African American Spies in The American Revolution
African Americans contributed a lot to the spy networks of General Washington and the continental army in the American Revolution. One of the most famous African American spies is James Armistead. He was born into slavery in Virgina in 1748. His master granted him permission to enlist in the Revolutionary War as a spy. For the british, they had mercenaries, hower for America, they had regular colonists and slaves from their colonies He pretended to a runaway slave. The British soon took his trust and didn't suspect a thing. Armistead even went to "rendezvous" witht the British to tell them false information about American plans. He was able to get information about British plans and operations about their Hessian soldiers. With Armistead's assistance, Washington and Lafayette were able to prevent the 10,000 British troops from invading Yorktown. He went back home to being a slave, but soon Lafayette wrote a recommendation of James' freedom which was granted in 1787. This was a turning point for Armistead. He began to write poetry and document things about the revolution.