Hello All Champs! The coolest thing happened yesterday and I just
wanted to tell you about it. Mom and I had been discussing family
members that we had lost track of. She didn't have any idea where
some of her own cousins were located, and was worried that we wouldn't
find them in time for the Reunion. She has been especially worried
about finding the families of Dale Champ and Chester Arley Champ (her
mother's siblings). Yesterday we got the most wonderful surprise in
the mail. Jeanette Bihl (another of Mom's cousins) had not only sent
her own children's contact information, but she had also sent the
names, addresses and phone numbers of Dale & Olive's children! Thank
you SO much Jeanette... Letters went out to Dale's relatives today to
let them know we are planning a reunion. We just added up the list of
people who have responded and are planning on coming to the reunion,
and it is up to 58 already! With more than a year to go to be able to
reach lost family members and family members we don't even know exist
yet, I think we're in for a WHOPPER of a party! So far the one of the
nicest surprises has been finding one of Mom's 5th cousins from
Canada, Robin Pyatt Bellamy who is related through Sgt. Major John
Champe's son, John Champ. In case any of you are interested, my own
family tree is: Jackie Wilson > Shirlene BELL Wilson > Gladys CHAMP
Bell > Joseph Columbus Champ > Jackson Daniel Champ > Nimrod Champ >
John Champ > Sgt. Major John Champe. (Somewhere along the line we
have lost the final "e" in our name...) We have gotten responses from
Champs from all over the US. We have even had a Champ from Scotland
sign the guestbook on the website! I think it is because there is so
much interest in the Champ family due to our ancestor, Sgt. Major John
Champe (my 5th great grandfather), a hero in the Revolutionary War who
was the main character in a secret plot to capture the traitor
Benedict Arnold. I'm not sure if all of you are aware of his story,
so at the bottom of this letter I am adding a nice biography on him
that I found. And, also for those of you who aren't aware, our
relationship to him makes us all eligable for the Daughters of the
American Revolution or the Sons of the American Revolution! I am
hoping to eventually gather up the documentation that is necessary to
join... Also below is a list of people we know we need contact
information for. If you can supply us with addresses, email, or any
other kind of contact information, PLEASE pass it along. It would be
much better for us to get duplicate information than to have no
information at all. And, if you have any other Champ family contacts
- any at all - please pass them along as well (even if you think we
may already have them). Let's try to find as many of our Champ
relatives as we can before June 28, 2003! Sincerely,Jackie &
Shirlene We Still Need Contact Info For: Children of Christine Bell -
Matt Daubenmire
Scott Daubenmire
Brent Daubenmire
Children of Richard & Leatha Guess -
Kim Guess
Karen Guess
Sherry Guess
Children of Mary Champ Burnett -
JoAnn Hurst
Anna Layne Hurst
Grandchildren of Flo Champ Guess -
Beth Ann DeLong
Mike Martin
Karen Martin
Timmy Martin
Children of Shirlene Ridgeway -
Jeff Wilson
Children of Joe Bell -
Steve Bell
Tim Bell
Children of Skipper Bell -
Danny Bell
Patti Bell
Tommy Bell
Laura Bell
Children of Lois Bell -
Mike Boyd
Brian Boyd
Children of Chester Arley Champ -
Crystal Champ
Sherry Champ
Grandchildren of Raymond "Bud" Champ -
Donna Rae Champ
Cheryl Champ
Linda Champ **********
Cham Family Reunion 2003!
http://www.geocities.com/cam4hyre/ChampReunion.htm
**********l John Champe
A Loudoun County Patriot
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).