the smithsonian associates and the international spy museum cohosted this 80 minute event. >> good to see all of you here. i am a historian and curator. some of you i know, some of you i am meeting for the first time. i would like to welcome all of you to the spy museum and spy seminar, where we focus on the spies of the american revolution. the first two weeks centered on well-known personalities. you have the --, which has an entire tv show dedicated to it now, and ben franklin is of course ben franklin. next week, we will look at the most infamous spy in u.s. history, benedict arnold. the relative obscurity of james lafayette is what will make this morning so interesting. he is someone we should know more about. his impact on world history is well known. historians are just now beginning to piece it together to find out new information and understand his impact on the revolution and figure out how he sits among the great heroes and villains of american intelligence history. katherine egner gruber will help us to understand who this enigmatic man really is. she is a curator at jamestown-yorktown foundation and a member of the team responsible for research and development of exhibits in the forthcoming american revolution museum at yorktown, which i will tell you more about today. between 2009-2014, she worked at the colonial williamsburg foundation where she developed the research and production of the field trip series. she served as a library fellow, and most recently was content specialist in the digital history center. although she is a museum professional interested in early american consumerism economy, material culture, and how these aspects of colonial life translated during the american revolution, she considers herself as an interdisciplinary historian with interests in archaeology, architecture, preservation, and quantitative and digital history. without further ado, kate gruber. [applause] mrs. gruber: good morning. can everyone hear me ok? the if you need me to speak up a little bit, somebody wave their hand in the air. how about now? any better? ok, great, thank you. all right, let's get started. you have been watching a lot of this lately. i guess it is pretty popular. i have to admit, i have never seen it. i am 10 years behind on my own popular culture. i figure i will get to "turn" in 2023 or so. that depends on whether we get this new museum opened up. how about either one of these? [laughter] mrs. gruber: surely you know these guys, although i would argue that one of them does not belong in the same picture. or perhaps this is more your speed? and what about her? if popular culture is any indication, tales of spies and espionage have always captured our imagination. there is something about the romance and danger of covert operations, secret identities, quirky gadgets, codewords, agent numbers, invisible ink, savile row, and fancy cars, and of course martinis shaken, not stirred, which i guess it is a little too early for, but maybe later. thanks to our culture's fascination with the world of spies in our past and present, these elements seem to be part of our collective consciousness of what it means to be a spy. thanks to hollywood, i think that we think we all have a pretty good grasp of what spies look like and the jobs that they do, and the fact that they have to be a little extra careful when selecting a stick of gum, because when is a stick of gum never just a stick of gum in any of those movies, right? with popular culture running rampant with fictional accounts of espionage, there are real historical figures behind all this fiction, men and women who risk their lives in the line of duty. these are real people with real lives and real stories, and i am here today to say that as entertaining as all this fiction is, the real truth, the real american history, is even more fascinating than the fiction. and that is a big part of our mission at the jamestown-yorktown foundation and the galleries and educational programming at the new american revolution museum in yorktown, a 22,000 square foot permanent exhibition which will open on october 15 in america's historic triangle. let me say that one more time, october 15 in america's historic triangle. [applause] mrs. gruber: obviously this is one of my many shameless plugs you will hear this morning. personal stories unfold in the real-life drama of the 18th century much better than anything on tv, i promise you. it is easy to take that for granted, and we often forget that real people like you and me lived in that extraordinary time and made life or death decisions without the benefit of the hindsight we enjoy today. their actions have consequences, for better or for worse, and because of the extraordinary actions of a very ordinary man, we are here this morning. my lecture is titled james lafayette, double agent, and after being contacted by the spy museum to present our museum's ongoing research, i thought this title would be reflective of exactly the content that i thought we would be delivering to you today. as a curator at the new museum, i have had the pleasure of helping to expand our museum's scope to include a variety of real life personal stories and our exploration of the american revolution. james lafayette is an incredible part of our story at yorktown, and we made the decision to feature them in our museums 5000 square foot exhibit. it is opening june 2017. [laughter] i mrs. gruber: thank you, thank you very much. you are a lovely audience. the special exhibit, which i mentioned will open next summer, will tell surprising stories about the veterans of yorktown who walked off the battlefield to create a new world. we knew that james lafayette was an important part of the story, and so we knew we had to get it exactly right. six months ago, when i was contacted by the staff at the spy museum to give a lecture about james lafayette, we had in our hands the traditional narrative of james, plucked out and of servitude to spy on benedict arnold and cornwallis leading up to the siege of yorktown, running between enemy lines to run information to patriots, and being so impressed with james's ability, cornwallis sent him on his own mission, where james effectively became a double agent, feeding false information to the british while keeping lafayette abreast of the goings on in the camp. james was the perfect spy, and effective double agent only caught during the days after the british surrender when cornwallis himself ventured into the patriot camp and saw james among the marquis' entourage. "oh, you rogue," he exclaimed. "you have been playing the a trick all this time." this is the traditional narrative of james lafayette, and that is the research i expected to present today. this is why the title of the lecture is james lafayette, double agent, but i must admit to you now that the research of these past six months, once we dug further and further into the real primary source of his espionage, very little came to light. even after 