Randal was mortally wounded while commanding a brigade at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas, on April 30, 1864, dying two days later.

Randal resigned from the U.S. Army on February 27, 1861, and was promptly appointed colonel of the 28th Texas Cavalry Regiment.

[1] After five years in attendance, Horace Randal graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1854, ranking 45th out of 46 in the class.

[1][4][5] 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.

[7] Randal was in Washington, DC, during the week before Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President of the United States.

[1] 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.

[9] Randal was known by his contemporaries, such as his West Point roommate John Bell Hood, as an excellent horseman.

[5] 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.