St. John’s Church

Richmond
VA
St. John’s Church

St. John’s Church in Richmond

OTHER IMAGES

St. John’s Church - George Wythe’s Grave
St. John’s Church - Original Pulpit
St. John’s Church and Graveyard from Street, 1865

QUICK FACTS
  • Following the dissolution of the House of Burgesses (by Royal Governor Lord Dunmore on 26-May-1774), there are five Virginia Conventions (1774 - 76) which lead to a declaration of separation from Britain.
  • The Second and Third Virginia Conventions are held in Richmond at St. John’s Church.
  • St. John’s is chosen because it is the only place large enough to contain the 120 delegates.
  • Peyton Randolph is elected President of the Second Virginia Convention, which was held for one week (20-Mar to 27-Mar-1775).
  • Among the delegates are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, and Francis Lightfoot Lee.
  • Patrick Henry, representing Hanover County, is also a delegate. To rouse support for raising a militia, he delivers a fiery speech (23-Mar) ending with the words give me liberty or give me death!
  • Those final words become as much a part of the founding fabric as the phrases no taxation without representation and all men are created equal.
  • George Wythe, who went on to sign the Declaration of Independence and attended the Constitutional Convention, is buried in the Church’s cemetery (1806).
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I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

With those now famous words by Patrick Henry in 1775, St. John’s Church became one of the canonical places of the American Revolution.

Built in 1741 by Colonel Richard Randolph (great-uncle to Thomas Jefferson), and referred to as the Old Town Church, St. John’s was the first church in Richmond. It was expanded in 1772 with a 40-foot extension, which gave the church a T shape, with the sanctuary reoriented at the top of the T. The original church was now the transept to a newly built nave.

It was this structure, because it was the largest in Richmond, that gave the delegates to the Second Virginia Convention a place to discuss what actions to take in their escalating conflict with the Britain. It was here that Patrick Henry gave the speech (to raise a militia) that ended with words that every American school child knows.

Today, St. John’s continues to be an active Episcopal church — the oldest wood-frame place of worship in Virginia — but with a significantly changed structure.

In the 19th century a number of alterations were made, including another extension (smaller than in 1772 and placed vertically atop the T), which gave the church the rough shape of a cross. Also a church tower and steeple were added in the early 1830s to what was now the main entrance (at the bottom of the T). Toppled by a storm in 1863, it was replaced in 1866, and then again in 1904, but replicating the design of the original tower and steeple — and this is what one sees today.

The Church adjoins a cemetery where several notable Virginians are buried. Guided tours begin at the Visitor Center. Reenactments of the Second Virginia Convention and Patrick Henry’s speech are performed by actors in period costume on Sunday afternoons during the summer.

Associated People
Wythe, George
Washington, George
Randolph, Peyton
Lee, Richard Henry
Jefferson, Thomas
Henry, Patrick

Despite deceptive appearances, the British were far from luxuriating in Philadelphia while Washington and his army suffered at Valley Forge. Every public building was used to house two thousand sick and wounded British and Hessian soldiers. The army was placed on half-rations, and there was a shortage of medical and hospital supplies that caused tension between the British and the Hessians. Unable to obtain supplies, the city became a prison for as many as fifty thousand inhabitants and troops.

— Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy
The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire (2013)