235 years, this aspect of his life still remained shrouded in mystery. i would like to think that is what any good double agent would want, don't you? so what i will present you this morning is every bit of corroborative, primary source-based research on his life and his times, including the time in which james acted as a spy for the marquis de lafayette, so here is your mission should you choose to accept it. i invite you to join me this morning as we explore the life and times of james lafayette. invisible fly. spy.visible backing up a little bit, i want to talk about the history of this research project and the jamestown-yorktown foundation. we came to realize that almost immediately after the revolution, james was mentioned in countless tomes chronicling the activity of enslaved african-americans during the revolutionary war, and his exploits as a spy for the patriots have been recollected time and time again, more often than not with little documentary evidence or basis in historical fact. like a 200-year-old game of telephone, the real factual details of his life became misinterpreted or just plain lost in the archives or in the fires that ravaged many of virginia's colonial and pre-civil war record repositories. so unearthing his story had a lot riding against it, but thanks to generous funding, let me say that one more time, generous funding, and the truly awesome and inspiring research chops of some of our noted historians of the foundation, including martha mccartney, i want to take a minute to say thank you for all her wonderful information and research. we are pleased to hold the most comprehensive, primary source-based research ever undertaken about this enslaved spy. there we go. i was hoping to save this incredible graphic of james' own signature for a big reveal, but i think is important to address something before we go further. please act surprised and impressed the next time you see this on screen. no primary sources consulted for this research revealed that james ever referred to himself or was known as james armistead. it is our belief that armistead was added later by a biographer who assumed that he took the last name of his owner when he was enslaved. because the name armistead does not appear in any primary source connected with james, we made the decisionto refer to him simply as james or james lafayette, and that is how i will refer to him for the duration of this presentation. according to his own recollection, james was born around 1748, enslaved and owned by the armistead family, by then well established in new kent county. in 1654, new kentwas created with boundaries defined as the frontier. the armistead family quickly became leaders in the community and held offices such as wardens, rose through the ranks of county militia, and ran mercantile establishments around williamsburg. that member of the armistead family most closely associated with james is william armistead junior, born january 5, 1754, the son of colonel john armistead the second and his wife agnes. he led an active public life. he was praised for public service, adding that he embodied every public and private virtue which could render his life useful to his country. john left behind a considerable estate of which his son, william, was named executor. a year later in 1780, we find in the gazette the sale of 30 virginia born slaves, among whom were a good blacksmith and excellent carpenter, as well as cattle, horses, sheep, corn, fodder, and sundry other articles at the lake dwelling in new kent county. like his father john, william led an active public life, contributed much to virginia's efforts during the american revolution. for all our research, we can't say for sure when james came to be owned by williams. james was born in 1748, and while we don't know for sure, he may have originally been owned by his father, the late john the second or another relative. the armistead family was prolific in regional, commercial, and mercantile operations, and maintained a position in kent's upper-middle-class. enslaved african-americans could do much to serve a family the likes of the armisteads. what's more, we have already seen that james could read and write. it's not outside the realm of possibility that colonel john william junior or other members of the armistead clan, who owned the taverns and other businesses in the area, would have taught james how to read and write. literate, james could assist in one of the stores owned by the armistead family. if you are surprised they may have afforded james the education to read and write, i will add as a footnote that this was not an uncommon occurrence in colonial virginia, and the commonwealth did not have legislation prohibiting the literacy of slaves until 1819. so regardless of how or when james came to be owned by william armistead junior, they were both uniquely positioned and incredibly well situated to meet the needs of virginians during the american revolution. you see not long after the shot heard round the world, virginia's committee of safety needed a plan of action to supply and support virginia's troops and the now sanctioned war for independence. those shots were getting closer and closer to home. for now, suffice it to say that by the fall of 1775, virginia's royal governor lord dunmore had more or less brought virginia to the patriotic cause, and in the words of the virginia convention, he has made it necessary that an additional number of forces be raised for our protection and defense. but there is one small problem. in 1775, colonial virginia had no standing professional army nor any precedent for one, thus the virginia convention met in williamsburg to establish the means for funding a more regular army of the colony, enumerating the terms for organizing up to six regiments for the defense virginia. the convention also made allowances for them to provide clothing, feed, and supply soldiers during their service. the convention and system that -- insisted that each common soldier not already sufficiently provided in the opinion of his commanding officer shall be provided with sufficient clothing at the expense of the public to be deducted out of his pay and also to be allowed by the public hunting shirt, a pair of leggings binding for his hat, , and require each soldier to at the expense of the public to be furnished with one good musket and bayonet, pouch, and canteen, among other items. to accomplish this and oversee the provision of these goods to the newly established regiment, they appointed one or more contracters required to use all possible dispatch in purchasing such provisions as shall be needed for the army, this was -- -- thus was born the williamsburg commissary. the committee of safety appointed a merchant for the store, and william armistead junior was selected to act as one of his assistants. you see how this is all coming together? armistead, who had elections, -- likely had considerable connections, or a family history of business operations, may