(Book by Shackelford, George Green)
Book by Shackelford, George Green
https://www.amazon.com/George-Wythe-Randolph-Confederate-Elite/dp/0820309982?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0820309982
George Wythe Randolph was born on March 10, 1818 at "Monticello, " Virginia, the home of his maternal grandfather, Thomas Jefferson. The son of Gov. Thomas Mann Randolph and Martha Jefferson, and a brother of Thomas Jefferson Randolph, he was named for his distinguished grandfather's law teacher.
After Jefferson's death in 1826, Randolph was sent to his brother-in-law, Joseph Coolidge of Boston, to be educated; he attended school at Cambridge. At the age of nineteen he entered the University of Virginia where he continued for two years. He then resigned from the navy and studied law.
When thirteen years old, he was appointed a midshipman in the navy, and for the next six years served almost constantly at sea.
After practising his profession for a brief period in Albemarle County, he moved, shortly before 1850, to Richmond, where he won considerable success. A conscientious and hard-working lawyer, he resembled, in industry, his grandfather, Jefferson. He is said to have read a Latin or Greek author in the original every morning before breakfast. Before the Richmond voters he courageously advocated the white basis of representation in the General Assembly.
After the John Brown raid, Randolph used his military knowledge in organizing an artillery company, the Richmond Howitzers, which is still in existence. He served as one of the peace commissioners from Virginia to the United States government early in 1861.
He was elected as a secessionist to the state convention of that year and made "the most practical and sensible speech in favor of secession" delivered before that body. As a member of the military committee of the convention, he also rendered valuable service. He was one of the first advocates of a stringent conscription law and did more, perhaps, than any other man to influence the Virginia legislature in favor of such a measure, which was later adopted by the Confederate government. During the Peninsula campaign of early 1861, Randolph served in command of the Howitzers.
He was promoted colonel, and became chief of artillery under Magruder, who attributed to him its high state of efficiency. At Big Bethel, in June, he was cited for "skill and gallantry. " He was promoted brigadier-general and was opposed to Butler in southeastern Virginia.
On March 22, 1862, he was appointed secretary of war, the first Confederate military official to hold this difficult position. His predecessor, Judah P. Benjamin, had introduced order and efficiency into the chaotic War Department; Randolph profited from his work, and secured better co"rdination with the Confederate generals. After his death, the Richmond Dispatch called him the best secretary of war the Confederacy ever had.
He was in office during nearly all the difficult campaigns of 1862. On October 21 of that year J. B. Jones wrote that he was "thin, frail"; his face was "pale and will soon be a mass of wrinkles. " Because Jefferson Davis dominated the Cabinet even in the matter of detail appointments, as early as April, the blunt General Wise had asserted, "There is no Secretary of War, " adding that Randolph "is merely a clerk, an underling, and cannot hold up his head in his humiliating position".
Finally, on November 15, he resigned and was replaced by James H. Seddon, a civilian who was sufficiently subservient to Davis. Randolph applied for a command in the field, but soon resigned. He was found to have pulmonary tuberculosis and went to France for his health. After the war he returned to Virginia, but did not recover, and died in his fiftieth year, at "Edgehill, " a family estate.
(Book by Shackelford, George Green)
About 1852 he was married to a young widow, Mary E. (Adams) Pope.
