Alexander Macomb, Jr.
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Alexander Macomb, Jr. (3 April 1782 – 25 June 1841) was the commanding general of the United States Army from 29 May 1828 to 25 June 1841. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Macomb was the son of Alexander Macomb, Sr. and Mary Catherine Navarre.
Macomb was commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers in 1802 and spent five years in charge of coastal fortifications in the Carolinas and Georgia.
He won acclaim during the War of 1812 as brigadier-general in command of the frontier of northern New York. At the Battle of Plattsburg on September 11, 1814 with only 1,500 regular troops and some detachments of militia, he was opposed by a British force of 10,531 men under Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost. Macomb's heavily-outnumbered troops fell back before the British columns in a series of skirmishes as Prevost advanced towards the American defensive works. The British were about to launch an assault on the American defences when the news came through of the defeat of the British naval squadron on Lake Champlain. Prevost had needed the British Lake Champlain squadron to supply his planned advance into Vermont. Without it, he had no choice but to abandon the Expedition: so the British invaders marched off back to Canada. Although Commodore Thomas MacDonough's sailors and not the Army had been responsible for stopping the British invasion, Macomb was nevertheless showered with praise and styled "The Hero of Plattsburgh" by some of the American press. He was promoted major-general for his conduct at this battle, receiving both the thanks of Congress and a Congressional Gold Medal.
When Major General Jacob Brown, the Army’s commanding general, died in February 1828, President John Quincy Adams could have chosen as Brown's successor one of the Army's two brigadier generals. But the two — Winfield Scott and Edmund P. Gaines — had denounced each other publicly and for months had been contesting for the position. Their quarrels scandalized the Army and drove Adams to nominate Alexander Macomb, the Chief of Engineers, who by then had reverted rank to colonel, as the Army’s top general.
A curious feature of Macomb's career is that, like Dwight Eisenhower, he became a military hero without ever actually coming under enemy fire in his life.
His son was Commodore William H. Macomb.
He died while in office in Washington, D.C. and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery.
[edit] Congressional Gold Medal citation
- Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby presented to Major General Macomb, and, through him, to the officers and men of the regular army under his command, and to the militia and volunteers of New York and Vermont, for their gallantry and good conduct, in defeating the enemy at Plattsburg on the eleventh of September; repelling, with one thousand five hundred men, aided by a body of militia and volunteers from New York and Vermont, a British veteran army, greatly superior in number, and that the President of the United States be requested to cause a gold medal to be struck, emblematical of this triumph, and presented to Major General Macomb.
[edit] Legacy
- Macomb County, Michigan
- Macomb, Illinois
- Macomb Mountain (New York)
- In World War II the United States liberty ship SS Alexander Macomb was named in his honor.
[edit] References
- ^ Geo. H. Richards, Memoir of Alexander Macomb (NY: M'Elrath, Bangs & Co., 1833), 14.
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Walker Keith Armistead |
Chief of Engineers 1821–1828 |
Succeeded by Charles Gratiot |
| Preceded by Jacob J. Brown |
Commanding General of the U.S. Army 1828–1841 |
Succeeded by Winfield Scott |
