The Plot to Kidnap Benedict Arnold

 

Sergeant Major John Champe (1752 -1798) was a senior enlisted soldier in the Continental Army serving in the Virginia Cavalry under “Light Horse Harry” Lee.  In October 1780, “Lee’s Legion” was encamped near Bergen, New Jersey, a few miles from the Hudson River.  It was   here that Champe, a native of Loudon County, became involved in one of the most fantastic plots of the war.  Namely, the kidnapping of the traitor Benedict Arnold.

In September 1780, Arnold’s plot to surrender the stronghold of West Point (and possibly George Washington as his prisoner) to the British unraveled.  Arnold fled to the British and was rewarded with cash and the rank of brigadier general in the British Army.  George Washington wanted the traitor brought before him alive, “My aim is to make a public example of him.”  Washington’s plan called for a soldier to cross the Hudson River and present himself in New York as a deserter.  With the aid of spies already in New York, this secret agent would then kidnap Arnold and bring him back across the Hudson into American lines. Did General Lee know of a man up to the task?  Indeed he did, one John Champe who “was about twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, had enlisted in 1776, rather above the common size, full of bone and muscle, with a saturnine countenance, grave, thoughtful, and taciturn, of tried courage and inflexible perseverance.”

Champe was intrigued with the plan which he found “powerful and delicious.” Champe was not concerned with the danger but was troubled by the idea of being seen as a deserter.  General Lee assured Champe that his reputation would be protected if the enterprise failed.  And so the die was cast.  On the night of October 20, 1780, John Champe rode off with his arms to desert to the British.  An American patrol spotted him and, when he did not halt when given the command, the patrol gave chase. Only moments ahead of the pursuing patrol, Champe plunged into the Hudson River and swam toward a British warship. The warship sent a boat to pick him up and fired upon the pursuing Americans.

Champe was questioned by a series of ever-higher-ranking British officers to whom he told the same story over and over.  Men like himself were following Benedict Arnold's example.  The morale among American troops was low.  The British already believed disaffection was rampant in Washington’s army and so were only too willing to believe Champe’s story.

He was introduced to Benedict Arnold, who made Champe one of his recruiting sergeants for the Loyalist American Legion.  Champe now had continuous access to Arnold’s house overlooking the Hudson River.  Champe sent General Lee his plan to abduct the traitor. Arnold’s fenced garden overlooked the river, and Arnold strolled in the garden every night before he went to bed.  Champe intended to pry fence boards loose, and with the help of one of Washington’s spies already in the city, would tie and gag Arnold and drag him to a waiting small boat.  If stopped by anyone Champe would say they were taking a drunken soldier to the guard house.

The plan now went awry.  The day before the planned abduction, Arnold moved his quarters to another part of Manhattan, taking Champe, his recruiter, with him.  Soon after, Arnold's American Legion sailed to join other British units in an invasion of Virginia.  After sailing up the James River, Arnold and his invasion force took Richmond. The British moved freely about Virginia burning and pillaging.  Washington’s attitude toward Arnold hardened, he no longer worried about Arnold becoming a martyr. After ordering Major General the Marquis de Lafayette to Virginia to confront the invaders, Washington ordered that if Arnold were captured he was to be summarily executed.

Back in his native Virginia, John Champe found himself in the odd position of fighting with Arnold’s troops, sometimes against his old commander General Lee.  Finally, Champe was able to escape through British lines and make his way to the Appalachian Mountains, eventually returning to “Light Horse Harry” Lee’s command. When Lee’s men learned the true story, they showed Champe “love and respect” for his “daring” adventure, Lee wrote years later in his memoir.