John Banister (December 26, 1734 – September 30, 1788) was an American lawyer and an American Revolutionary War patriot from Petersburg, Virginia. The son of John Banister and grandson of John Banister, the naturalist, he was educated at Middle Temple in London, England, admitted on September 27, 1753. He was a member of the Virginia Convention in 1776. He also served in the House of Burgesses (1765–1775, 1777), the Continental Congress (1778 – 1779 as a delegate, where he was a framer of and signed the Articles of Confederation), and the Virginia House of Delegates (1776–1777, 1781–1783). During the Revolutionary War, he was a Major and Lt. Colonel of cavalry in the Virginia line militia (1778–1781). General and Commander-in-Chief, George Washington regarded him highly as witnessed by a l