John Champe, a resident of Loudoun County and a notable sergeant-major of Lee's celebrated partisan legion, earned honorable fame as a result of Lee's "Memoirs of the War", which told of Champe's patriotic and heroic adventure as a pretend "deserter" to the British ranks in order to capture the notorious traitor Benedict Arnold.
In September 1780, just before the onset of winter, Major Henry Lee (better known as "Light Horse Harry" Lee) came to General Washington with a plan for infiltrating Arnold's circle using Lee's
Sergeant-Major, John Champe, in the guise of a
"deserter", with the express purpose of kidnapping Arnold and return him to Washington, whose desire
was to use Arnold as an example in a display of public punishment for the death of Andre.
Washington approved the plan, but only under the conditions
that Arnold not be killed or injured in carrying it out. Washington suspected a conspiracy involving other Continental officers who might be collaborating with the enemy, and Champe was given the task of finding out whether this was true or not. His success was hoped to establish the innocence of General Gates, who had been charged with complicity in Arnold's nefarious intrigue.
Such a bold plan was not without it's risks. No one outside Washington, Lee or Champe could know of the scheme, or the whole plan would be jeopardized, and Champe's life put in extreme danger.
About 11 o'clock on the night of October 20th, 1780, Champe, who Lee described to
Washington as ..rather above the common size, full of bone and muscle, with
saturnine countenance, grave, thoughtful and taciturn-of tried courage and
inflexible perseverance...
"deserted" and started on horseback upon his perilous adventure carrying documents from General Washington and a few guineas. Half an hour later his absence was discovered and reported to Major Lee who delayed the pursuit as long as he possibly could, but a little after twelve, troops started after the supposed deserter. At Union Hill Champe was only a short half mile ahead. Knowing that his flight to Paulus Hook would be intercepted, he started for the British patrol boats lying in Newark Bay near Brown's Ferry (near the Newark plank road). His pursuers were within two or three hundred yards of him, when he dismounted and running across the meadows plunged into the Bay and swam for the boats, calling for help. The British sent a boat for him and fired upon his pursuers.
Champe was rescued by British gunboats, and interrogated extensively. It was touch and go until, with the help of the documents Washington had given to Champe, the British
determined that Champe was indeed sincere in his efforts to desert, and was
therefore appointed Sergeant-Major in Arnold's "American Legion" which was
made up of deserters and Tories. Champe now had a British uniform and freedom
of movement in British occupied New York.
With the company of two patriot assistances who were also in on the scheme, the three laid their plans to abduct Arnold from the city and convey him to the American camp. The execution was almost successful; however, on the night that the operation was to take place, Arnold's legions
departed for Virginia to meet Cornwallis, aborting the plan. Arnold moved his quarters to another part of the city, and on the 16th of December, left new York to descend upon the coasts of Virginia.
While their prize slipped away to do great damage to the Americans in the South, Champe's continued investigations determined that
there was no evidence that other American officers were collaborating with
the British, thus securing the complete vindication of Gates.
Unable to get Arnold once more in a position where he could be abducted and sent to the Continental forces, Champe continued his clandestine investigations, drifting with the Red Coats to North Carolina, where the junction of Lord
Cornwallis at Petersburg allowed him to desert the British ranks and rejoined the American forces under General Greene, who immediately provided Champe with a good horse and money, and sent him to General Washington.
The commander-in-chief (in Lee's own words) "...munificently anticipated every desire of the sergeant, and presented him with a discharge from further service, lest he might, in the vicissitudes of war, fall into the enemy's hands; when, if recognized, he was sure to die on a gibbet."
Champe's connection with the army, thus abruptly severed - honorably and with no little regret we are to suppose, left him free to return to his home in Aldie in southwestern Loudoun County. Today that site is marked by a Virginia State historical marker (see at top of page), and also a stone monument next to a stream running alongside a gravel road called Champe Ford Road.
Years later some interesting anecdotes concerning Champe are related in a portion of Captain Cameron's private journal, published in the British United Service Journal. Champe was assigned to Cameron's company, a part of Arnold's British legion, upon his arrival in New York. As the story goes, the British officer was traveling through Virginia after the war, and as he came through Loudoun County his party was forced to take shelter due to a fierce storm. As fate would have it, the travelers were near Champe's house where they stopped and were they were graciously received. Cameron was impressed by the generosity and friendship extended by this American to the unfortunate party, and while at first the two men didn't recognize one another, both knew they had seen the other's face somewhere. Upon discussing this coincident they discovered, to their great surprise, their respective histories.
Unfortunately, the secrecy surrounding the daring venture, and the continued silence needed to protect Champe from retaliation by British forces, prevented this brave patriot from an honest vindication. Harrassed and hounded by his own countrymen who considered him a traitor, Champe eventually left Loudoun County, moving further and further west until he eventually settled in Kentucky.
In after years, when General Washington was called by President Adams to the command of the army organized to defend the country from French hostility, he inquired for Champe, with the avowed purpose of placing him at the head of a company of infantry. Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, through whom the inquiry had been made, dispatched a courier to Loudoun County in search of Champe. There he learned that the intrepid soldier and daring adventurer had removed to Kentucky, where he soon afterward died.*
* NOTE: Although the publications from which this story was taken makes it appear that John Champe died in Kentucky, Sgt-Major John Champe's wife Pheobe and son's hand written application for Champe's pension state he died near Morgantown along the Monongahela River in present day West Virginia in 1798 while speculating for land. He was buried in the Prickett Fort Cemetery. A Revolutionary marker in his honor was dedicated at the cemetery on Sunday April 22nd, 2001. Special thanks to David Cain from the Merion County Historical Society for providing this information, and notification of the news article on the dedication of the monument. (See link below).
to read the article on the marking of John Champe's grave
in the Dominion Post Newspaper (WV) published April 23, 2001.
References:
1. The American Reference Library, Vol. II, copyright 1900.
2. Appendix to the military journal of Dr. James
Thacher, surgeon during the Rev. War.
3. Military History -Intelligence and Spies-Revolutionary War operations (http://militaryhistory.com)
4. Jersey City And Its Historic Sites - John Champe article (www.getnj.com/jchist/60.html)
5. Articles and publications on John Champe, housed in the Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.
6. David Cain, Merion County Historical Society.