have been in waynesburg as early as 1775 as the militia mustered its capital. nevertheless, armistead assisted until he moved on to run the southern department in late 1777. at the ripe old age of 23, william armistead junior was given a promotion and became the new commissary of stores for the commonwealth of virginia. he then received a salary of 300 pounds per year plus expenses, and expenses for one servant. we believe that servant was james. realizing that james was the assistant for william armistead and the public store which operated out of waynesburg until 1780 helps us to understand how james may have -- the marquis de lafayette. as william's servant, james surely would have accompanied him as -- excuse me -- as he coordinated the move from from williamsburg to richmond in the late spring and summer of 1780, but his record notes that most that not all of william armistead's family was living in richmond and had the slave with him. four of the slaves were over the age of 16, and one of them may have been james. armistead, with the assistance of slaves, moved their goods and records of store to richmond, shipping them up river on the schooners, and the public store continued in richmond. it was selected because the general assembly presumed richmond to be less vulnerable in an attack. the general assembly had good reason to worry. by 1779, the british army began flirting with the idea of invading virginia. in may, troops were landed in hampton road and raiding parties were sent to portsmouth and suffix, destroying warehouses and otherimportant infrastructure in attempt to cut off commerce with the west indies. governor thomas jefferson thought it was too close and voted to move the capital of up the james river to richmond. predictably, the british followed, and on january 4, 1781, benedict arnold, who had recently turned his loyalty to the british, landed with 1600 troops, including rangers and others to attack richmond. i will give this a minute to pass. though jefferson called on patriot forces to repel the attack, they quickly broke at the site of arnold's advance. one witness wrote that about 200 virginia militiamen had opened a -- assembled on the heights new the venerable meetinghouse of st. john's church, and a lieutenant colonel was ordered to dislodge them, but without firing a shot, they reach the summit of the hill." another described his role in the advance, to the right lay a steep hill overgrown, but was occupied by rifleman. the general pointed with his hand, that's a task made for you. the enemy left after a volley which wounded one. in charlottesville, jefferson refused the bribe to give the capital safe for price. in 1781, arnold set richmond ablaze. the destruction of the capital was a heavy blow to the virginia economy and its beleaguered forces. on july 18, 1781, william armistead was accused of neglecting his duties of commissary, and then thr governor quick to point out that not least of the sufferers was the marquis de lafayette, who "had nothing but bad whiskey to drink." [laughter] mrs. gruber: to compensate, he ordered to procure spirits for his personal use. note to self. complain about bad whiskey and expect a barrel of something better in return. to reinforce the patriots during the perilous situation developing in virginia, general washington had ordered the marquis de lafayette to command the forces in 1781 after arnold and his loyalists and forces ransacked and burned richmond. if you are unfamiliar with the marquis de lafayette, allow me to introduce into you now. the marquis was born into a wealthy, aristocratic family in 1757 and deeply desired to follow in the footsteps of his family. his father had died at the hands of british, at the hands of a british cannonball in 1759, and some stirrings have postulated that he broke his support of the american cause and his eagerness to serve washington even without pay may have also included a desire to return the cannonball back to the british. lafayette's desire to aid american patriots was met with substantial resistance in france, but once on american soil in 1777, lafayette an washington immediately formed a deep bond. lafayette first saw battle of brandywine on september 11, 17 87, and was shot in the leg. joined washington's camp in valley forge and shortly thereafter in march of 70 and 78 france -- 1778, france signed treaties with the united states, formally throwing support by the patriot cause. lafayetteranted permission to return to france, where he was given a hero's welcome, and of course, after being placed under customary house arrest for disobeying king going to america in the first place, this gave him time to father a son, who he named george washington lafayette, so all is well that ends well. lafayette was hoping to use a time in france to convince king louis to invade britain with himself in command. this idea failed to manifest, and lafayette turned his attentions to shoulders and general roshambo defined in america. in march of 1780, lafayette or the little ship, i'm sure none of you have heard of that before. [laughter] mrs. gruber: he arrived back in america. lafayette language in new jersey and new york, as you do, with little to no attention and action until washington ordered lafayette to round of his troops for virginia in the early months of 1781. with a clear directive to trap the treacherous benedict arnold and deliver him if they surely worth -- a fate surely worse than death. death great a bad situation and gotten much worse. i may, general charles cornwallis arrived in petersburg, some 24 miles south of the capital, to join forces with general william philip, who arrived in virginia by way of new york as a result of his capture at the battle of saratoga in 1777. we are still not 100% sure about it arnold's and game, phillips had been sent to rendezvous arnold in virginia. illver, he became violently , but not before launching a major campaign, destroying virginia -- the virginia naval yard and participating in the attack on petersburg. washington sent forces under the command of the marquis lafayette to reinforce the patriot position, and phillips succumbed to his illness, which was most , at petersburg. been out of for turning all committed his forces to still alive and not yet on the gallows but it arnold. menined with washington's -- cornwallis's men, the british army in virginia numbered some 7000 season veterans. he led this fighting force across the river to pursue the marquis lafayette, who returned northwards to fredericksburg to await further reinforcements. toembarked on a plan parallel cornwallis's movements, which had turned eastwards along the road to new cans county, which if you are familiar with the area, is now toledo. by, encamped close in new cans about 20 miles from williamsburg. the marquis wrote to governor nelson that on june 23, cornwallis had been at new cans courthouse and were on their way to williamsburg. engage in general anthony wayne ryan at spencer's