This month we celebrate the birth of our namesake, George Washington. The revered first president and former general is often referred to as the father of our country. But did you know that his success during the Revolutionary War hinged largely on his command of a group of relatively unknown heroes?

Today we know the shining stars of America’s war for independence: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. The men who demanded freedom, fought for it, and exceeded all expectations. Braving the harsh blight of east coast winters were patriots, mostly farmers and slaves, who all fought for one cause, freedom from tyranny.

One Virginia native who was born into slavery would help secure the final victory for General George Washington in Yorktown, Virginia. His name was James Armistead.

He volunteered to join the Continental Army in 1780. Disguised as a runaway slave, he traveled to Portsmouth, Virginia, pretending to be an informant for the British General Benedict Arnold while in return gaining the confidence of the British Army.

The double agent fed the British false information while smuggling valuable intelligence on the movement of British forces to the hands of Major General Marquis De Lafayette, the head of French forces aiding Washington. His efforts later deceived British General Charles Cornwallis and saved Thomas Jefferson from capture.

Throughout the Revolutionary War, Washington employed a large spy network that was famously known as the Culper Spy Ring. They operated out of stores, bars and farms using a series of ciphers and codes to communicate the British forces’ intentions.

Intelligence provided by Armistead and the Culper Spy ring informed Washington of the approaching British reinforcements arriving in Yorktown. Upon learning this, Washington called for the French to dispatch 28 naval ships to the Chesapeake Bay while Washington’s Continental Army laid siege upon Yorktown, effectively surrounding the enemy. This success resulted in the final major victory for the colonists with the surrender of Cornwallis. On September 3, 1783, the signing of the Treaty of Paris brought the war to an end.

At this time, General Marquis De Lafayette declared to congress, “This is to certify that James [Armistead] has done essential services to me while I had the honour to command in this state. His intelligence from the enemy’s camp were industriously collected and most faithfully delivered.”

Armistead was later granted his freedom and his first act as a free man would be to add to his name the very general that inspired and pleaded for his freedom. He would come to be known as James Armistead Lafayette, a true American hero of the Revolutionary War.

Washington took the presidential oath of office in New York City on April 30, 1789, which at the time was the nation’s capital. Without the help of his cunning spies, he wouldn’t have been able to secure the final victory of the Revolutionary War and the United States of America may have never been born.