GENERAL ALEXANDER MACOMB

Alexander Macomb
By Thomas Sully
Oil on canvas, 30" x 25", 1829

        Alexander Macomb, Junior (3 April 1782 – 25 June 1841) was the commanding general of the United States Army from 29 May 1828
to 25 June 1841 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 defenses 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.
 

General Macomb during the Battle of Plattsburgh

             Alexander Macomb life mask age 27                                                                                   Macomb Medal