ordinary. lafayette received word that cornwallis had received reinforcement from portsmouth and grew increasingly concerned over his own troop strength, which combined with forces under anthony wayne only amassed 1900 continentals and 3000 militia. as a far cry from the 7000 man british force under arnold and cornwallis. it's clear that if he wasn't before, lafayette was now deeply concerned and wanted to maximize the resources at his disposal to get patriots every possible advantage over the enemy and whatever was brewing in hampton roads. lafayette considered raising an additional source of 150 african-americans to proceed the main lines advance. in addition to a core of 100 like whiners to support the army. in addition to beefing up his own forces, lafayette was these are -- was eager to learn more about cornwallis's moves and intentions. on july 31, lafayette penned a letter to letter -- to george washington. a correspondent of mine writes on the 26th of july portsmouth and says that his master, charlton, are still in town, but expect to move. speaking of cornwallis, lafayette added his lordship is so shy of his papers in my honest friend says he cannot get at them. we read the first account of the espionage the lafayette set in motion, which ultimately resulted in the world turned upside down. want to clarify something before we continue. going by just the facts, this story record does not provide much information about james's actual activities as a spy. infer know we can only from handful of documents that survive from the marquis lafayette correspondence with washington and james's own postwar petitions for his own liberty and support. i mentioned before that much of what we have come to accept about james and his activities as a spy during the lead up to the siege of yorktown is based on 200 years of conjecture. what you may hear may sound a lot like a lot of empty qualifiers like maybe, probably, and could have. that is because for a lot of us, we just don't know. we can never know for certain. we just have the documentation of primary source material regarding his activities, we need a documentation to be more precise. bear with me as we explore james lafayette to the documentation that we do have, and explore him within the contextual balance of what might have happened, besides, how many spies really leave a paper trail? we can't say for sure when and where james and the marquis lafayette became acquainted, perhaps it was a williamsburg as james travel was lame armistead as assistant to the commissary of the public store, where in richmond, when william became commissary and worked closely with military personnel to supply virginia forces under the command of the marquis lafayette. spent a great deal of time in the spring and summer of 1781 in and around new cans county. he may have encountered the marquis there. the regardless of when or where they became acquainted, james was a willing volunteer to the patriot cause. according to his december 4, 1784 petition to the virginia house of delegates, james was impelled by most earnest desire of gaining liberty, which is so near and dear to all mankind, and was convinced that he rendered any essential services to the public, that would be his reward. james volunteered his services to the marquis lafayette, expecting his own eventual freedom as a result. james received the permission of his master, william armistead, sometime before july 1781 and had infiltrated cornwallis's camp. we don't know for sure under what circumstances james was able to enter the british line. all we know for sure according to the documentary records is that he did it. and according to his 1786 petition for freedom, james described as a slave belonging to william armistead of new cans county entered the service of the marquis lafayette and during that time of his serving the marquis, often at the peril of his own life, found means to frequent the british camp. while we don't know for sure, james may have entered in many lines -- enemy lines as a forager. collecting food and procuring it for the british headquarters. regularld allow james access to british caps. similarly, james goodnight also pass himself off as a runaway slave, eager secure asylum and emancipation by reaching the british camp. thatcyon soldier recalls by the time the combined british army reached yorktown, thousands of runaway slaves had reached their cap, hoping to secure emancipation. james could've easily blended into the population and may have had the freedom of movement that way to pass between the patriot and british lines. maybe referring to james or another spy, lafayette described an informant as quote servant to cornwallis. it's not uncommon for british soldiers to have servants in the , every soldier has his negro who carried his provisions, and that officers had three or four, as well as one or two for a cook and made. if james or another patriots by spent any time acting as a service for cornwallis, the possibilities of gathering intelligence could be endless. a servant cornwallis could accompany the general anywhere. the size and conditions of troops, supplies, even morale. in lafayette's letter, in which he told washington of his honest friend, he gives a clue as to how this fellow may have been gathering intelligence. after community getting information to washington, lafayette road my accounts from portsmouth -- as a servant has opportunities to hear, i thought it was worth communicating to your excellency. a servant has opportunities to hear. it's a powerful line in our understanding of how james and others may have gathered intelligence for the patriot cause. once a familiar face behind british lines, james could've been present for countless meetings on strategy, overheard formal chitchat between commanders while he was serving wine or dinner, or delivering raw goods in some lies read who would have paid any attention to the attendant in the corner with a slave walking through camp? who would have suspected that james was actively listening, memorizing numbers, directions, or concerns? who would've guessed he was literate integrator report's operations and take notes of conversations, perhaps glancing at important papers or charts lying innocently on the general's desk, passing them through a network of espionage, carefully alternate by lafayette as he wandered betwixt and between british mp3 lines. we can't say for sure exactly how james function in the british camp, he must have gradually become a familiar face to warily splendid into the crowd, hovering under anyone's radar. hence the alternate title of my talk this morning, invisible spy . if james made the british believed he was bowled to them for his own liberty and freedom, what reason would cornwallis or any british soldier for that matter have to question, even for a moment, his own loyalty or his presence in the camp? what reason would anyone how to suspect that james may have been a spy? britishresence in the camp, let alone the