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.