author
Alanson M. Randol
1837–1887
A Civil War officer who turned battlefield experience into vivid firsthand history, he is remembered for a concise account of the war's closing campaigns. His writing brings the final days of the Union cavalry into sharp, personal focus.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Newburgh, New York, in 1837, he graduated from West Point in 1860 and built a career in the U.S. Army artillery. During the Civil War he served in major battles including Gaines's Mill, Glendale, Antietam, Gettysburg, and Trevilian Station, earning recognition for gallant service and rising by brevet to brigadier general.
He is best known as the author of Last Days of the Rebellion, a firsthand narrative centered on the Second New York Cavalry in the closing stretch of the war. The book stands out for its direct, eyewitness view of campaigning in Virginia and the events leading toward Appomattox.
After the war he continued in Army service and later commanded artillery posts in the American West. He died in California in 1887, leaving behind a reputation both as a professional soldier and as a writer whose brief memoir preserves the feel of the war's final weeks.