George W. Randolph
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Image:Randolph.jpg George Wythe Randolph (March 10 1818 – April 3 1867) was a lawyer and the Secretary of War for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He was also Thomas Jefferson's grandson.
Randolph was born at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, to Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. {descendant of Pocahontas} and Martha Jefferson Randolph (daughter of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson). Named in honor of George Wythe, he was a relative of Edmund Randolph, who served in George Washington's cabinet as the first Attorney General of the United States, as well as colonist William Randolph through both his mother and father's sides of the family.
Randolph briefly attended school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and served as a midshipman in the United States Navy. He attended the University of Virginia before moving to Richmond and becoming a lawyer. On April 10, 1852, he married Mary Elizabeth Adams (1830–1871).
He joined the Confederate army, serving as a major in the Battle of Big Bethel, and was promoted to brigadier general on February 12, 1862. Randolph was appointed by Jefferson Davis as Secretary of War on March 18, 1862, and he took office on March 24, 1862, but resigned on November 17, 1862.
Randolph fled to Europe after the Confederacy fell, where he died two years later in 1867 from pneumonia. He is buried in the Jefferson family graveyard at Monticello.
He is pictured on the CSA $100.00 bill.
| Preceded by: Judah P. Benjamin | Secretary of War of Confederate States 1862 | Succeeded by: Gustavus Woodson Smith |