Famous People

James Armistead Lafayette

Tricks of the Trade

Since it was known that our Commander in Chief, General Washington, was a genius at deception, I figured my services would fit that area, too. I offered to pretend to be an escaped slave. I crossed enemy lines and Britain's General Cornwallis recruited me to spy! I returned to the Americans, and we planned how to fool him. We forged a false order for a large regiment of patriot soldier replacements. Lafayette and Washington thought it was a good idea, so I told Cornwallis I had found the crumpled, dirty piece of paper on the road during my "spy mission," and he believed me. Because of this note, he thought the Americans were much stronger than they were. He never knew he was tricked after the Battle of Yorktown.

I did a lot of spying during the war, and, in appreciation for my work, the Virginia Legislature granted me my freedom from slavery after the Revolutionary War.


Sources:

Kaplan, Sidney. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. New York: New York Graphic Society, Ltd., 1973.

Intelligence in the War of Independence. The Central Intelligence Agency, 1997.

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