Randolph, George Wythe

Life Span
to
    Full name
    George Wythe Randolph
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    South
    Origins
    Slave State
    Family
    Thomas Jefferson (grandfather), Thomas Mann Randolph (father), Martha Jefferson Randolph (mother), Mary Elizabeth Adams (wife)
    Education
    University of Virginia
    Occupation
    Politician
    Attorney or Judge
    Relation to Slavery
    Slaveholder
    Political Parties
    Democratic
    Other Affiliations
    Fire-Eaters (Secessionists)
    Government
    Confederate government (1861-65)
    Military
    US military (Pre-Civil War)
    Confederate Army

    George Wythe Randolph, Secession (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    Richmond elected Randolph to the Virginia Convention of 1861 as a secessionist. He urged that the state withdraw from the Union as soon as practicable in order to capitalize on its military preparedness and to avoid war. During the convention he was named to a three-man commission to go to Washington, D.C., and learn President Lincoln's intentions. On 13 April the president reiterated his inaugural pledges to hold federal installations, to repel force with force, and not to invade any southern states. After hostilities began at Fort Sumter and Lincoln called for troops to suppress rebellion, Randolph told the convention, "You have got to fight" and posed the question, "which side will you fight with?"
    George Green Shackelford, "Randolph, George Wythe," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00820.html.
    How to Cite This Page: "Randolph, George Wythe," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/6451.