Alanson Merwin Randol

File:Alanson Merwin Randol.jpg

Captain Alanson M. Randol, September 1863. Library of Congress

Alanson Merwin Randol (October 23, 1837 – May 7, 1887) was an army officer in the artillery and cavalry during the American Civil War.

Biography

Born in New York, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, 9th in the Class of 1860. Commissioned into the 1st U.S. Artillery, he served in combined Batteries E & G, 3rd U.S. Artillery, throughout the Civil War with the Army of the Potomac, eventually as part of the famed U.S. Horse Artillery Brigade. Despite his rapid advance in the regular army, having been promoted to captain in 1862, he took a volunteer commission and served as colonel of the 2nd New York Volunteer Cavalry until the end of the war.

After the cessation of hostilities, Randol was awarded a brevet promotion to brigadier general in the U.S. Volunteers (on June 24, 1865) and mustered out of the volunteer service. Remaining in the regular army, he returned to his permanent rank of captain. Promoted to major in 1882, Randol transferred back to the 1st U.S. Artillery, and died in San Francisco, May 7, 1887.

References

• American Memory: Selected Civil War Photographs. Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division. Washington, D.C.. Internet: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html
• Generals and Brevets: Photographs of General Officers of the Civil War. Internet: http://web.archive.org/web/20080208215607/http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/
• Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, From its Organization, September 29, 1789 to March 2, 1903. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1903.
• Register of Graduates and Former Cadets of the United States Military Academy. West Point, NY: West Point Alumni Foundation, Inc., 1970.
• US War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1894.

External links

• Works by Alanson Merwin Randol at Project Gutenberg