Marquiss Lafayette hereto annexed, & after taking his case as here stated into consideration he humbly intreats that he may be granted that Freedom, which he flatters himself he has in some degree contributed to establish; & which he hopes always to prove himself worthy of; nor does he desire even this inestimable favor unless his present master from whom he has experienced every thing which can make tolerable the state of slavery, shall be made adequate compensation for the loss of a valuable workman, which your petitioner humbly requests may be done & Your petitioner shall ever pray,” end quote. James did receive his freedom… in 1787, three years later. Not sure why it took 3 years but whatever. As a way of saying thanks for the letter, James adopted the last name Lafayette in 1787 when he became free.
And then, he’s really living the life guys. Like, things go very well for James. He bought his own farm in Virginia, 40 acres. He got married, he raised a family. He even enslaved people. Yeah, a formerly enslaved person enslaved people. This was less rare than you might think. We know he enslaved 3 people but we don’t know the circumstances. We don’t know if he enslaved these people to work on his farm or if they were possibly enslaved family members that he purchased in order to protect them or give them unofficial freedom. We don’t know. But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for James after he became free. Despite petitioning for it, he didn’t start receiving his pension for serving in the war until 1819, 27 years after the war ended.
In 1824 James and the Marquis de Lafayette were reunited. Lafayette had returned to France after the war and gotten himself involved in the French revolution, very revolutionary guy. In 1824 Lafayette was invited back to the United States by President James Monroe for a sort of tour, a sort of throwback victory tour of sorts. He toured all 24 states, visited Yorktown, and visited George Washington’s grave at Mount Vernon. Washington had died back in 1799. While in Virginia, he gave a speech to the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond and who should be in the crowd there but James Armistead Lafayette. General Lafayette stopped his carriage, hopped out and hugged James right there in the crowd. Big ol bear hug.
I love that for a lot of reasons. It’s equalizing. Lafayette greets other Lafayette, James, a man who took his name out of respect, as an equal. And really Lafayette seems to be the only one in this story who really respected James. Lafayette saw the potential in James. Washington feared him. Cornwallis underestimated him. Lafayette saw him as a fellow human with potential, potential that paid off tremendously at the surrender at Yorktown. Lafayette was willing to take a chance on James and James, for some reason that’s hard to even fathom, was willing to put his life on the line for a country that refused to grant him his freedom, refused to see him as a fellow human. Caitlin Healey words it perfectly when she writes quote “It is the pinnacle of irony that the United States was born from a war for independence that depended, in part, on people who were enslaved,” end quote.
James died in probably 1830, the year he took his last pension, or maybe in 1832 according to other reports making him somewhere between 70 and 84 years old, a 14 year range. Both his birth years and death years are uncertain. And that says a lot. George Washington? He was 67 years and 295 days old when he died. We know that precisely. James Lafayette was an unsung American hero, a double agent at tremendous personal risk, infiltrating the belly of the beast, the Severus Snape of American history, if you will and to quote Harry Potter “he was probably the bravest man I ever knew.”
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