Richmond

Second Virginia Convention Meets at St. John's Church

The Second Virginia Convention met at St. John's Church in Richmond beginning March 20, 1775, choosing the town because Royal Governor Dunmore had blocked the House of Burgesses from meeting in Williamsburg. The delegates — including Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and George Mason — debated whether Virginia should begin military preparations. The convention was a gathering of extraordinary political talent deliberating on the most consequential question of the day. Henry's "Give me liberty" speech was the dramatic climax, but the convention's work extended beyond rhetoric to practical military organization. Virginia was preparing for war.

Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty" Speech

At the Second Virginia Convention meeting at St. John's Church in Richmond, Patrick Henry argued that Virginia should immediately begin organizing its militia for armed conflict with Britain. His speech, which concluded with the words "Give me liberty, or give me death," carried the convention and led to the creation of a committee to prepare Virginia's military defense. No transcript of the speech was made at the time. The version that became famous was reconstructed by William Wirt in his 1817 biography of Henry, based on the recollections of men who had been present. The exact words are debated, but the substance and impact of the speech are well documented. It was the moment when Virginia committed to the path that led to independence.

Jefferson Drafts Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

Thomas Jefferson drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1777, though it was not enacted until 1786 under James Madison's legislative leadership. The statute declared that no person could be compelled to attend or support any religious institution and that civil rights would not depend on religious opinions. It was one of only three achievements Jefferson chose for his epitaph. The statute was part of the broader revolutionary project of reimagining the relationship between government and individual liberty. Jefferson conceived it as a companion to his educational reforms and his revision of Virginia's legal code. Though it predated the Richmond capital by several years, the legislative debates over the statute played out in the political culture that Richmond inherited from Williamsburg.

Jefferson Becomes Governor of Virginia

Thomas Jefferson succeeded Patrick Henry as governor of Virginia in June 1779, taking office at a moment when the war was shifting south. Jefferson brought his intellectual brilliance to the role but struggled with the practical demands of wartime administration. Virginia's military resources were stretched thin, the state's western frontier was under pressure, and the British were increasingly active in the Chesapeake. Jefferson's governorship is generally regarded as the weakest period of his public career. His emphasis on individual liberty made him reluctant to use the coercive powers that wartime demanded. His failure to prepare for Arnold's raid on Richmond in January 1781 became a lasting political liability.

Virginia Capital Moves to Richmond

The Virginia legislature voted to move the state capital from Williamsburg to Richmond in 1779, and the government formally relocated in April 1780. Governor Thomas Jefferson supported the move, arguing that Richmond's inland location made it less vulnerable to British naval raids than Williamsburg's tidewater position. The decision reflected both military pragmatism and the shifting demographics of Virginia, as the state's population moved westward. Richmond was more centrally located for a state that now extended to the Ohio River. The move transformed a modest trading town into the seat of the largest state's government — though the new capital would soon face its own military crisis.

Virginia Militia Mobilization 1781

Throughout 1781, Virginia struggled to mobilize its militia to defend against British incursions. Baron von Steuben, sent by Washington to organize Virginia's military forces, found the state's militia system poorly equipped and difficult to assemble. Men called to serve often lacked weapons, and the state's administrative machinery was overwhelmed by the demands of multiple simultaneous threats. The militia mobilization problems reflected deeper challenges: Virginia was a large, decentralized state with a dispersed population, an economy dependent on enslaved labor, and a political culture suspicious of standing armies. The gap between the state's revolutionary ambitions and its military capacity was painfully apparent throughout the year that ended at Yorktown.

Arnold Burns Richmond: January 5, 1781

Benedict Arnold — now a British brigadier general — led approximately 1,600 British and loyalist troops up the James River and into Richmond on January 5, 1781. Governor Jefferson had fewer than 200 militia to defend the new capital, and he evacuated the government records and public stores as best he could before the British arrived. Arnold's forces burned warehouses, cannon foundry, and tobacco stores, causing significant damage to the town. Jefferson was criticized for the failure to defend Richmond — a charge that dogged him throughout his later political career. Arnold offered to spare the tobacco warehouses if they were not destroyed, but Jefferson refused. The raid lasted less than a day; Arnold withdrew before Continental reinforcements under Steuben and Lafayette could arrive. It was the most damaging British operation in Virginia before Cornwallis's later campaign and demonstrated the new capital's vulnerability.

Benedict Arnold's Raid on Richmond

Benedict Arnold led a British raiding force of approximately 1,600 troops up the James River and occupied Richmond on January 5, 1781. Governor Jefferson, caught off guard by the speed of Arnold's advance, ordered the evacuation of government records and military stores but could not organize an effective defense. Arnold's troops entered the capital with minimal resistance. The British destroyed a cannon foundry, military stores, public records, and private property before withdrawing downriver. The raid lasted only a day, but the damage — both physical and political — was significant. Jefferson was widely criticized for failing to prepare adequate defenses, and the episode haunted his political career. The man who had written the Declaration of Independence could not defend his own capital.

General Phillips's Raid on Richmond Area

British General William Phillips led a second major raid up the James River in April 1781, attacking military targets in the Richmond area. Phillips's force destroyed tobacco warehouses, supplies, and infrastructure along the river. The raid demonstrated that Arnold's earlier attack had not been an isolated incident — Virginia's capital region remained vulnerable. Phillips died of typhoid fever in Petersburg on May 13, 1781, before Cornwallis arrived to take command of British forces in Virginia. The repeated British raids on the Richmond area underscored the difficulty of defending a state with extensive navigable waterways against an enemy with naval superiority.

Virginia's New Capitol Cornerstone Laid

The cornerstone of Jefferson's new Virginia State Capitol was laid in August 1785, implementing the design Jefferson had developed while serving as minister to France. Jefferson had deliberately modeled the building on the Maison Carrée — an intact Roman temple at Nîmes — intending to give the American republic a visual vocabulary drawn from ancient democratic Rome rather than English Gothic or Baroque precedent. Jefferson's Capitol was the first public building in the United States designed in the neoclassical style that would come to define American civic architecture. When it was completed in 1788, it set the template for federal buildings and state capitols across the new nation. Jefferson had written from Paris: "I gazed whole hours at the Maison Carrée, like a lover at his mistress." The Richmond Capitol made that obsession into American architecture.