Epaphroditus Champion
Encyclopedia
Epaphroditus Champion was a U.S. Congressman from Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, serving from 1807 to 1818. He was born in Colchester
Colchester, Connecticut
Colchester is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 14,551 at the 2000 census. In 2005 it was ranked 57th on the "100 Best Places to Live" in all of the United States, conducted by CNN...

 on April 6, 1756 and educated by private tutors and in the common schools.

Connecticut Governor Trumbull directed Connecticut state commissary, Colonel Henry Champion, to collect cattle and drive them to Valley Forge
Valley Forge
Valley Forge in Pennsylvania was the site of the military camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777–1778 in the American Revolutionary War.-History:...

. Champion and his son Epaphroditus gathered a herd of 300 at Hartford and drove them west to King's Ferry, across the Hudson, into New Jersey, across the Delaware to Washington's famished troops west of the Schuylkill
Schuylkill
Schuylkill may refer to the* Schuylkill River, Pennsylvania, United StatesPlaces:* Schuylkill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, neighborhood in South Philadelphia* Schuylkill Expressway, portion of I-76 in Philadelphia* Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania...

. They were devoured in 5 days prompting Champion the younger to remark that they were so thoroughly eaten that "you might have made a knife out of every bone" (as per Connecticut's War Governor: Jonathan Trumbull, by David Roth, pp. 45–46).

He then served as captain in the Twenty-fourth Regiment of State militia 1784-1792, as major 1793 and 1794, as lieutenant colonel 1795-1798, and as brigadier general of the Seventh Brigade 1800-1803. He became a merchant, shipowner, exporter, and importer, a member of the State assembly 1791-1806, and elected as a Federalist
Federalist Party (United States)
The Federalist Party was the first American political party, from the early 1790s to 1816, the era of the First Party System, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801...

to the Tenth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1807-March 3, 1817). He resumed his former business activities after leaving Congress but soon retired, with interment in Riverview Cemetery.
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