Compiled by the History CommitteeJohn Johns in 1820
The national observance of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War culminated in April 2016 with the 200th anniversary of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, and the death of President Abe Lincoln on April 14, 1865. During those four tumultuous years, Warrenton changed hands between the warring factions 67 times, with profound effects on the churches.
Moreover, the Rt. Rev. John Johns, who served as bishop of Virginia from 1862 to 1876, found that the bishop’s traditional duties of oversight and visitation would grow to encompass refugees and soldiers.
With Virginia’s secession from the Union on May 23, 1861, and the occupation of the southern bank of the Potomac River by Union forces so as to protect Washington, D.C., many residents in that area fled the invading army. One of those refugees was Johns. He made a conscious decision not to be separated from the Diocese of Virginia. Like many other refugees, he and his family “went forth, not knowing whither, but satisfied that we should find shelter and service where God has appointed.”
The old rectory
The first task turned out to be other refugees. Johns headed northwest through Fairfax, Loudoun and Fauquier counties, locating for much of the summer with other refugees at the rectory of Saint James’ Warrenton, where the Rev. Otto S. Barten served as rector. The old rectory still stands at 320 Culpeper St. Throughout the summer, Johns assisted Barten in ministering to the community, as well as to newly displaced persons, and supplied the pulpit at vacant parishes in Rappahannock and Culpeper counties.
Soldiers presented an additional dimension of spiritual needs and missions. The first challenge was to provide pastoral and worship services to the troops. Barten divided his time between Hamilton Parish — the parish of which Saint James’ is now the sole church — and the army hospitals in Warrenton and elsewhere. “Hospitals (for soldiers) have filled the land … and the large armies which the Confederate States were obliged to call into the field, and occupy the soil of Virginia, have opened to the Missionary activity of the Church, a new, a vast, and most interesting field of usefulness.”
This essay was originally published in 2016 to mark the bicentennial of Saint James’ Warrenton.