general quarters was anything other than innocent and above board? we explored the possibilities of how james may have come by the information that he said to lafayette, but the historic record does not reveal how he conveyed his information to the marquis. he electedle that if for foraging or fatigue duties, james gives the gun of the british camp and return to lafayette himself, relaying information simply by meeting with the marquis before returning to the british camp. another likely possibility is that james was an extremely important element in a larger network of espionage that lafayette orchestra at during the summer and fall of 1781. utilizing white soldiers and enslaved african-americans to infiltrated the british camp, james may have worked these compatriots to relay information by passing notes or find another way to communicate with each other and the patriot generals who rely on them for intelligence. one of these compatriots may have a soldier known in lafayette's papers certainly as morgan of the new jersey line. it appears as an anecdotal footnote in the manuscripts of marquis lafayette. it seems that lafayette desired a faithful and intelligent soldier whom he consented to the british camp under the guise of a deserter that ingratiate himself to cornwallis and feed him false intelligence. similarly, and enslaved african-americans serving in virginia was sent behind enemy lines by his commander when cornwallis's troops occupied portsmouth. it's far from the troops to assume james was the only spy think itette, but i makes for a more interesting story. hollywood should pick this up as an action story. of hiss 1786 testimony actions during the war lends credence to the possibility that -- i have really lost my spot. talk amongst yourselves. let's try that sentence again. james is 1786 testimony of his lendss during the war credence to the possibility that he acted as a major player in a larger network. according to the documents, james repeatedly risked his life to frequent the british camp, by which means he kept open a channel of the most useful communication to the army of the states, and further, that at various times he conveyed enclosures from the marquis into enemy lines of the most secret and important kind. the possession of which, if discovered on him, would have most certainly endanger his life. letters from the marquis lafayette to washington help us understand the kind of information james was able to gather. datedetter to washington july 31, 1781, the marquis wrote from his position at malvern hill. through his correspondence, lafayette learned that the greatest part of the enemy is embarked. the large quantity of negroes but it seems no vessel to take them off. espionage,s eyes lafayette continued to washington, should a french fleet now come in hand in road, the british army would be ours. on august 29 come along lafayette road to washington that he received some intelligences by way of the servant i have once mentioned, a very sensible fellow with him in front of him as well as deserters, i hear they began fortifying at york. lafayette began to describe the situation of the british position at yorktown, enumerating the number and types of vessels the british sailed into the york river, the number of artillery and readouts across the river at gloucester, and even the fact the large number of british soldiers admit it must, but informed washington that information gathered from spies and deserters placed cornwallis's able-bodied fighting force at around 4500 rank-and-file. on september 1, lafayette reported to washington that the french fleet under admiralty roth had arrived, and the rest, they say, is history. surrender at's yorktown and it is army's campaign -- and did his army's campaign in the revolution, it ended james's work is a spy. in all likelihood, after the surrender, james returned to his junior,william r mr. who was still in richmond and in charge of the public store. according to the 1782 census taken of the city of richmond, 28-year-old armistead webs -- was residing with perhaps his wife or sister, for slaves, 300 slaves, and two horses. james almost certainly one of return to the new kent county plantation. perhaps realizing the institution of slavery was , the virginia general assembly has a law that enables slaveholders to emancipate their slaves. it enumerated that owners can free slaves either by request or by deed of manumission formally entered into the records of the county court. 1783, virginiar brought in the launch of free slaves who had served in the military. citing that anyone who contributed to the establishment of american liberty and independence should enjoy the blessings of freedom as a reward for their toils. it's important to note that the discussion of james the 1783 legislation only granted freedom to slaves who enlisted in any rays within the state, or those who had served as a substitute for any free person. james did not enlist in any regiment or militia. he did not wear uniform, and he did not carry a gun. it risked his life in the service of his country, the law did not apply to him. eligible for automatic manumission under this law. however, the law also provided that slaves could be freed by demonstrating they have performed meritorious service during the war, which is just what james set out to do. if he was still acting as a personal servant, is likely that toes accompanied his master the assembly session that ran from october 1784 until early january. william had been elected as one of the counties representatives to the house of delegates after the war. james waslikely that in richmond on november 21, 1784, when the marquis lafayette visited the state capital. wrote a testimonial on behalf of james a service to the country. this is torote -- certify that the bear by the name james has done essential services to me while i have the honor to command in the state. his intelligences from the enemy's camp were industriously collected and safely delivered. he practically quit himself with some important commissions i gave him, and appears to me entitled to every reward his situation can admit of. almost immediately, lafayette's testimonial of james's meritorious service was received by the house in richmond. the journal of the house of delegates reported that position on december 4. james, a negro slave setting forth and being impelled by most earnest desire of gaining that liberty that is so dear to all mankind and convinced if he rendered any essential services to the public, that that would be his reward out he often during the invasion of the enemy in 1781 at the risk of his life entered into the enemy's camp and collected such intelligence as he suppose of importance, and which he conveyed in the utmost expeditious manner to the marquis lafayette, who then the american army in virginia and praying that an act may pass for his emancipation. and that a reasonable compensation may be made for him to his present proprietor. the provision