James Lafayette was born in slavery about 1748 and lived in New Kent County.  His master William Armistead was commissary of military supplies when in the summer of  1781 the Marquis de Lafayette recruited James as a spy.  Posing as a double agent, forager and servant at British headquarters, James moved freely between the lines with vital information on British troop movements for Lafayette.  The Virginia General Assembly freed James in 1787 in recognition of his bravery and service, on the written recommendation of Lafayette, whose name he took for his own.  He owned his own land in New Kent County and died August 9, 1830.