John Champe (soldier)
John Champe | |
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Prickett's Fort | |
Spouse | Phebe Susan Barnard |
Children | William Champ, Mary Champ, Susann Champ, Eleanor Champ, Amelia Champ, John Champ, Nathaniel Champ |
Espionage activity | |
Allegiance | United States of America |
Sergeant Major John Champe (ca. 1752 – 30 September 1798) was an American Revolutionary War senior enlisted soldier in the Continental Army who became a double agent in a failed attempt to capture the American traitor General Benedict Arnold (1741–1801).
Biography
Champe was born about 1752 near what is now Aldie in Loudoun County, Virginia.
Champe enlisted in the Virginia Cavalry from Loudoun County in 1776 and was made
After the failed attempt, Champe served in the British Army for many months before finding a way to escape back to the Continental Army. Upon rejoining the Americans, Champe voiced a desire to continue his service fighting the British, but Lee dissuaded him from it — pointing out that if captured, he could now be hanged as a spy.[2] Nevertheless, Lee believed that Champe had acquitted himself well and had him discharged honorably from the Continental Army.
According to Legends of Loudoun: An Account of the History and Homes of a Border County of Virginia's Northern Neck (1938) by Harrison Williams:
...after the war, it is said on the personal recommendation of General Washington, Sergeant Champe was appointed to the position of doorkeeper or sergeant-at-arms of the
Little River Turnpike.
Champe may also have spent time in
Champe died on September 30, 1798, while staying at
Legacy
Family
Champe's wife was Phebe Susan Barnard who, beginning in 1831 and then living in Ohio, received a pension of $120 annually based upon her husband's war service.
Family Tree
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Notes:
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Namesakes
- In the American Civil War, the Confederate rifle company from Aldie, Virginia, "Champe's Rifles", named themselves in honor of Champe.
- Namesake for new Aldie, VA
- Champe's Ford Road, a mile or two west of Aldie, Virginia, is named for John Champe's family.
Monuments
- Historical markers to Sergeant Champe have been erected in at least three places:
- Near Aldie in Loudoun County, Virginia, where he was born.
- In 1934, a marker was placed by U.S. Highway 15 (now U.S. 50) at a lay-by close to the few stones that remained from Champe's home.
- About 100 yards off US 50, an obelisk built in 1939 from the stones also stands nearby. It bears the inscription:
- Near Aldie in Loudoun County, Virginia, where he was born.
- "Here was the house of Sergeant John Champe, Continental Army,
who risked the inglorious death of a spy for the independence of his country."
- "Here was the house of Sergeant John Champe, Continental Army,
- At Champe Rocks, Pendleton County, West Virginia, where he settled after the War.[8] (A reference to his gravesite here is an error.)
- At Prickett's Fort, Marion County, West Virginia, near where he died and was buried. The marker here is not at his grave, but was placed on 22 April 2001, in a ceremony with full military honors.[9]
Media
Champe is a character in season four of the AMC television show Turn: Washington's Spies.
See also
- Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War
- Intelligence operations in the American Revolutionary War
- Jane Tuers
- Three Pigeons
Notes
- ISBN 978-1-250-02460-2.
- ^ "John Champe". Bill Champ. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
- ^ Scheel, Eugene. "John Champe, a Revolutionary War Double Agent Who Tries to Capture Benedict Arnold". History of Loudoun County, Virginia. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
- ^ Judy, Ida MaBelle (1940), John Champe, the Soldier and the Man. The author of this short book confused Sergeant Major John Champe (1752-1798) with his father, John Champe (ca. 1720-1808). This resulted in misidentification of the descendants of his siblings and half-siblings. The John Champe she calls "John Junior", late in the book, married to Phebe Barnard, is in fact the Sergeant Major. Her identification of his children is correct.
- ^ West Virginia Writers Project (1940), Smoke Hole and Its People: A Social-Ethnic Study; Charleston, West Virginia: State Department of Education; Reprinted (pp 101-132) in: Shreve, D. Bardon (2005), Sheriff from Smoke Hole (and Other Smoke Hole Stories), Fredericksburg, Virginia: The Fredericksburg Press, Inc, pp 127-128. The descendants relating this story were Mrs. William W. Shirk and Mrs. Henry J. Judy, both said to be great-granddaughters of Champe.
- ^ Lough, Glenn D. (1969), Now and Long Ago: A History of the Marion County Area; Morgantown, West Virginia: Morgantown Printing and Binding Company, pp 507-510.
- ^ His grave is located in a small cemetery right near the fort. It is on the same side of the road as the fort is now, about 1/4 of a mile before you reach the fort.[citation needed]
- ^ Kenny, Hamill (1945). West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. Piedmont, WV: The Place Name Press. p. 163.
- ^ Kranish, Michael (2010), Flight from Monticello: Thomas Jefferson at War, Oxford University Press, pg 369, note 7.
Further reading
- McGroarty, William Buckner 1937. "Sergeant John Champe and Certain of His Contemporaries." The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Apr., 1937), pp. 145–175.
- Hall, Wilbur C 1938. "Sergeant Champe's Adventure." The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Jul., 1938), pp. 322–342.
- Rose, Alexander 2007. Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring. New York: Bantam Dell.
- McBurney, Christian 2016. Abductions in the American Revolution: Attempts to Kidnap George Washington, Benedict Arnold and Other Military and Civilian Leaders. Jefferson NC: McFarland.