of providing service to the country during the war, james was formally asking the virginia house of delegates for his freedom to get ready for a shock. in 1784, james did not receive his freedom, and it's unclear why. either the delegates found some reason to reject the claim, or the petition was tabled to move on to other matters before the house adjourned on january 7. james had only one option, to try again. this is someone's life we're talking about here. i really want to remind us of that. james submitted another petition in 1786, in october, the assembly granted james's freedom. jameserefore enacted that from and after the passing of this act enjoy all freedoms as if he had been born free. february 7, 1787, mr. william clayton of new cans county was appointed to ascertain and fix the value of said james, and to certify valuation to the auditor of accounts. ofetime in the early months 1787, clean determined an appropriate value for james and paid william armistead junior out of the state's general fund. legislation passed, payment signed, sealed, delivered. james was a free man. the new kent county tax assessor as theat james fayette head of his household. this morning, i'm sharing with you for the first time some details about james's life as a free man. carefully uncovered by our research earlier this summer. james was looked at in the 1787 tax assessment because now, as a free man, he was responsible for paying personal property taxes. on behalf of himself and those that he owed on any other members of his household. the 1787 assessment tells us that household included to slaves age 16 years old or older, and one agent of the -- one slave under the age of 16. he paid taxes on horses. one year later, his assessment included four slaves. many manumission laws stated that former slaves who failed to pay their personal property taxes to be hired out until their debt was satisfied, or risk being re-enslaved if they could not pay. slaveshe entities of the on his tax assessment are not known, it's possible they were family. from 1787 until 1804, the number of slaves and an flow on his tax assessment, so it's possible that the enslaved members of the household were being employed by whites, and then pay the personal property taxes. interestingly, by 1810, the taxes has noted that james's household included 11 free blacks in addition to three slaves. perhaps indicating that james was allowing others to live on his property. here something else interesting. in 1813, the tax assessor compiled a list of the free his listnd included on james lafayette and his wife, five years later in 1818, sylvia lafayette was identified as a free black female head of the household. i got this great email from a historian who said her name was sylvia. it was an amazing moment. you may be asking a james was granted his freedom in 1787 and list is the head of a household included individual listed as slaves, like the children, why would he not grant his children their freedom? it is, located. bear with me. james's own manumission occurred at a time when the window freedom was open for a very short time. whicher that the 1622 law dictated that the status of the mother is also the status of the child was still on the books. if any children that james and sylvia had while sylvia was a slave, according to the law, were also enslaved. the laws governing free blacks were stricken invasive. as early as 1792, all free blacks were required to register with local officials and were required to pay $.25 every year for a certificate of registration, which had to be carried on their person at all times. in 1806, the laws were even more severe. the virginia legislature did not seek to allow private manumission a required that every enslaved african american 1806om on or after may 1, to leave the state within one year of manumission, under pain of being re-enslaved. further, free blacks were heavily taxed and those who cannot pay their taxes ran the risk of being enslaved and could even be re-enslaved if their former owner cannot pay their debts. these are the constraints in which nearly emancipated james lafayette found himself. in the early years of 19 century virginia, you have to wonder how free was free? in 1816, james appears on the record as owning 40 acres of land that it previously been part of a woodward estate. were a millacres pond and 10 but in the land of william tyree, the effective value of the 30 acres was $41 and $.70, while the remaining was valued at $13.90. even though he paid taxes, james is absent from the new kent tonty tax list from 1817 1820. perhaps because he was working for someone else who paid his taxes. not that it isn't a bustling metropolis in 2016, perhaps from 1817 to 1820, james left the county looking for better opportunities to earn money, perhaps as a domestic servant or as a skilled labor. maybe even as close as the two mill ponds that operated adjacent to his property line. by the first order of the 19th century, his farmland may have been to nutrient depleted to produce any valuable crops. the tax assessor went so far as legescribe his 40 acres as broken and much worn land. 1818, james20 8, applied for a state pension, citing his affirmation service to lafayette during 1781. in which he cited was valuable enough to earn him his freedom, for which james's heart, will ever be filled with gratitude, so long as its blood runs warm. james was getting old, and feeling the years great up to him. he continued that from a national decline of his bodily powers, he has for years found it extremely hard to acquire, by labor, moderate support, and feeling those powers daily to decline, he fears without assistance, he will no longer be able to procure the necessities of life. james further asked for a small pension and signed his name james lafayette. the assembly granted his vision -- his petition, or a lump sum of $20 every six months. james traveled to richmond to protect -- to collect his payment every six months, visiting the state auditors office and signing his name for his pension. in an occasion from president james monro on that is of the nations fitted with it. the market, the last surviving general embark in a fair transfer. it was widely publicized and greatly anticipated. he had planned to -- nearly every more battle -- every major city with a special stop at the siege of yorktown. james desire to see his old friend one last time got around create the richmond compiler ran a heading and told the story of a man named james lafayette. recounted how the marquis had personally attested to james's service and he had expressed a great desire to see the marquis and yorktown, but is believed he is too poor for that occasion without some aid. the article continues without some recognition at the scene of -- most former glory historians disagree on whether it happened to yorktown or richmond. during one of the parades, james was recognized in the crowd, called to him by name. had touched at the heartstrings of