Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/341

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\1RGIX1A BIOGRAPHY


sage'* (1747), giving accounts of their mi- gration from his own observations. He wrote "Hortus Europae Americans" (pub- lished posthumously, 1767), and other works have been attributed to him. A plant of the tctrandrous class has been called after him, Catesbea, by Gronovius. He died at Lon- don. England, December 24, 1749. His sister, Elizabeth, married Dr. William Cocke, sec- retary of state of \'irginia under Alexander Spotswood, and has numerous descendants in X'irginia and the United States.

Bailey, Ann, was reputed to have been born in Liverpool, England, about 1723, to have been kidnapped at the age of nineteen., carried otT to Virginia and sold, and to have married a man named Trotter when thirty years of age. Trotter was a soldier in Col. Lewis's regiment, and was killed by the Indians in the battle of Point Pleasant, Oc- tober 10., 1774. His widow, moved by re- venge, assumed male clothing and adopted the life of a scout and spy, and was often employed to convey information to the com- mandants of forts. In 1790 she married a soldier named John Bailey, stationed at Fort Clendenin, on Kanawha river. She was ex- pert with the rifle, rode a black horse of re- markable intelligence, and made many perilous journeys from the settlements on the James and Potomac rivers to Fort Clen- denin and other distant outposts. On one occasion she saved the garrison of a fort by bringing ammunition from Fort Union, new Lewisburg. After the Indian war, during which her second husband was killed, she lived with her son, William Trot- ter, on Kanawha river, and removed with him in 1818 to Ohio, where in old age, she taught school, displaying great mental and


physical vigor. She died in Harrison town- ship, Gallia county, Ohio, November 23, 1825.

Champe, John, born in Loudoun county, X'irginia, was sergeant-major of Henry Lee's cavalry legion. After Arnold's treason he was sent by Lee to Xew York, at W ash- ington's request, to discover whether an- other American officer (supposed to have been General Gates) was also a traitor, and to capture Arnold, if possible, and bring him before Washington. Champe departed from the American camp at Tappan, laie at night, was pursued, and gained the British vessels at Paulus Hook. Taken to Xew York, he was examined by Sir Henry Clin- ton, who sent him to Arnold, who made him sergeant-major in a legion he was raising. Champe was able to send to Washington complete proof of the suspected general's innocence, but he was not so successful in the other part of his mission. Discovering that Arnold walked in his garden every night, he formed a plan with a comrade to seize and gag him, and drag him to a boat on the Hudson, and deliver him to a party ot horsemen on the New Jersey shore. On the appointed night, however, Arnold moved his quarters, and the legion to which Champe belonged was sent to Virginia. Champe afterward escaped from the British army, and joined Greene's troops in North Caro- lina. Washington discharged him from fur- ther service, lest he should fall into the hands of the British and be hanged. In 1798 Washington wished to make him cap- tain of an infantry company, but learned that he had died in Kentucky some time be- fore.


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