The Night the Fire Came to Richmond

On this day in 1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable. In all, the fire, at the Richmond Theater, killed 72 people including many government officials. It was the worst urban disaster in U.S. history at the time.

James Madison, John Marshall, James Monroe, Edmund Pendleton, George Wythe, George Nicholas, Edmund Randolph, George Mason, Richard Henry Lee, and Patrick Henry were all in attendance for a performance of "School for Scandal."

The School for Scandal is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

Gilbert Hunt, a former slave who, having purchased his freedom, was working as a blacksmith at a shop near the theatre. He teamed up with physician, Dr. James McCaw They were credited with saving close to a dozen people.

McCaw, who had been in attendance, would lower them from the burning second story, and Hunt, who had been working in his shop and had rushed to the fire, would catch them. Hunt also saved McCaw