Horace Randal Horace Randal ( January 4 , 1833 – May 2 , 1864 ) was a Confederate States Army colonel during the American Civil War ( Civil War ) . Randal was mortally wounded while commanding a brigade at the Battle of Jenkins ' Ferry , Arkansas on April 30 , 1864 , dying two days later . Confederate President Jefferson Davis did not act upon a request made by General E . Kirby Smith on November 8 , 1863 to promote Randal to brigadier general . After Randal ' s performance at the Battle of Mansfield , General Smith , as the Confederate commander of the Trans - Mississippi Department , assigned Randal to duty as a brigadier general on April 13 , 1864 . Randal was not officially promoted . Jefferson Davis subsequently revoked Smith ' s appointment of Randal as a brigadier general . Randal graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1854 and was serving as a Second Lieutenant and Brevet First Lieutenant in the U . S . Army when the Deep South States seceded from the Union . Randal resigned from the U . S . Army on February 27 , 1861 and was promptly appointed colonel of the 28th Texas Cavalry Regiment . Early life . Horace Randal was born in McNairy County , Tennessee on January 4 , 1833 . His parents , Dr . Leonard Randal and Sarah Kyle Randal , moved the family to Texas in 1838 . Dr . Leonard Randal was an army surgeon , who later was elected to the U . S . House of Representatives from Texas . After five years in attendance , Horace Randal graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1854 , ranking forty - fifth out of forty - six in the class . Originally assigned to the infantry , Randal transferred to the 1st U . S . Dragoons in 1855 . He fought Indians in the southwest . In 1857 , United States Secretary of War Jefferson Davis recommended that Randal receive the rank of brevet first lieutenant for gallant and meritorious conduct in the conflict with the Apaches . Randal married first Julia Bassett , then Nannie E . Taylor . Randal was in Washington , D . C . during the week before Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President of the United States . The U . S . Army ' s General - in - Chief . Brevet Lieutenant General Winfield Scott , offered Randal a Regular Army commission as major . Randal decided to go with his home state of Texas into the Confederate States of America ( the Confederacy ) . He resigned from the U . S . Army on February 27 , 1861 . American Civil War service . Randal was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Army of the Confederate States , the regular army of the Confederacy , on March 26 , 1861 , to rank from March 16 , 1861 . By April 25 , 1861 , when Randal was ordered to report to General Braxton Bragg at Pensacola , Florida to serve as quartermaster on Bragg ' s staff . Randal , however , complained to President Davis that others who were junior to him in the U . S . Army had been given higher grades or ranks and resigned . Randal intended to return to Texas to raise a regiment for the Confederate Army . At the request of his brother - in - law , Major General Gustavus Woodson Smith , he remained in northern Virginia as a volunteer aide on Smith ' s staff . Although Jefferson Davis was reluctant to reappoint an officer who had recently resigned , he was persuaded by Smith to appoint Randal as a lieutenant and aide to Smith . He became a favorite officer of General Joseph E . Johnston while acting as inspector general of G . W . Smith ' s corps during the winter of 1861 – 1862 . Randal was authorized to raise a regiment of cavalry in Texas on December 19 , 1861 . Randal was known by his contemporaries , such as his West Point roommate John Bell Hood , as an excellent horseman . On February 12 , 1862 , he returned to Texas to take command of the new 28th Texas Cavalry Regiment , which most often fought dismounted . By December 1862 , Randal commanded a brigade under Brigadier General Henry McCulloch . Randal ' s brigade was held in reserve at the Battle of Milliken ' s Bend during the Siege of Vicksburg . General E . Kirby Smith recommended that Randal be promoted to brigadier general on November 8 , 1863 . No action was taken on the request . Historian Bruce S . Allardice says this was because the brigade was well below brigade strength at the time . At the Battle of Mansfield , April 8 , 1864 , during the Red River Campaign , Randal ' s brigade broke the Union line and took about 500 prisoners and the Union Army wagon train while leading the pursuit of the fleeing Federal force . On April 13 , 1864 , General E . Kirby Smith appointed Randal to duty as a brigadier general . Randal and his brigade also performed with distinction at the Battle of Pleasant Hill on April 9 , 1864 . Randal was mortally wounded while leading a charge at the Battle of Jenkins ' Ferry , the culmination of the Union Camden Expedition under Major General Frederick Steele , which was part of Major General Nathaniel P . Banks ' s larger Red River Campaign , on April 30 , 1864 . He died on May 2 , 1864 and initially was buried near the battlefield . Aftermath and Legacy . At a later date , Horace Randal ' s remains were removed to Old Marshall Cemetery in Marshall , Texas . Despite the misspelling , Randall County , Texas is named for Horace Randal .