At a recent holiday gathering in non-Badger Big Ten Country (Happy Valley), a question was put forth to which not even I had an answer! So I promised to ask the only source of greater knowledge than my own of the great UW-Madison … ABE! Who is the Randall in Camp Randall? Thank you, Oh Wise One, for enlightening your humble MadGrad history buff.

Camp Randall Stadium is named after Alexander Williams Randall, a lawyer, judge and politician from Wisconsin. Randall served as governor from 1858 to 1861, and was known for his vigorous recruiting and organizing of the first Wisconsin volunteer troops for the Union Army during the American Civil War. More than 70,000 troops received military training at Camp Randall, land previously owned by the Wisconsin Agricultural Society and the site of its annual state fair.

Yours truly (President Abraham Lincoln) appointed Randall as U.S. Minister to the Vatican in 1861, and several years later, President Andrew Johnson appointed him U.S. Postmaster General. He died in 1872 at age 52.