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This is an original period stipple engraving (circa 1820s–1830s) featuring a portrait of James Armistead Lafayette (c. 1748–1830), the celebrated African American double agent and spy who provided critical intelligence to the Marquis de Lafayette during the Revolutionary War, especially in the Yorktown campaign.
Below the portrait is a full facsimile of Lafayette’s handwritten testimonial dated Richmond, November 21, 1784, which helped secure James’s freedom from slavery. The text reads in part:
“This is to certify that the Bearer by the Name of James has done Essential Service to me while I had the Honor to command in this State. His Intelligence from the Enemy’s Camp were Industriously Collected and most faithfully delivered…”
The portrait is after the painting by Richmond artist John Blennerhassett Martin (c. 1824). These prints are scarce; only a handful of institutional examples are known. A closely comparable example sold at Swann Galleries (New York) in March 2024 for approximately $12,000.