virginia. martin somehow got a hold of the marquis's original affidavit. he reproduced in bulk complete with a black and white graving -- engraving of this oil picture. them are floating around. james had become somewhat of a folk hero. later, he wrote a novel of the american revolution called "edge hill." -- he featured him as a main character in the novel. james is a spy for lafayette. he included the scene where james was reunited. we will never know how accurate any of this is, but here are some of my favorite descriptions. , swift footed and patient of fatigue. shrewd and observant. ladies and gentlemen, my personal favorite, mighty sassy. interestf the public's during his later years, james died rather of securely and quietly. paymentcted his final in 1930. -- and said that james died in the city of baltimore. we don't know how james died. someone was granted the $16 balance of his pension, but we don't know who. the property had been transferred and continued to be a treated to his estate through the 19th century and with that the document record and his contribution in his special -- happily his legacy continues sacred as a mentioned previously, thanks for the research, he will be featured in the american revolution the year -- museum. june 2017.opening the exhibit follows closely our real-life tell the stories of ordinary men and women like james who risked everything for the pursuit of liberty. we are gathered today because of the heroism, patriotism and acts committed by real people like james lafayette. we can make sure that he along with his contributions is no longer invisible. thank you very much. [applause] and now the fun part begins. i want to ask you the first question. i think we need to make sure we touch upon the spirit when does the museum open? october 2016. >> i just wanted to make sure. we have several mike's moving around. sharing yourfor breaking research. phone about why not volunteer for the british if they are going to free you? could you possibly address that? put'm careful that i won't words in james's mouth. to join theed services because he understood that his own freedom and liberty would be his reward. at some point, i think there had to be some type of understanding. i want to remind everyone that the conclusion of this war, hindsight is 2020. they did not have that. none of this was with the foregone conclusion that the patriots were going to win. things were not looking awesome. 7000 and thead american forces did not quite have that. i think james may have had this relationship that may have had something to do with his service to the public. ofbe he had some kind internal notion this is how he felt. also, the british had suffered quite terribly the -- can-americans who had -- british in the war promised freedom to the slaves but we cited the fact they were playing this in the declaration of independence is one of the reasons and obviously it led to the south joining the resolution -- revolution. the question is whether or not this tactic was truly counterproductive. it was not enough to get james lafayette. he was playing his angle to get freedom from america. tactic onth this promising freedom which led to , butof african-americans what is truly counterproductive. >> there's a really great book that talks about the patriot angle to that. that talkseat book about this. i wonder if he also referenced to the british side. proclaimed november 1 that any enslaved or engendered servants of a rebel patriot would be freed. mentionedgain like a all of these enslaved african-americans and i think you're probably right that it was probably counterproductive because of a -- because of a huge supply problem. sure that this was really thought out. thisre we going to support population are we going to treat them the same way? i think there's some complicated follow-up questions there and we will have to see if we can find better answers. is there any record of comparable spying for the british by skate slaves? surely this must have happens, but i've never heard of it. that wasn't make part of my research for this particular talk. i would love to see if i could find the answer to that question for you. i'm sure that there were. does more focused on how james bit within the broader network. i did not look at the flipside of that but i'm happy to look it up. >> again, an excellent talk. at least for the first few years, the -- their children were slaves. was he paying taxes on his kids? sure.'t know for we think that they may be but like with anything else we can't say absolutely for sure in the best we can do is follow up and progress.hose numbers like a mentioned, those numbers and and flow. i'm afraid we may never know the answer to the question. estate when hehe passes away goes to someone so whoever is managing his estate after his death we try to follow genealogy to see if he did have children. referred touently his last name as fayette while everyone else included -- like i said, the trail ran cold unfortunately. >> once again, an excellent talk. me like the land -- theadjacent to they were where headquartered. influence onad any james lafayette getting that land? these aressure you all questions -- we don't have that information. neighborhoode where the marquis spent a lot of .ime toalso think it was closer armistead. i think we need to do a little more research, but you can a burn county. we don't have a lot of documents. >> we have seen during the civil war that the confederacy aserestimated blacks intelligence for the union side. what status did british regard blacks? what do we know about the british suspecting that blacks were spies? -- why wouldn't he fall under suspicion? it in the i look at idea of being invisible. the idea is if you were an officer, you are used to having these people around you. they had grown up that way and i thek just because of serotype of his race and position i really don't think there was a lot of suspicion to close tonce being cornwallis. there are secondary research -- another african-american posing. quotee that really great papers.s he guards his i'm not sure that cornwallis would say i wonder what they're looking for. i think that the nature of who people like him to lose under the radar. that may be a broader question for espionage. that may be a little out of my wheelhouse. >> question on your museum. when was that opening? opening ona soft october 15 of this year and festivities in the spring. if i didn't mention, we are the -- we operatetown the jamestown settlement. we were the yorktown victory center. i hope we see walt there. >> i have one general question. things that don't get seen. are we finally going to contribution key the french played at yorktown? -- as in? were hundred percent of the ships they >> i would invite that. discuss i invite you to come see us and learn more about that. here? don't we go right that he gotoned to work for lafayette. i'm wondering if there is any williamon that supported this bid for freedom? the best