Actor-interpreter Stephen Seals as James Armistead Lafayette. Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
The story of James Lafayette and his impact on the American Revolution has long been overlooked but cannot be overstated. And the fact that he was enslaved when all this happened, makes his journey all that more remarkable.
FROM AN INDISTINCT BEGINNING
According to most accounts, James’ incredible journey into history began in 1748, when he was born into slavery in New Kent, Virginia. As is often the case of enslaved people, very little of his personal history is accounted for. We do know that James was the manservant for William Armistead, Jr., the son of his owner, John Armistead. By many accounts, James learned to read and write, in both English and French, while sitting along with his young master during his lessons. If true, those skills would serve him well, in later years.
EVENTS CONSPIRE AND OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
History is silent on James until around 1780-1781. At this point in time, the war had been going on for five years and victory was far from certain. The Continental Army suffered crushing defeats in South Carolina; Benedict Arnold had been exposed as a traitor; and soldiers were threatening mutiny due to lack of pay and substandard living conditions.
Historical marker for James Lafayette in front of the Old Courthouse in New Kent County. Photo courtesy of Jackie Nunnery.
Just a few years prior to all this, George Washington had instructed Major Benjamin Tallmadge to create a network of spies in New York, where the British were headquartered. The Culper Ring, as it came to be known after the war, was successful in uncovering British plans to ambush the French and obtaining information that led to the capture of Major John Andre, Benedict Arnold’s co-conspirator.
Based on these successes, Washington and his men developed a network of spies with a range of methods for gathering military intelligence. One of these men, a young Frenchman with a passion for the cause and the budding country, would be key to both Washington’s and James’ goals.
Gilbert du Motier, also known as the Marquis de Lafayette, was just 20 years old in 1777 when he left France and landed in South Carolina, eager to fight for what he considered a noble cause. When he left just two years later, his valor made him a friend of Washington and a hero in both countries. Having returned to the war after a year’s leave, Washington sent the popular Lafayette to Virginia to stop General Cornwallis and the invading British.
Here is where history gets murky once again. James Lafayette, invited or inspired by the Marquis de Lafayette, chose to enlist with the permission of his owner, or perhaps William Armistead “volunteered” James for duty to benefit the cause and to reap the enlistment bonus. Either way, James found himself under the command of Lafayette, who believed in liberty for all, and James made the best of his circumstances, to say the least.
Marquis de Lafayette in 1781 before the Battle of Yorktown with James Armistead Lafayette, an American double agent.
THE MAKINGS OF A SPY
Since the beginning of the war, the British had offered freedom for enslaved men who fought for them. In need of military intelligence, Lafayette believed he had the perfect plan and cover story for James: he would pose as a runaway slave seeking his freedom and gain the confidence of the British.
The plan worked exceedingly well. As a member of the spy ring, James was able to first infiltrate the camp of Benedict Arnold, now a general in the British army. Arnold gave James the job of forager, searching the surrounding area for food and supplies for soldiers. The role gave James the freedom to roam between the British and American sides, exchanging information with the network leading back to Lafayette. And as a slave, James would have been disregarded by men who would feel free to discuss whatever plans they were formulating, never realizing, to their peril, that a spy was hiding in plain sight.
James eventually ended up at the headquarters of Cornwallis, who ironically trusted him enough to ask that he spy on Lafayette. It was at this point that James was able to gather enough valuable evidence about British army and navy placements in Yorktown, as well as feed Cornwallis false information about the Continental Army and the French naval fleet, so that they were able to surround Cornwallis and gain his surrender. In doing so, they effectively ended the war and gained the United States its freedom.
Portrait of James Lafayette by Ruth Major. Courtesy of LaVonne Allen. This painting is based on a portrait entitled James Armistead Fafayette, by John B. Martin, circa 1824, which hangs in The Valentine Museum in Richmond.
LIBERTY FOR SOME
Despite his role in the definitive victory at Yorktown, James sadly remained enslaved. The Act of 1783 freed slaves who had fought as soldiers in the Revolutionary War on their masters’ behalf. James, as a spy, did not qualify, even though he had risked his life, much like the celebrated (and executed) spy Nathan Hale, to gain and share military intelligence.
“It must have been an excruciating time” for him, said Stephen Seals, who portrays James as one of Colonial Williamsburg’s Nation Builders, eighteenth-century historical figures from the area who have made significant contributions to the American story. “To provide duty for country” and not be recognized for the efforts that provided other men “freedoms they hadn’t known before,” would have been demoralizing, Seals added.
The Marquis de Lafayette made a return trip to the United States in 1784-1785, hailed again as a hero of the Revolution. While in Virginia, he visited his friend George Washington at Mount Vernon and addressed the Virginia House of Delegates, where he called for “liberty of all mankind” and urged the emancipation of slaves. In Richmond, during the fall of 1784, Lafayette appealed to the House regarding James’ contributions and fate: “James has done essential services to me while I had the honor 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 entitled to every reward his situation can admit of.”
“ENTITLED TO EVERY REWARD”
Despite his bravery, despite the testimony of a popular and powerful man, James remained the property of another man. Perhaps this time of re-enslavement did not put James into hopelessness or despair, as it might have many men, because James pressed on again, petitioning the Virginia House of Delegates for his freedom in 1786: “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.”
The petition went on to “humbly” ask “that he may be granted that Freedom, which he flatters himself he has in some degree contributed to establish; and which he hopes always to prove himself worthy of” and that William Armistead, “his present master from whom he has experienced everything, which can make tolerable the state of slavery, shall be made adequate compensation for the loss of a valuable workman.”
Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
In January 1787, James, who adopted the surname Lafayette in honor of the man who made such a lasting impact on his life, was finally a free man. Though history once again gets hazy, we know that he and his family lived on a 40-acre farm in the New Kent region. Even though slavery would not end in Virginia for nearly 80 more years, James Lafayette continued to do his part to end the practice, buying relatives who continued to live on the property. He also continued to demand of the government that which he was so greatly owed. In 1819, he asked for, and this time immediately received, his annual pension of $40 for his service in the Revolutionary War.
In 1824, the Marquis de Lafayette once again visited the United States, accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette. During a repeat trip to Virginia, Lafayette, riding in a heroes’ procession to cheering crowds, is said to have spied James Lafayette in the crowd, stopped his horse and dismounted, and embraced his old friend, now an equal among men.
James Lafayette’s story is the American Dream we have all shared for generations: the opportunity for achievement through hard work. It’s also a story of America’s hypocrisy surrounding the same dream: not everyone has the same access to opportunity and achievement, despite their hard work. “It’s impossible to portray someone and not have that person be a part of you,” Seals said of his role as James Lafayette. “I’ve gained so much; I’ve become connected to the American story. It’s a story about ‘what’s possible when you have people in your life to help you.’ ”
And what does Seals hope that people take away from James’ life and his portrayal? “ James’ story isn’t just an African-American experience. It’s a part of the American identity.”