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| A copy of this can be found in Alexander W. Weddell, Richmond, Virginia, in Old Prints. 1737-1887 (Richmond, 1932), plate 12. |
Dear Brother
The happiness of Richmond is destroy'd forever. Last night I witness'd a scene more pictur'd with horror & distress than any of which I have ever heard or read! Yes, it is without a parallel in the annals of the world!
A number of the brightest ornaments of Richmond have been consum'd in the flames!
The Theatre took fire last night about 11 O'clock when were in it about 800 people one hundred of whom have been burnt up!
Governor Smith Mr Abram Venable Mr Botts and his Wife Miss Luisa Mayo Miss Conyers Mrs Galigo Mrs Wilson Miss Nelson Miss Robison & Mrs Greenbow are among the number!!!
Allen Taylor and Mr Standard of our house have been nearly kill'd. They will both recover it is thought.
The scenery of the stage caught fire from a candle and, such were the rapidity of the flames that in a few minutes the whole Theatre was in a conflagration. And so great was the alarm and confusion, hundreds pressing forward to the same door, that numbers were . . . down & suffocated with the smoak [smoke]. Others were kill'd by jumping from the windows.
I was sitting reading in my room when I heard the alarm. I ran down stairs & saw it was the Theatre. I mov'd on as rapidly as I could to the awful scene! I enquir'd as I ran if the people were saved. The answer was No hundreds of them are burning up!!
When I arrived I was told that the windows on the opposite side of the Theatre were full of persons expiring in the flames!!
My ears were stunn'd with cries & shrieks and screams! My heart sank within me I could approach no farther. I saw numbers that were carried away half burnt up.
The husband supporting his wife and the child his dying parent. . .
Don't suppose the picture is too highly colour'd. O! My God I wish it was.
The whole City is bath'd in tears. Almost every person having lost either a Father a mother a child a Wife or a sister.
The Legislature will adjourn for several days. For years will Richmond hear nothing but the cries of sorrow, the moans of the widow & the lamentations of the friend.
I write in great haste. Shew this letter to all my friends. Farther particulars you will hear in a short time.
May heaven preserve you all from the woes & calamities which are now seen here in every part of the place.
Adieu affectionately
John Campbell
[John Campbell (1789-1866). Later became Secretary of the Treasury under Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.
David Campbell (1779-1859)
George William Smith (1762-December 26, 1811)
Abraham Bedford Venable (1758-1811) had been President of the Bank of Virginia and a trustee of Hamden-Sydney College.
Peter Johnston, Jr. (1763-1831) had, fortunately for his family, removed to Abingdon earlier in the year.
Allen Taylor = possibly related to John Taylor (1753-1824).]
For their help and assistance, many thanks to the staff of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. For more information about the Campbell Family Papers (1731-1969), here's a link to the guide.
[Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]