way i can answer your question is to remember williams was compensated. they sent an assessor to deem the appropriate value and then william, his former owner was paid. -- it is an important one. again, the we continue to bring -- something we are -- it will take you up to 1790. afterwards, it will take it to present day and we are excited to talk about something called drill into the american revolution and the war was fought by very important veterans. ussee that legacy all around . >> you mentioned one of your percent of the ships were continentalthe congress did authorize a revolutionary navy during the revolutionary war. extentondering to what historicallyavy forndent on the french navy yorktown? >> i'm trying to remember where . may have>> mentioned andid have naval stores ships. extent something to the what we do today. excellent talk. i'm sure you are aware and everyone in the room is aware. another shameless plug. the nationalurated museum of african american culture. are you going to share this with them? >> we would love to. if you have a business card he could float into my direction. i think collaboration is important for everyone. while we technically owned the arearch, i think we mutually excited to use it into our own interpretation as well. and if they don't want to tell the story, we will be happy to. >> that is a good point. i hope i'm not speaking out of terms. >> you want to go there and come right back here. >> the information they passed on, would any of it had been written or strictly verbal? have to get back to the side says -- that has the facts we don't know. again, i can go back and read. who knows what order? correction- >> a about the u.s. navy. the coast guard was founded in 1790 by alexander hamilton. next tohe second oldest the marine corps. >> i think you two should go have lunch. i encourage that conversation to continue. >> we have time for one more. signature -- when is that date from? it's later, right? it's in the 1820's? let me find my transcription of this are not hearing you wrong. i believe this is from when he collected one of his pensions after 1818. indication he was literate. how --st wondered because that has bearing on him being a spy and what he might have been able to do. i'm wondering how unusual is that for this. literateould have been . we knew he could sign his name and by 1822 he was literate. i was wondering if you do talk a little about that and put that into context. >> like i said, it actually wasn't illegal for someone who is enslaved to be taught how to 1819.r write until it is not uncommon for someone at james's age to be literate. we also know because we saw -- it washelping interesting to me that these two research questions kind of exploded together. together. part of what i've done as a is to startow transcribing their records and records and records at williamsburg public store. the paper trail for the is endless. i can stand here and tell you it is endless. because of that paper trail and we see that james is acting as a servant to will, while he is her curing supplies and writing receipts, there is the journal, the daybook, the cashbook, the ledger for every year. i think that james being of who hes indicative is working with and where he is working and how he is assisting his owner. the armistead's are prolific. history.org, navigate through all of that and find the virginia gazette. just look at all the advertisements and the nose from the armistead family. there are a couple of branches, but look at william armistead junior. prolific in the mercantile business. if jamesnk, again, wasn't originally owned by william, -- he probably wasn't, he's older than william -- he is likely assisting another member of the family who is involved in all of these activities, which would really help if somebody that could read and write. so i hope that is enough contextualization for you at a particular time period, where it is not all that can -- all that uncommon for him to know how to read and write. >> let me wrap this up by commending you and your colleagues for the kind of work that you are doing. it is hard enough to get current information or from the last 20 to 30 years on intelligence operations. a lot of stuff is it written down. -- wehe things that are have a looking at him stood -- we have a looking at armistead for quite sometime. it's nice to find some new information out there. this story is exactly as it ever was, double agent or not. produced -- kudos to what you have done in your colleagues. please join me in thanking kate gruber for taking the time today. [applause] this work is not yet a book. we can see that at some point. if it is, we will have it here, maybe a movie as well. sounds like it is made for it. [laughter] but if you think of buying anything from the store, we have 20% off things on the table. a lot of interesting revolutionary stuff we have available to you is welcome including the book for our speaker next week, hint hint. other than that, we thank you all for coming today and look forward to seeing you all again next wednesday. thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> interested in american history tv? visit our website. you can see our upcoming schedule or watch a recent program. american artifacts, wrote to the white house rewind, lectures in history and more at www.c-span.org/history. said let me tell you something. i have done anything i can to protect my country. and if -- i'm not afraid of you and i'm not afraid of president bush and i'm not afraid of anybody. if i am given in order to protect my country, i will. he did this mussolini thing with his arms. then he said but i did not give that order. then we sent them away family, saddam, just calm down. >> former senior cia analyst john sent talks about his book " debriefing the president, the interrogation of saddam hussein." >> saddam was a realist in the in the way that political power is exercised in the local power game. i think that he saw that, when you are playing at his level, the presidency, the top level in the country, when you win, you and big p are going to lose, you also lose big. tonight, at 8:00 eastern on c-span. >> on lectures in history, katarina kane of the university of maryland teaches a class about how modern advertising with executives, brand slogans and packaging emerged in the early 20th century. she describes the emergence of advertising is professional fields and have consumer experience has changed during this time. her classes about an hour. -- her class is about an hour. katarina keane: thank you for coming in on such a soggy day. we have a great topic. we have been talking about the emergence of modern consumer society. we talked about the mass production of goods, infrastructure that moved those goods around the country. we talked about laws and regulations that make it safer for consumers in the marketplace. we talked about new kind of advocacy and activism at

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