Following John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry, rumors arose that abolitionist raiders would raid the jail at Charles Town to free him. Randolph responded by organizing the Richmond Howitzers, which were among the troops that Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise sent to secure the town until Brown's execution. On their return, they received the naval howitzers that gave their unit their name, and first paraded in Richmond on July 4, 1860. Late in 1860, they received the designation, Company H of the First Regiment of Volunteers in the Virginia militia.