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→Career: Unlinked incorrect Wikipedia hyperlink to Marmaduke Johnson (English Printer in the 1600s), not the Marmaduke Johnson from the American Civil War |
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Following John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry, rumors arose that abolitionist raiders would raid the jail at [[Charles Town, West Virginia|Charles Town]] to free him. Randolph responded by organizing the [[Richmond Howitzers]], which were among the troops that Virginia Governor [[Henry A. Wise]] sent to secure the town until Brown's execution. On their return, they received the naval howitzers that gave their unit their name, and first paraded in Richmond on July 4, 1860. Late in 1860, they received the designation, Company H of the First Regiment of Volunteers in the Virginia militia.<ref>Lee A. Wallace, Jr. The Richmond Howitzers (Lynchburg, H.E. Howard Inc. 1993 p. 1</ref>
As the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] formed after southern states began seceding from the Union following the election of [[Abraham Lincoln]] as president, the United States divided into two hostile camps and the sections moved toward open conflict. Richmond voters elected Randolph and fellow attorneys [[William Hamilton McFarland|William H. McFarland]] and [[Marmaduke Johnson (Lawyer and Solider)]] as their representatives to the [[Virginia Secession Convention of 1861]].<ref>Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Virginia State Library 1978 p. 476</ref> Despite Randolph's speech in favor of secession, the first secession vote failed (Randolph among the ayes, McFarland and Johnson among the nays). Randolph's brother Thomas Jefferson Randolph was one of the Albemarle County delegates.<ref>Leonard p. 474</ref> A special delegation, composed of G.W. Randolph, [[William B. Preston]] and [[Alexander H.H. Stuart]], traveled to [[Washington, D.C.]] where they met newly inaugurated [[President of the United States|President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] on April 12, 1861, the same day that South Carolina artillery militia fired at [[Fort Sumter]]. Finding the President firm in his resolve to hold the Federal forts in the South, the three men returned to Richmond on April 15.<ref name=Goldberg/> On April 18, the day after President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the Confederate show of force, the Convention approved a secession resolution, which was sent for voter approval at a referendum the following month.
{{Css Image Crop|Image = CSA-T56-$100-1863 (inverted back).jpg|bSize = 250|cWidth = 250|cHeight = 113|oTop = 2|oLeft = 0|Location = right|Description=George W. Randolph depicted on an 1863 Confederate [[Confederate States dollar|$100 banknote]] (with [[Lucy Pickens]]).}}
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