James Armistead Lafayette was an African American slave who served the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War as a double agent. He served under the Marquis de Lafayette, reporting on the activities first of Benedict Arnold after he had gone over to the British and then Lord Cornwallis during the runup to the Battle of Yorktown. He also fed false information to them.
An AfricanAmerican slave, Armistead was owned by William Armistead of Virginia. Most sources indicate that James Armistead was born in 1748 in New Kent County, Virginia, while other sources put his birth around 1760 in Elizabeth City, Virginia.
Source: Wikipedia