James Armistead was born into a world and among a people that didn’t think much of him. He was a slave in 18th-century Virginia, with little in the way of rights. Still, when the time of the American Revolution came, he volunteered, risking his own life to help fight against the British. Instead of putting a gun in his hands and marching him in ranks, however, his commanders thought to best use him as a spy. As it turns out, that was the best decision they could have ever made. Without James Armistead doing what he did, the American Revolution might have been for nothing.
