Below, image of an engraved portrait by an unknown artist of James Armistead Lafayette, 1824.

Lafayette successfully infiltrated British headquarters as a double agent during the Revolutionary War, posing as a runaway slave seeking refuge.

His intelligence proved crucial to the American victory at Yorktown in 1781.
His commanding general petitioned for James' freedom after the war.

Six years later, in 1787, James finally won his freedom, and he took a new surname to honor the general who had trusted him.