Christian du Champ was an German mercenary who had participated with one of Count Tilly's mercenary army during the Battle of the Crapper. He was taken prisoner along with his friends Wilfram Jones, Dieter Wiesskamp, and Reichard Blucher before being pardon and saved by Gretchen Richter for their good behavior. du Champ and his former mercenaries became hired farm help and partnered Ev Parker and Lanie Parker's draft horse breeding operation—all in the space of two years. In between those years, du Champ and his comrades had stumbled into a village and found only two women and four children alive. Christian one of the women and adopted one the children, named Jacques.