Representative Epaphroditus Champion

Epaphroditus Champion Sr. (April 6, 1756 – December 22, 1834) was an American military officer, merchant, and Federalist politician from Connecticut who served in the Connecticut Assembly and as a U.S. Representative from Connecticut. He was born in Colchester in the Connecticut Colony, the son of Colonel Henry Champion, a prominent state commissary during the American Revolutionary War, and Deborah (Brainard) Champion. Raised in a family deeply involved in public service and the war effort, he was educated by private tutors and in the common schools. One of his brothers, also named Henry Champion, served as a major in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and later as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, further underscoring the family’s engagement in military and civic affairs.

During the American Revolutionary War, Champion became closely associated with the provisioning of the Continental Army through his father’s work. Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull directed his father, Colonel Henry Champion, then the state commissary, to collect cattle and drive them to the starving troops at Valley Forge. Epaphroditus Champion assisted in this effort, helping gather a herd of 300 cattle at Hartford, Connecticut, and driving them west to King’s Ferry on the Hudson River, across into New Jersey, and then over the Delaware River to General George Washington’s famished troops west of the Schuylkill. The cattle were consumed within five days, leading Champion to remark that they were so thoroughly eaten that “you might have made a knife out of every bone.” In 1776 he was named assistant commissary to Governor Trumbull, and he is noted as having been the first Commissary General of the Continental Army, a role that placed him at the center of the logistical challenges of the war.

In 1782, after the war, Champion moved to East Haddam, Connecticut, which would remain his home for the rest of his life. He embarked on a dual path of military and commercial pursuits. In the Connecticut State militia he rose steadily through the ranks: he served as a captain in the Twenty-fourth Regiment from 1784 to 1792, as a major from 1793 to 1794, and as a lieutenant colonel from 1795 to 1798. He was subsequently appointed brigadier general of the Seventh Brigade, serving in that capacity from 1800 to 1803. Parallel to his militia service, Champion developed a successful career as a merchant, shipowner, exporter, and importer, conducting extensive trade with the West Indies. His commercial activities contributed to the economic life of his region and provided him with the experience and standing that would support his later political career.

Champion’s formal political service began at the state level. He was a member of the Connecticut Assembly from 1791 to 1806, participating in the legislative process during a period when the state and the young nation were defining their political institutions and economic policies. His long tenure in the Assembly reflected the confidence of his constituents and allowed him to gain substantial experience in public affairs. As a member of the Federalist Party, he aligned with the faction that favored a strong national government, commercial development, and closer ties with Great Britain, positions that were influential in New England politics in the early national period.

Building on his state legislative career, Champion was elected as a Federalist to the Tenth United States Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving five consecutive terms from March 4, 1807, to March 3, 1817, as a U.S. Representative from Connecticut. His decade in Congress coincided with a significant period in American history, encompassing the Embargo Act, mounting tensions with Great Britain, and the War of 1812. As a Federalist representing Connecticut, he contributed to the legislative process during these critical years, participating in debates over foreign policy, trade restrictions, and wartime measures, and representing the interests of his constituents in a region heavily engaged in commerce and maritime trade. His service in Congress exemplified his role in the evolving democratic process of the early republic.

After leaving Congress in 1817, Champion returned to East Haddam and resumed his former business activities as a merchant and shipowner. He continued to serve the federal government in a specialized capacity; in 1832 he was appointed commissary general of provisions for army pensioners, a position that drew upon his long experience in military supply and logistics dating back to the Revolutionary War. This late-career appointment reflected continued trust in his administrative abilities and his familiarity with the needs of veterans of the nation’s early conflicts.

Champion’s personal life was rooted in East Haddam. In 1781 he married Lucretia Hubbard (1760–1836), with whom he had three children: Lucretia Champion (1783–1882), Clarissa Champion (1785–1801), and Epaphroditus Champion Jr. (1786–1841). The family resided in a substantial late-Georgian style home in East Haddam, later known as the General Epaphroditus Champion House. This residence, which reflects the architectural tastes and social standing of an early national-era New England notable, is included in the East Haddam Historic District, itself listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Epaphroditus Champion died on December 22, 1834, in East Haddam, Connecticut. He was interred in Riverview Cemetery in East Haddam, where his epitaph reads, “Talents, benevolence and integrity characterized his spotless life.” His long record of military service, commercial enterprise, and public office at both the state and national levels marked him as a significant figure in Connecticut’s transition from colony to state and in the broader political development of the early United States.